AMFP Member Review Thread

[JawlessWarrior]

Editing this in after writing: Anyone concerned about spoilers should skip over this. I know I used spoiler tags, but I've mentioned some smaller details throughout that I just don't feel like picking out. Read at your own risk.

Finally finished my second playthrough and got my thoughts together about the game. Probably going to be long.

One thing I was expecting but never really got was to be scared to tears. I have already played through it twice, whereas in the original I couldn't play for longer than half an hour a day. The pig monsters were creepier looking than the grunts or brutes in my opinion, but they were never really a threat. I saw it as more of a stealth thriller than a horror game, and thus never really got scared. I had moments of panic in some places, but none where it made me want to stop playing or moving forward. I feel if there were a couple more monster encounters in the game and if the areas the monsters did patrol were more complex and maze-like I'd be much more hesitant when playing.

Spoiler below!

Specifically the area with the cages disappointed me the most - so much could have been done with the way the player progressed past this area, like dead ends and perhaps an event trigger where a cage locks you in and the sound piques the monsters interest.

However, the AI has noticeably improved from the original game and I am very happy about that. It adds some more replayability, something I feel TDD lacked. I just hope the code and monster models make their way into custom stories.

Next I am going to talk about the plot and character development. Just gonna spoiler tag the whole thing.

Spoiler below!

The plot and atmosphere was significantly more dense and brooding than TDD. In TDD I never felt there was much at stake besides my own life (a killer/torturer turned good) but in AMFP, the whole world is potentially in peril and I wanted to save it. I wanted to know what happened to my children, my memories, and I wanted to shut that damn machine down. It was much more good vs evil while in TDD it felt morally grey, but not in a good way such as The Punisher's method of taking down crime.

In TDD, I didn't feel the hatred for Alexander as I did the machine in AMFP. I know many people had trouble understanding the plot, but after my second playthrough and watching some videos/reading some stuff I think I have a good grip on it. It was definitely complex, perhaps a bit too complex. But I loved it and I loved the writing style they chose for Mandus' journals. The way he spoke was just unique and refreshing, and really added to his character in my opinion.

Probably my favorite part of AMFP was the character of the monsters. They weren't mindless drones that just kill kill kill. They had personalities and some even were a bit funny (kind of out of place for an Amnesia game though). I'm thinking of the part of the game when you are going through what looks to be their living quarters. It added a little more life and realism to these 'monsters' and gave a little more depth. Sure, some of the interactions could've been done better but I think the game greatly benefited from its inclusion overall.

The most disappointing part for me was also the monsters, as I've already said. They weren't scary. However the one area where I feel they were terribly misused was the part when you go outside to see them raiding London. None of them were threats to me. And perhaps it was the limitations of the engine but I didn't get a good sense of scale from the level, which is what I think they were trying to deliver. This was the only part where I feel the game really failed, but I can see that they tried.

That brings me to my next point: the animations! Huge improvement, considering there were no unique animations in TDD. The pig monsters were killing people, grabbing things, eating... Was not expecting that. Its the small details that I can appreciate, and the animations were a home-run.

Gameplay-wise, the game felt a little shallow. It could have benefited from more complex puzzles, perhaps a cool physics based puzzle that requires heavy thinking but gives you that awesome "AHA!" moment. But no, they were all pretty straightforward and easy. The only reason for exploration was notes (TOTALLY worth it though).

I am extremely glad they did away with tinderboxes and oil. I see some people complaining that it was the 'survival' in 'survival-horror' or that it gave you something to worry about. Really it didn't. I had dozens of tinderboxes by the end of TDD (never used them) and lantern oil was more annoying than anything. In AMFP at least there is a very valid reason to turn it off. The only times it was off for me in TDD were when I was out of oil or when I was hiding. But again, it wasn't scary or even a cool feature. It was just annoying.

Another thing I think could have been done very well was the exclusion of an inventory. They could have pulled off some interesting puzzles without it, but they didn't. I can see why it wasn't included (and I am so thankful there aren't any damn keys in the game), but if I had to choose I'd rather go with an inventory system with complex puzzles rather than the shallow stuff we got in AMFP.

I give Amnesia: A Machine for Pigs a 7/10. It wasn't Amnesia. The plot, atmosphere, music, character development, and animations are fanflippintastic but it wasn't scary. It was more stealth thriller than horror at many points. There were improvements in a lot of areas compared to the original, but it changed too much.

I give A Machine for Pigs a 9.5/10. Huh!? Yes, thats right. If I take away the Amnesia name, this game is so much better. I don't have the expectations of horror and nightmares. I don't have any expectations at all really, its a brand new game. What I get is a great storyline following a character I care about who is selflessly trying to stop the end of the world at the hands of a machine he himself built. The gameplay is essentially based on exploration with some stealth thriller (which I never said was bad) elements thrown in.

The Good:
- No more tinderboxes/oil. It was never a fun mechanic and it should stay gone. And to the people complaining about not being able to pick up everything and its grandmother, who cares!? Why is that relevant to the gameplay? Throwing a chair across the room is fun I guess to see the physics engine at work, but it was never a huge part of the game in TDD.
- Plot is significantly improved.
- Animations (for me) were surprisingly excellent and added so much more the character/personality of the monsters.
- Voice acting/writing was top notch. Easily the most well written notes I've seen in any game.
- Atmosphere was perfect. The world could some to an end, and I felt like it really could if I didn't complete my mission.
- Didn't mention this before, but I am very happy there was no 'sanity' effect. It felt really forced in TDD and considering that AMFP isn't all too scary, it would be sorely out of place.

The Bad:
- Not really an Amnesia title.
- Environments could use a little more complexity, especially around monster encounters.

A great AAA quality game. Most of the criticism stems from the title of the game rather than the game itself. I loved every second of it, but it was not the sequel to TDD. I have to give props to thechineseroom. They deviated from the source material a little too much but created a bada$$ game nonetheless.

I apologize for any spelling/grammatical errors/any gameplay mechanic or plot device I left out. Very tired but this was the best time for me to write this.

Edit: Also I don't care what you say but electro-pig was friggin awesome. Loved the mechanic and story to it, I just wish it was more of a threat.

2nd Edit: Also wanted to address people complaining about length. I don't know about you, but it took me 7 hours total to complete TDD on my first playthrough. AMFP took me about 6, 6.5. Now take into consideration that the puzzles in TDD required an inventory and were more complex. However, they usually boiled down to running around a series of rooms over and over until you found what you needed. While this did set you up for a nice scare, it also felt a little frustrating and artificially bloated the length of the game. AMFP does not have this kind of bloat, so it will obviously be shorter.