Recent reviews by The Machine is Bleeding to Death

Still great a decade later!

Excellent game. Lately I have a habit of not even finishing games I started but game is the exception. Late to the party on this one but that just means I won't have to wait as long for the sequel as those who discovered this gem earlier.

I haven't played this game in years and I still think about how it makes its impact on you with its wonderful narrative.

Played this back when it was freeware and had a lot of fun.

Loved this game from the time before it was finished and published on Steam. A great little indie game with a great story that manages to capture and express something genuinely interesting about the realities of recent history in the Eastern Bloc.

Glory to Arstotzka!

Lastest Amended Review (fall 2016):

I amended my original reew as the community fractured and raged due to microtransactions. I didn't mention them in my post because I was just kinda bored of the game and a little frustrated with the DLC (the microtransactions weren't a huge factor; I found some extreme responses to the microtransactions more frustrating and disruptive than the microtransactions themselves); the DLC made the game difficult to recommend when an appropriate investment in it requires perhaps investing in over a dozen pay DLC. However, I do like this line from my original review:

PAYDAY 2 is the end result of what happens when fans of Michael Mann's brilliant film Heat hone their coding skills while also not cutting back on their expensive coke habits. In PAYDAY 2 you do what you do best; you take scores.

I still think that's true. I reluctantly recommend this game. My reluctance to recommend is solely a function of the degree to which I feel one needs to invest in DLC in order to feel like you're a full part of the game. Microtransactions are gone and this game is still being updated, tweaked, amended, and unlike my other Steam game with > 1000 hours, I can still find the urge to play this when there's something new to do, or many achievements I've yet to get.

Amended Review (winter 2015/2016):

The real heists are by the developer on players' wallets and trust. You are probably better served spending the money you would spend on this game on a cat sweater knitting kit for a cat you do not have and sadly developing a unusual obsession (and embarrassing paraphilia) for knitting sweaters for nonexistent cats to the confusion (and disgust) of family, friends and partners.

Original Review (spring 2015):

PAYDAY 2 is the end result of what happens when fans of Michael Mann's brilliant film Heat hone their coding skills while also not cutting back on their expensive coke habits. In PAYDAY 2 you do what you do best; you take scores.

You are Robert De Niro's professional Neil McCauley. You are Val KIlmer's money-hungry Chris Shiherlis. You are Tom Sizemore's action-fiend Michael Cheritto. You are Kevin Gage's sociopathic Waingro.
You are Bryan Cranston's Walter White AKA Heisenberg from "Breaking Bad".
You are Catherine Zeta-Jones' Virginia Baker from Entrapment.
You are ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ Tyler Durden.

You sneak around undetected. You blow ♥♥♥♥ up. You hack. You steal. You make meth. You blow up the meth lab. You trade meth. You steal back the meth you traded. You get paid. You grind. You get paid. You grind. You go infamous. You grind. You go infamous. You grind. You grind. You get paid. You grind. You ragequit.

You kill cops, you kill civilians, you'd kick puppies if you had the option and you'd also fight a bear with nothing but a nail clippers if you could. And you'd kill that bear.

But mostly you play hacky-sack with money bags and then bring the cheapest piece of ♥♥♥♥ ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ broke ♥♥♥♥ drill to a million dollar heist.

V-100/10 would burn all my cash another 5 times.

Much harder and more frustrating than the original Hexcells game but in turn more rewarding when you are able to successfully solve a puzzle. If you want to you can do a bit of guessing with the easier puzzles but that strategy is going to have exponentially diminishing returns as you progress and sound logic is required. Plus, spending a few minutes (or more than a few) trying to figure out the next move before spotting it is sometimes a nice "Ah-ha!" moment. Of all the pure puzzle games that I have played the Hexcells series is the one to which I would most appreciate another edition.

I wish that when developers of other genre games utilize puzzle mini-games as means to hack and crack objects like safes and computers they would implement thought-provoking and challenging puzzles (thought not nearly as challenging as Hexcells Plus) instead of thematically-consistent but boring and uninspired puzzles where the emphasis is on speed rather than true problem-solving. For example, contrast hacking computers in Fallout vs. hacking machines in Bioshock.

I got the original Hexcells in a bundle, and Hexcells Plus on sale for 50% off but even at full price you are going to get your money's worth of challenging puzzles, especially with Hexcells Plus.

Zeno Clash is a bit short compared to most single-player games, and the gameplay mechanics can feel a bit limiting at times, but there is something about this game to which I am drawn.

The excerpt from the IGN review about it feeling "refreshingly original and completely compelling" is 100% on the mark. Zeno Clash has a great story and is more than worth the $1 it tends to go on sale for during each of the past few big Steam sales at the time of this writing (Autumn Sale 2013).

LOL. Please no. I knew this game wasn't going to be very good (the price fell too quickly), but wow. This game feels so generic. It has a whipser of nostalgia that is strong in the familiar opening scene, but that soons gives way to uninspiring point-and-click blandness. It lacks the polish or atmosphere of TellTale's effort with The Walking Dead.

The Walking Dead plays out like a well-done effort by a developer's first team based on a popular franchise in a very popular genre while BttF:TG plays like a rushed effort by a developer's second or third team based upon a franchise that was huge 30 years ago in a genre that has outgrown its boyish charm.

tl;dr My Steam library is bloated and neglected but I like the vast majority of what is there. I keep my games in several categories. One category is for games I would pay Valve to remove from my library. Welcome Back to the Future: The Game, inductee #7.

Story and plot alone are worth it.