My main problem with AMFP: Observer vs. Participator

[CirceBaka]

While I agree with most of what Harshly Critical said at the top of this thread, I must say I was immediately disappointed with this game within the first few minutes.

Your character can't open drawers, you don't have inventory and you can't pick up anything that isn't integral to the plot moving forward. In this aspect I think they made the game too easy. If you can pick it up, then you'd better take it with you. That's far too simple for figuring out the puzzles. So I did think some puzzles in Dark Descent were REALLY hard. You have to really think and move accordingly to figure everything out. But in a way, I found that enriched the game because it required a certain amount of skill. There was also a nifty fail safe in the game in case you cannot defeat a creature and move forward so you don't become bored with the game. I found that well thought out.

Ok, so you can't pick up things and open drawers. Even that aside, I was still bothered by not having to worry about your sanity. Mandus is different from Daniel in that aspect because he's not mentally unstable as Daniel was, nor does he possess a crippling fear of the dark. So why not have some system to monitor your health? Nope, no such thing in this game. If you're hurt, best to let the monster kill you because you'll respawn close to where you died. So now there's no reason to treat your character 's life like it matters. Isn't that the whole point of a 1 player game? You assume the identity and life of that character. Your character dies and you eventually pay some price...you lose points, you'll have to beat the boss again and probably defeat other creatures before reaching the boss again. Something along those lines anyway.

There was no sense of immersion in this game. Once I realized the mechanics I was no longer afraid of any monsters because the scares were mapped so predictably. I miss the feel I have for DD where you didn't know from one time to another if something was behind you. You had to outwit the monsters or hide away and wait as if you were living the game. It gave way to great game experiences and I believed those would only be enhanced in AMFP.

I wouldn't say AMFP was a total flop, but there was a lot to be desired. It was a huge let down to all the hype this game created. The music and the graphics were outstanding. Everything else was quite lacking