{"id":1730,"date":"2021-07-25T18:30:00","date_gmt":"2021-07-25T23:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/localhost\/ggndev\/?p=1730"},"modified":"2021-07-25T18:51:54","modified_gmt":"2021-07-25T23:51:54","slug":"intravenous-review","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ghostgamer.news\/intravenous-review\/","title":{"rendered":"Intravenous Review"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

I’m going to apologize in advance here, folks. This review is going to contain a lot of reminiscing about the old days of gaming. Days where games were, to quote the youth of today, “hard AF”. Before the phrase “git gud” came about, and when the internet was for the more technically inclined (no AOL CDs were clogging our mailboxes back then).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When I was a child, I was stuck at home quite a bit. I was sickly (well, I still am, but that’s besides the point), and spent a LOT of time trying to find my own fun.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Eventually I got my hands on an Atari 2600. Later, a PC and an NES.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I spent so much time playing games that I got really, REALLY good at some of them. Not to brag, but I figured out a method for beating every single level in Dig Dug (even with my eyes closed), and played for so long in one sitting that the TV started showing weird colors until it (briefly) crapped out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Never has retro graphics and night vision paired so well.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Intravenous is billed as “A love letter to early Splinter Cell games”. So, when I say Intravenous hearkens back to the days of classic gaming, I hope you understand that I don’t mean the days of Half Life or the first Counter-Strike. Nor do I mean the days where strategy was just a consideration of “do I go left or right?”. No, I’m talking like the time I rented a game (which I can’t even remember the name of now) where you could start the game, place a knife in your mouth like a badass, and dive into the water only to find you ended up killing yourself because you put the knife in your mouth the wrong way<\/em>.. And this was in the first level (the first person in the comments to help my addled brain recall what it was will get a free copy of Intravenous from me).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It plays out with a story that even feels <\/em>classic, my friends. Your brother is killed by drug dealers, and you’re out to play avenging angel (or devil, depending on your perspective). The delivery of the story is through text-based dialog and beautiful cutscenes retain that lovely retro art style, as well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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I’m absolutely in awe at the art direction here.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Intravenous is classically themed, but you have modern options<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

I’m not afraid to admit that, after about 5 tries, I decided to drop the difficulty down to easy. I’m not a young gamer anymore, and given my limited time available to play new games, I wanted to get as much of this game in as possible.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Just the fact that the game has difficulty options brings me joy. While it has a more souls-like challenge overall, it doesn’t have to be experienced like a souls-like (although I still failed plenty on easy).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

No, this is classic gaming with modern sensibilities. While the graphics are clearly a throwback to the retro gaming world, the gameplay and options are decidedly modern (without sacrificing mechanics for immersion; more on that later).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Let’s see a classic NES game drop the F-bomb.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

There is even an option to utilize your own microphone to create distractions, rather than the traditional whistle\/throw rock.. And distractions can be hilarious. Want to emulate a guard’s wife? You can absolutely do that. There’s no real benefit to doing it that way, but just the fact that the lone developer decided to give you that option shows you the level of detail that went into crafting this game.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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