Ending on a low note

As you've probably already read, I think the Penumbra series is great: the setting, the old school adventure game feel, the physics system, and pretty much everything in it is really top drawer. That being said, the final installment in the series, Penumbra: Requiem, can only be described as a severe let down.

Requiem picks up right where Black Plague ends; you are sitting at a computer when you are suddenly clubbed on the back of the head. You are then taken to a (dream? hallucination? real place?) new area where you make your way through 9 "levels." Now, in all fairness, Requiem is billed as an expansion pack to Black Plague rather than a proper third chapter, but I still felt like it should have carried its own weight.

In each of these levels, you must find 1-3 "keys" which open the elevator door a portal that takes you to the next "level." Just so we are clear, the game actually calls them "levels," something which felt like a crazy departure from the setting of the game. The gameplay is instantly familiar and plays exactly like the previous two games. Each level is set in a slightly different, familiar area (outside, the temple, the installation, etc) and basically just throws at you a handful of the same sort of puzzles you've already faced. There is even GLaDOS a computerized voice that informs you how many keys are remaining or that you need to exit "before it becomes compulsory." The game completely lacks any sort of enemies which felt exceptionally bland and completely devoid of tension compared to the first two games. As you've probably guessed, the game felt more like a very low-budget Portal remake than a part of the Penumbra series.

Another thing that really annoyed me about the game were the futuristic elements. In at least two levels, I was rolling a kind of blue glowing ball around that was meant to power something or another. I even had to dodge some laser beams that would inexplicable cause it to teleport back to where I had originally obtained it. In another level, I had to pickup an exploding ketchup bottle (okay, I actually thought that was kind of funny) and then throw it into a particle field where it would then be teleported to one of three locations... but that was only after I had set some boxes on anti-gravity platforms to get up there. All things considered, it really didn't feel like it fit into the Penumbra world at all.

I think if I had played Requiem on it's own, I would have thought it was a decent little (2.5ish hours) Portal clone with an interesting physics system. Having played it at the end of the Penumbra series, however, I was only let down.

This was a short post, mostly because Requiem just didn't really have any "moments" for me. It was largely forgettable. Next time, however, I'll do an overall likes/dislikes for the Penumbra series as a whole.

For now though, I don't know what to play next and I'm looking for suggestions. I have Gothic 3 Forsaken Gods and S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Clear Sky, both of which seem to be broken past playable (I blame my ATI video card). I also have Zelda: Twilight Princess on the Wii which I've never played. I'd also be willing to entertain any game suggestions for sub-$20 PC games, or perhaps pull out an old game (Oblivion/Morrowind playthrough? DLC for Fallout3?). Anything you guys would like to see me play?