Entries in the Category "Video Games"
Fable III
Fable III is a very disappointing game. Following up the fantastic Fable II it does nothing to push the series forward, and actually regresses in many areas.
The story is somewhat interesting, but saddling the player with an existing character gets away from the constantly evolving hero from the previous games. The combat is very similar to Fable II, which is good, but it dumbs it down too much resulting in a loss of depth. Instead of menus Fable III features interactive areas where you dress and arm your character. This idea is interesting, but ultimately I would have preferred a more traditional interface. The same goes for the map. Previous Fables essentially had no map at all so the fact that Fable III provides one and gives you a better sense of the layout of the world is a big improvement. That said, when compared to other games the map in Fable III is mediocre at best.
All in all Fable III is an OK game. It features some good laughs and great world design. Unfortunately the rest of the game is nothing more than a lazy rehash of Fable II.
Red Dead Redemption
I am a big fan of the western genre. Consequently I have been continually disappointed by the lack of quality western themed games on the market. My hopes were raised when I heard about Red Dead Redemption since an open world, third-person, mission based game from the makers of Grand Theft Auto sounded very promising.
Red Dead Redemption is a fantastic game. It perfectly nails the look and feel of the western genre and populates this world with interesting characters acting out a compelling story. The enjoyment of riding your horse from the mountains, through the plains, and into the dry scrub-lands is an amazing gaming experience. The expanse and variety of environments and towns really sells the scale of the game and are by far the strongest elements in Red Dead. The cover system & gunplay is also fairly strong, although it is still nowhere close to as polished as other third-person shooters such as Uncharted 2. I liked the large variety of weapons at your disposal, however, there isn't a lot of differentiation between them. By the end of the game you have a large collection of weapons that are more or less the same.
Most of my problems with Red Dead Redemption are minor complaints, but they hold the game back from being the best it could have been. The middle of the game's story and missions feel very padded with a lot of fairly repetitive tasks that don't progress the story much, but simply serve to lengthen the game. I would have preferred a lot more side-missions and more naturally paced story missions. That said, I think the story is generally strong, especially toward the end which is handled very differently than most games. The side missions that are present are pretty good, however, most are fairly simplistic and shallow. My other main complaint with Red Dead is its inconsistent writing. While the story arc and characters are excellent, the way in which the story is presented is mediocre. Most of the dialogue is poorly written and there is entirely too much of it. Certain characters, usually the worst voice acted, talk endlessly about nothing and their presence serves nothing other than to irritate the player.
Overall I really enjoyed Red Dead Redemption, mainly because it is the first well made western game. Unfortunately it wasn't quite the transcendent experience I was looking for, but that's what sequels are for. It took me about 23 hours to finish the main missions with 78% of the game complete and I plan on putting in several more hours to work on some of the remaining side missions and challenges. Definitely worth your time.
Batman: Arkham Asylum
Video games based on super heroes have never appealed to me in the past, but I heard so many good things about Batman: Arkham Asylum that I had to give it a shot. Overall, I was very impressed with this game. The gameplay style is similar to some of my favorite games: combining exploration, combat, and mild role playing elements with great storytelling much like the Legend of Zelda & Fable series.
All of these pieces fit together really well because Batman: Arkham Asylum feels great to play. The level of polish in the controls and animations is fantastic. Most importantly, it is a lot of fun just navigating the world using Batman's various abilities and gadgets. On top of this you gain new devices and upgrades as you level up. This mechanic works well and you can gain experience from both combat and puzzle solving. The combat is simple, but offers plenty of depth if you want to explore it fully. The puzzles (set up by the Riddler) provide a great diversion from the action. Another side story is Batman's continuing struggle against the Scarecrow, which requires you to defeat various nightmare scenarios. This variety of gameplay is probably the game's strongest element since you are never doing the same thing for too long. To top it all off the story is well done with some great voice acting. I love games with this play style and this one engaged me from start to finish, a must play.
Uncharted 2: Among Thieves
Uncharted 2: Among Thieves does everything a sequel to an already good game should do. From the story and graphics, to the stunning level design, Uncharted 2 nails the action-adventure genre.
Uncharted: Drake's Fortune was a solid game but I wasn't blown away by the experience. Uncharted 2, however, packs in so many great story and gameplay moments that it is impossible not to be wowed. Everything that worked best in the original is refined and expanded in the sequel. Platforming, which at times took a backseat to gunplay, is used more frequently and to better effect. The shooting controls and difficulty have been improved for a much more even gaming experience and the production values are top notch featuring graphics that are not only technically, but artistically fantastic. The level design is another highlight with more diverse environments and the best train level I have ever played.
Uncharted 2 also deserves a lot of credit for having what is easily one of the best written and produced stories in gaming history. The story is intimately integrated into the game, presenting the player with well rounded characters living in a real world. This is one of the few games where I wanted to finish the game as much to see how the story would be resolved as the gameplay experience. Uncharted 2: Among Thieves is a must own title for the PS3.
Fable 2: See The Future DLC
See the Future is the second downloadable expansion for Fable 2 and while not as good as Knothole Island, it is still worth getting for a Fable 2 addict like me. Somehow I missed its release earlier this year and only purchased it in the last month or so.
See the Future contains two new quests as well as a glimpse of what Fable 3 will be like. Another addition is a new combat challenge arena which is more difficult than the existing Crucible area in the main game. See the Future also introduces several new potions, items, and clothing options. I completed the expansion content in about 3 hours and while I wish that the new quests were a little more involved for $7 this is a decent value.
Infamous
Infamous does a lot of things right, but unfortunately it does enough wrong to keep it from being unique. As a platforming action game, Infamous is fantastic. It has a Prince of Persia type feel to it and there are a fair amount of fun platforming and collection challenges to keep the act of navigation engaging. The electrical powers mechanic is also well done and the amount of variety and upgrades for each power is great.
Where Infamous goes wrong in my opinion is that it insists on saddling the player with a horrible story, repetitive missions and frustrating combat. I don't expect much from a video game's storyline, but Infamous' is pretty awful. It doesn't just bother you with cut scenes, characters are also constantly calling you and talking endlessly about nothing. The missions are pretty mediocre too, mostly consisting of the same 4 or 5 tasks repeated over and over. To make matters worse, your character is easily killed and it can be frustratingly hard to kill certain enemies, especially later in the game.
Infamous' presentation is also lacking at times. For as polished as a lot of the animations and effects are, the environments and character models are downright ugly. I also found the good vs evil mechanic to be somewhat pointless. You forced into being either one or the other, since your powers upgrades depend on how evil or good your character is. This eliminates the kind of moral complexity that I found interesting about Fable 2. Decent, but nothing special.
Killzone 2
Killzone 2 is a fun, solid shooter with fantastic graphics. I really enjoyed the pacing of the game which allows for a great ebb and flow to the action. While certainly not reinventing the shooter, Killzone 2 hits all the important points: great weapons, excellent cover system, and a good variety of missions. I especially liked the grenades which are very effective and easy to use. While Killzone 2's graphics are very good, the animations are fantastic. Every reload is intricately detailed and takes an appropriate amount of time. So much time in fact that the player really has to watch not to reload at an inopportune moment.
With so much good stuff there has to be some bad to go along with it. I never expect much from the plot of a shooter and the storyline of Killzone 2 met my expectations. This isn't helped any by the atrocious amount of melodrama and mediocre voice acting (Rico is especially terrible). From a gameplay standpoint I didn't like how you can't carry more than one primary weapon along with your pistol. This dissuades the player from using any weapon other than common assault rifles since you probably won't be able to find a continuous supply of ammo for it. Even with these problems I really enjoyed my 12 hour experience with the single player campaign. If you have a PS3 Killzone 2 is definitely worth a look.
Fable 2: Knothole Island DLC
The Knothole Island expansion for Fable 2 is a solid addition to a fantastic game. The expansion adds a series of quests relating to solving the weather problems of the new region as well as some new collection achievements. Knothole Island also features some new weapons, clothing, and potions to augment your character.
It took me around 5 hours to play through all of the new quests and collect all of the new items. For $10 I thought this was a fair amount of content for the price. Like most of Fable 2, the best parts of Knothole Island are the interesting asides and characters you encounter, not necessarily the main quest. If you liked Fable 2 I can definitely recommend this expansion and I look forward to the next expansion that appears be coming soon.
XBOX Repaired
My repaired (ie. replaced) XBOX 360 arrived yesterday. So far I am fairly pleased with the new unit. I'm not sure which version of DVD drive the new 360 has but it is somewhat quieter than the jet engine in my original 360. The power button is also better. My old 360's power switch was squishy and needed to be pressed very hard to turn the console on or off. The new unit has a nice clicky power button that performs much better.
Having read a fair amount about XBOX 360 repairs and the various motherboard revisions it has undergone, I was curious about which version they would send me. Upon inspection via the vent on the side of the 360 I can clearly see the large heatsink used on the 90nm CPU and the extended GPU cooler heatpipe behind it. I had read that sometimes Microsoft replaces original motherboards (Xenon) with boards featuring 65nm CPUs (Opus), however, this doesn't appear to be the case for my unit. So I effectively sent in this
Red Rings of Death
At long last my venerable XBOX 360 succumbed to the seemingly inevitable red rings of death. When I bought it in the fall of 2006 I had heard about this problem, but since the unit wasn't a launch console (8-06 manufacture date) and would be properly ventilated I hoped I might avoid this issue. As the months and years passed, I felt even more confident that my console would survive. Unfortunately I am just like all of the other assholes who bought a 360 and hoped it wouldn't crap out.
The worst part of it is that my 360 red ringed at the strangest time imaginable. It is my understanding that the red rings are caused by the GPU unseating itself from its socket on the motherboard, a result of overheating due to the GPU's inadequately designed heatsink. In my case, however, I had just turned on the console to try out the Resident Evil 5 demo. After completing a couple of updates, I started the game and reached the menu screen before it froze while attempting to load the level. I restarted the console and was greeted by the infamous red rings. Luckily thanks to Microsoft's extended 3 year, billion dollar warranty extension I should get it repaired free of charge, but we'll see how this goes.
Little Big Planet
I completed my first play through of the single player portion of Little Big Planet last night and I have to say this game is great. The amount of creativity afforded is astounding as each level is more ingenious than the next. I absolutely love how everything has a hand-made look, a very distinctive departure from virtually every platformer ever made. LBP reminds me in many ways of Super Mario Galaxy because they both surprise you with their scale and the amount of variety they can pack into a level. Overall both games are very accessible, but also feature some genuinely challenging stretches.
Gameplay wise LBP takes some getting used to. For years I've gotten used to platformers like Mario or Donkey Kong Country where characters run and jump in certain ways. Not so in LBP. Since LBP takes place in a physical world, unlike any other platformer I have played, everything obeys the laws of physics. Objects have inertia, can gain and lose momentum, and most detrimental to platforming, can't stop on a dime. It is very easy to run off the edge of platforms simply because you are not accustomed to stopping your character's forward momentum. Even so I really like the benefits that a system like this gives you. For instance to reach high objects you simply ride a platform that rises and falls. If you jump just as the platform reaches its apex your upward momentum adds to the force of your jump, propelling you higher. There are some challenging and fun jumping puzzles involving platforms on bungies that use this principal to perfection.
I haven't yet gotten into the level creation aspect of the game since I wanted to finish the single player first in order to acquire as many materials and objects as possible. I have, however, tried a few of the higher rated levels that others have created and posted in the LBP system. Some of the levels are very creative (escape from Alcatraz), while other levels are more simple fun (ride a roller coaster). After I play some more and try my hand at level creation I'll do another post.
Aside from a few annoyances with getting used to the jumping I have thoroughly enjoyed my LBP experience so far. If you like platformers and have a PS3 Little Big Planet is a must have.
Fable II
Fable II is the right type of RPG for someone like me. It has a larger amount of customization and scope than the Legend of Zelda games (which I love), while at the same time not overwhelming you with options like Elder Scrolls: Oblivion.
Fable II has a lot of positives: great art style, fun combat with a surprising amount of depth, large game world, decent story, and a fantastic sense of humor. The art style is just as it should be for a fantasy RPG such as this, a caricature of real life. All of the towns and people are wonderfully over-the-top in their appearance. The fighting develops very nicely from just button mashing at the start to precision kills as your abilities grow. The comedy aspect of the game is one of its biggest highlights. Being a mature title, Fable II isn't shy about taking the gloves off and presenting some genuinely funny material.
On the negative side I did have some gripes, mainly to do with the level of polish the game apparently didn't receive. The menu system is very cumbersome and should have been redesigned. The vertical layout of the menu makes it a laborious task to just use a couple of potions or augment a weapon. To make matters worse it also can be slow to respond to your navigation commands, only adding to your frustration level. Graphically Fable II could also have used some improvement. While the majority of the game looks fantastic, at times the character animations and graphics are simply not up to par. I was also disappointed by the end of the main quest. After being set up they way it was I expected a much more epic end to your journey, however, given Fable II's emphasis on your moral choices I shouldn't have been that surprised.
Overall I had a fantastic time with Fable II. Aside from a few technical annoyances and an underwhelming end to the main quest I don't have much to complain about. Definitely worth a try.
Uncharted: Drake's Fortune
Uncharted: Drake's Fortune can best be described as a mash-up of Gears of War and Prince of Persia. It combines the 3rd person cover and weapons system from Gears with the environmental puzzle platforming of PoP. Add in the fantastic visuals, music and story, and Uncharted is a lot of fun to play.
In some ways Uncharted is almost too similar to Gears. The weapons system especially is almost a verbatim copy; allowing you to carry only two firearms plus grenades (which use the exact same throwing mechanic as Gears). It also requires you to constantly switch weapons to whatever ammo type is available in the area. My main criticism of Uncharted is that it is a little unbalanced. I would have preferred more platforming and puzzle solving to gunplay. Still, while it isn't incredibly innovative, Uncharted is definitely worth playing.
Team Fortress 2
Team Fortress 2 is perhaps the strangest shooter I have played but it is also a lot of fun. For the last month or so, some of my coworkers and I have been playing Medal of Honor: Allied Assault during our lunch break. This wet my appetite for some good multiplayer action. The multiplayer shooter I had played most recently online was Day of Defeat: Source which is good but has some annoyances, such as giving each player a minuscule amount of health and never allowing the player to gather any additional health. For the most part though it is a fairly balanced and entertaining shooter, especially after you have developed some skill and learned the maps.
Team Fortress 2 on the other hand allows you to rearm and collect health, two huge factors for making a shooter better by helping to keep you alive longer and thereby have more fun. Another big bonus from my point of view is that the maps are relatively simple to learn, unlike many other games. It also has more character classes than most games and those classes themselves are so creative and disparate that it's a great diversion to switch classes periodically and try different tactics. I am still new to the game, but even when you suck it is still a blast to play. This is due mainly to the awesomely ridiculous graphics and the huge range of weapon load-outs that are available. Definitely worth a try just to see the insane and cartoony gore effects.
Super Mario Galaxy
I beat Super Mario Galaxy last night. I won't say I finished the game as I have not found all 120 stars yet, and as a non-completest, probably never will. That said, this is a fantastic platformer with the right mix of easy, challenging, and infuriating levels. The galaxy theme is somewhat of a gimmick, especially since several levels take place on only one planetoid, but for the most part it serves as a fantastic way to break levels into sections which can be wildly different from one another without feeling forced.
Graphically Super Mario Galaxy gives me great hope for the Wii. It uses the strategy I believe every game for this system should use, keep it simple. By using smooth textures, bright colors and good art design it is much easier to mask the Wii's lower resolution graphics. Games that try for more realistic graphics only emphasize the difference between themselves and similar games on the Xbox 360 or PS3. This game is supposed to be one of the first games designed specifically to run on the Wii's hardware and it definitely shows. A lot of naysayers claim the Wii isn't much more powerful than the GameCube, but there is no way the GameCube could run Super Mario Galaxy. I also enjoyed the use of the Wii's motion controls. Initiating Mario's spin move and throwing shells are the most common uses, but I liked the ball rolling levels the most.
It took me about 15 hours to beat Super Mario Galaxy and I find that to be a perfect length. When you take into account the amount of gameplay remaining to complete the game I like the fact that you can accomplish a lot in a moderate amount of time and still have more goals left to finish at your leisure. From its awesome level design to its fun and challenging boss fights Super Mario Galaxy is a must own for the Wii.
Portal
When Valve released the Orange Box I wasn't overly excited since I already have a copy of Half-Life 2. Hidden in this compilation is another game which is not only original, but is a great reminder of the potential of video games. Portal is a game in which you generate portals (wormholes) in order to solve puzzles and get from one area to another. It is a simple concept, go in one portal come out another, without any loss in momentum. When this is implemented using Valve's excellent physics engine, the results are spectacular.
Portal has tons of things going for it, but I have three favorites:
- The game is very original, not a new version of a tired genre (like pretty much every shooter made)
- It is incredibly fun to play (what a novel idea)
- It joins the short list of games that are genuinely funny (the game's narrator is perhaps the best written, best voiced character in a game I have played)
The only real drawback of Portal is that it can be completed in under 4 hours, but I didn't really mind the length. Too many games feel the need to have an epic story and quest and end up tacking on meaningless content to pad their length. I much more enjoy a game that plays to its strengths and doesn't overstay its welcome; plus for only $20 this game is a bargain.
Bioshock
I finished Bioshock last night. This game was universally hailed as being very innovative with a first class story. While it is a very good game, I don't think it's nearly as good as everyone else. Bioshock really seems like the developers had a lot of great ideas and couldn't quite decide how to put them together.
They give you the ability to modify yourself with plasmids (genetic power ups, a substitute for magic) and gene tonics. They also allow you to upgrade these abilities throughout the game, however, they simply tell you that version 2 of a plasmid/gene tonic is better than version 1, but not by how much. This is very interesting to me since there are machines spread throughout the entire game who's specific purpose is to rearrange your usage of these genetic abilities. This implies some strategic importance to your use of these items. How they expect you to intelligently do this without more detailed information about what you are carrying is beyond me. Another unusual decision is the restriction of how much ammunition you can carry, but at the same time vending machines selling ammo are easily available everywhere.
My biggest annoyance with the game involves its overall design. Bioshock presents you with open levels, not simply corridor after corridor like a typical shooter. But instead of letting you find your way around and figure out what you need, they constantly guide you to a specific area and then send you off on a series of fetch quests which artificially make you search the remaining areas of the level. This is repeated throughout virtually every area in the game. I had a problem with this because the game emphasizes your usage of the environment and your plasmids to supplement your traditional armament of guns. As much as it focuses on this, it does not give you much opportunity to experiment with your abilities. They provide you with a wealth of interesting, unique powers but never require you to use them for innovative purposes. Your plasmids are essentially a supplement for you guns. I would have preferred if the game had less arbitrary combat and more puzzle solving where only your plasmid abilities could enable you to fulfill the goal. The guns are significantly more powerful than the plasmids (especially after upgrading) and are always the dominant method for eliminating enemies.
The storyline of Bioshock is good, but not great. Compared to most video games it is The Godfather, but in the video game world that is not saying much. I was reasonably intrigued by the plot, but it was never as compelling and the payoffs were never as good as some other games I have played (Mafia for instance). I did enjoy the way the story is presented to you, involving audio diaries and ghostly flashbacks (which make fantastic use of incredible voice acting).
For all my nitpicking, Bioshock is still an excellent game. The graphics are great (except for the occasional artifact) and the atmosphere and look of the game are some of the best I have seen in a game. There is an astonishing level of detail in the environments of the underwater city where the game is set. Some of the moments in the game are especially spooky and disturbing, like your encounter with Dr. Steinman or the plaster sculptures made of dead bodies in Fort Frolic; I wish there were more memorable encounters like this. I thoroughly enjoyed the experience.
Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess
Last night I finally beat Zelda: Twilight Princess. Since starting the game in February it has taken me over 40 hours to finish the game and I by no means have 100% completion. This is the third Zelda game that I have beaten and while not my favorite it is definitely up there. I absolutely loved Ocarina of Time and I liked Wind Waker a lot as well.
Twilight Princess is in some ways a cross between the two (the style and story arc of Ocarina and the scale of Wind Waker). This game took everything great about Ocarina and reproduced it on a grand scale; bigger map, more items, new swordplay mechanics, and bigger boss fights. If I have any gripe about Twilight Princess it's that the pacing between dungeons, especially later in the game is somewhat lacking. Earlier in the game you are required to do more side quests and exploration between dungeons. Later, you more or less go straight from one dungeon to the next. In Ocarina, in between some of the dungeons were mini-dungeons which did not have keys or maps or compasses, like the large dungeons, but by completing them you obtained some necessary item or skill. I think Twilight Princess is so cinematic in nature it would have benefited from more plot oriented mini-dungeons and a couple less full-sized dungeons.
That said I think the best parts of Twilight Princess are that it creates an enormous living world with a huge amount of content to explore; this was also one of my favorite aspects of Wind Waker. I know a lot of people got tired of all the sailing in that game, but I liked how it created one seamless world where you could get on your boat and sail to an island and go exploring. Twilight Princess achieves a similar affect on land, I especially love the perspective you get when on one of the high bridges (like the one over Lake Hylia).
The swordplay afforded by the wiimote is also an enormous addition to that game. This new gameplay combined with the hidden skills that can be learned add dimensions to every fight, especially those with the heavily armored knights that you encounter later in the game. The boss fights are also some of the best of any Zelda game. The bosses aren't just big, they are huge and the methods required to defeat them are very creative. This is a great game with a great story that anyone who can should play.
Zelda, Hitchcock, Lynch
Though I normally take a long time to play through video games, I have been making relatively quick progress through Zelda: Twilight Princess. Based on reviews I have read about the game I think I am roughly half-way through the game. So far it has lived up to much of the hype of being a bigger version of the series' most popular installment The Ocarina of Time.
Recently I have watched several Alfred Hitchcock and David Lynch movies and I realized a few similarities with the Legend of Zelda series of video games. Many Hitchcock films have similar plot lines, without being repetitive, of the regular person being mistaken for someone else and being thrust into extraordinary circumstances. In the same way Lynch uses the same dual worlds theme in many of his films. Both Hitchcock and Lynch perfected these themes over their careers and made more and more complex versions of what is at its most basic level the same film. This is the same as the Legend of Zelda series of games from Nintendo. By taking the same basic mythology and game structure and modifying the items and dungeon design Nintendo has gradually perfected it's flagship series.
As an example, Ocarina of Time has the child and adult worlds and Twilight Princess has the twilight and light worlds. Hitchcock made The Man Who Knew Too Much and North By Northwest (among others with similar themes) both with average Joes becoming swept up in sinister plots. Lynch's Mulholland Drive and Inland Empire are very similar in concept if not in execution.
I'm sure this comparison could be made with many video game series (Metroid comes to mind), but I think it applies best to Zelda since they are very cinematic games by nature.
Zelda Impressions
This week I started playing Zelda: Twilight Princess. My initial reaction was that although the graphics are very good, I immediately missed the clarity of HD. Despite that the art design of Zelda is always impeccable and this almost makes up for the lack of resolution and textures.
This aspect of the graphics is one reason why I felt the cell-shaded style of Zelda: Wind Waker worked perfectly for a lower powered system. Instead of relying on the processing power necessary to create bump mapping and more detailed textures, the game simply "draws" the textures as part of the cell shaded art. While not as graphically complex as true textures, the end result is still stunning. In TP the realistic look of the art style almost degrades the graphics quality by its aforementioned lack of high end textures. This is especially evident when playing in the "alternate universe" of the Twilight Realm. When in these areas of the game, the lighting effects are less realistic and instead everything has a sort of eerie glow (similar to the look of Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time). This different lighting has the effect of softening the jagged edges of the graphics and is much more visually appealing.
The gameplay in Zelda is also awesome with good variety even in the early stages of the game that I have reached. The free aim mechanic using the Wiimote is a great improvement over the previous method which used a joystick. Swinging the sword using the Wiimote is taking some time to get used to, but I have no aversion to it.
I am still pretty early on in the game, which by all accounts is rather long, so perhaps my impressions will change as I progress.
Gears
So I beat Gears of War today. As usual, it didn't quite live up to the hype. It was still a good game, with interesting game-play mechanics, but not the "revolutionary" experience it was billed as. My biggest gripe is that from one level to another there is essentially no difference. Every level is just another arrangement of random objects to get cover behind; not exactly mind-blowing. I also didn't like how although other weapons are introduced, there is no need to move to a more powerful primary weapon beyond your standard machine gun. A little weapon variety was a great feature of the various shooters I like a lot (Medal of Honor, Call of Duty, Mafia). The story of Gears was also much less fleshed out than I anticipated. Story isn't exactly critical for a shooter, but it seemed like Gears storyline was almost like the 10 hour outline of a very interesting 20 hour story.
The real benefit of beating Gears is that it now frees me to play Zelda on the Wii, which I have been looking forward to for quite a while.