Amount Completed: 1 complete and very deadly play through
Dishonored is a first-person stealth (or optionally not stealth) game in which you play as an assassin (or optionally non-lethal assassin). The game plays out as a quest for revenge (or optionally quest for revealing the truth and saving some people) with a couple of twists and turns. While interesting I wish the story were a bit more involved. All the extra details that are written in little notes found throughout the game, while appreciated, did not add much to the potential grandeur of the larger story.
The game plays very well and allows for quite a bit of creative freedom on how to approach complex situations. Various patrolling guards, lights, and otherwise make for some tough spots to work through.
Additionally the game provides some non-standard extra powers to give you the often much-needed edge over the enemy. The extra powers can be selected to suit your desired style of play. I opted for the anyone-that-is-a-threat has to be removed approach so most of my extra powers were suited towards stealth and inflicting death upon the world. It should be noted that non-violent "enemy" characters were always carefully rendered unconscious and placed in a comfortable resting place.
Gut: Play it if you have any temptation to try a stealth game. It's one of the few I have played all the way through. While I felt the conclusion lacked a bit (especially in relation the to Outsider character) the journey was enjoyable. I might just play it again and be completely non-lethal.
Sunday, April 20, 2014
Thursday, March 6, 2014
The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim [Game][PC]
Amount Completed: Incomplete
Skyrim is Fallout: Really Old Vegas with dragons. As a first-person explore and battle role playing game Skyrim has arguably too much going on. After so many twists and branching side stories I lost track of what the main plot of the game even was. With the Dawnguard expansion installed I decided, after way too many hours, that I wanted to stop the Vampires from killing off people in towns (some of the merchants were dying... I need them to buy all the garbage I pick up!). After about 37,821 diversions along that storyline I finally just threw in the towel. I never did complete the vampire story line and completely quit the game.
The endless stream of bait and switch quest/story designs started to grate on me as I played more and more. The plot to various storylines moved so slowly due to the constant one off requests to "go this and do that, but to do that you'll need to do these 17 things, each of which will branch off into 37 other things." I really just lost track of what was going on and started to just look at the map and pick random locations to visit if a quest marker was present.
Gut: Skyrim can either be fun or a like having a second job depending how you play. Unfortunately for me I played it as though it were a second job. "Completionists" be wary of this game... I have a lot of respect for the product but I have had a lot more fun with other games requiring the same amount of play time investment.
Skyrim is Fallout: Really Old Vegas with dragons. As a first-person explore and battle role playing game Skyrim has arguably too much going on. After so many twists and branching side stories I lost track of what the main plot of the game even was. With the Dawnguard expansion installed I decided, after way too many hours, that I wanted to stop the Vampires from killing off people in towns (some of the merchants were dying... I need them to buy all the garbage I pick up!). After about 37,821 diversions along that storyline I finally just threw in the towel. I never did complete the vampire story line and completely quit the game.
The endless stream of bait and switch quest/story designs started to grate on me as I played more and more. The plot to various storylines moved so slowly due to the constant one off requests to "go this and do that, but to do that you'll need to do these 17 things, each of which will branch off into 37 other things." I really just lost track of what was going on and started to just look at the map and pick random locations to visit if a quest marker was present.
Gut: Skyrim can either be fun or a like having a second job depending how you play. Unfortunately for me I played it as though it were a second job. "Completionists" be wary of this game... I have a lot of respect for the product but I have had a lot more fun with other games requiring the same amount of play time investment.
Tuesday, December 3, 2013
Evoland [Game][PC]
Amount Completed: Completed
Evoland is a game that literally changes styles as you play through it. Each time you obtain a new component the graphics and/or game play change a bit. I would have preferred more time spent in each gaming era with something that linked the changes with the game's story but instead the story provides very little motivation...
The number of game systems implemented for the game is impressive and leads me to believe the developer now has the ground work for a variety of type of games... Evoland 2 maybe?
Gut: Evoland is fun but has some long stretches where the changes are minimal. It's a quick game that is a nice flashback but nothing spectacular.
Evoland is a game that literally changes styles as you play through it. Each time you obtain a new component the graphics and/or game play change a bit. I would have preferred more time spent in each gaming era with something that linked the changes with the game's story but instead the story provides very little motivation...
The number of game systems implemented for the game is impressive and leads me to believe the developer now has the ground work for a variety of type of games... Evoland 2 maybe?
Gut: Evoland is fun but has some long stretches where the changes are minimal. It's a quick game that is a nice flashback but nothing spectacular.
Tomb Raider [Game][PC]
Amount Completed: Complete (100%)
Tomb Raider is certainly loaded with a lot more action than the previous games. Lara slays a small army in various brutal ways as you progress through the game. I was a bit surprised by the level of violence. The game flows through a few different types of gameplay:
Gut: The Tomb Raider reboot is fun and stands out as a unique experience. The quick time events were occasionally annoying but were spaced out as to not make me stop playing.
Tomb Raider is certainly loaded with a lot more action than the previous games. Lara slays a small army in various brutal ways as you progress through the game. I was a bit surprised by the level of violence. The game flows through a few different types of gameplay:
- Exploration - Much like the original series of games but with a cheat button to help you spot things. I actually felt the cheat button was perfectly fine to include -- there's still plenty of exploration required. This mode also includes animal hunting which was strangely fun...
- Combat - The music changes, Lara draws her weapon... and Lara goes on a killing spree until the music dies down and she puts away her weapon.
- Cinematic - Camera is in control and you move in various ways as to avoid dying while the world falls apart around you.
- Quick Time Event - Press those buttons when you are told to! For whatever reason I kept missing what the actual expected button was...
Gut: The Tomb Raider reboot is fun and stands out as a unique experience. The quick time events were occasionally annoying but were spaced out as to not make me stop playing.
Wednesday, November 6, 2013
Deadlight [Game][PC]
Amount Completed: Incomplete (played for 2+ hours according to Steam)
I could not bring myself to finish this game. The experience was simply infuriating and not really fun for me. For whatever reason I played the game in a few different sessions with a long time between each. This meant relearning the controls each time. Using a web search to figure out how to kick down a door was arguably embarrassing for both me and the game.
The art and presentation were fine but unfortunately I just realized I was not enjoying myself...
Gut: How I made it through Braid, VVVVVV, and other puzzle/control critical games is unbelievable... but somehow this one actually made me just give up.
I could not bring myself to finish this game. The experience was simply infuriating and not really fun for me. For whatever reason I played the game in a few different sessions with a long time between each. This meant relearning the controls each time. Using a web search to figure out how to kick down a door was arguably embarrassing for both me and the game.
The art and presentation were fine but unfortunately I just realized I was not enjoying myself...
Gut: How I made it through Braid, VVVVVV, and other puzzle/control critical games is unbelievable... but somehow this one actually made me just give up.
Friday, October 18, 2013
Saints Row IV [Game][PC]
Amount Completed: Entire game with just about every activity completed (might have missed gold on a few).
Saints Row IV takes the Saints Row series into an entirely different style of plot but continues and expands the standard sandbox gameplay of previous games. Now in addition to the standard run/gun/drive gameplay your character takes on ridiculous super-hero powers allowing you to run up buildings and glide through the air. This functionality was first seen in DLC for SR3 only to be expanded upon extensively for SR4.
The plot was a bit bizarre at first but seemed acceptable in its semi-serious homage to Mass Effect. Unfortunately as with the previous games the writing seems to leave a lot to be desired. It's not necessarily that things are weird and sometimes outlandish it's that so many decisions/characters just leave you confused and asking "why" -- it's primarily a problem of not really having a solid rulebook for given characters as they go through the plot of the games.
The game plays really well with tons of things going on at once. I was very impressed with the graphics as I flew through the city and leapt across the skyline. This is not to say the graphics themselves are always great but the performance certainly was. The activities were a lot less frustrating than in the previous games... but not always that much fun. Platform jumping and hurling colored items at targets seemed more like a demo for a Wii game than a Saints Row activity.
Gut: I really enjoyed the actual gameplay experience. The quick time events were limited and used appropriately. Much of the story was meh/fine but like its predecessors when it was bad it was really terrible. I definitely recommend Saints Row IV for the super-powered sandbox experience. (My Playthrough experience)
Saints Row IV takes the Saints Row series into an entirely different style of plot but continues and expands the standard sandbox gameplay of previous games. Now in addition to the standard run/gun/drive gameplay your character takes on ridiculous super-hero powers allowing you to run up buildings and glide through the air. This functionality was first seen in DLC for SR3 only to be expanded upon extensively for SR4.
The plot was a bit bizarre at first but seemed acceptable in its semi-serious homage to Mass Effect. Unfortunately as with the previous games the writing seems to leave a lot to be desired. It's not necessarily that things are weird and sometimes outlandish it's that so many decisions/characters just leave you confused and asking "why" -- it's primarily a problem of not really having a solid rulebook for given characters as they go through the plot of the games.
The game plays really well with tons of things going on at once. I was very impressed with the graphics as I flew through the city and leapt across the skyline. This is not to say the graphics themselves are always great but the performance certainly was. The activities were a lot less frustrating than in the previous games... but not always that much fun. Platform jumping and hurling colored items at targets seemed more like a demo for a Wii game than a Saints Row activity.
Gut: I really enjoyed the actual gameplay experience. The quick time events were limited and used appropriately. Much of the story was meh/fine but like its predecessors when it was bad it was really terrible. I definitely recommend Saints Row IV for the super-powered sandbox experience. (My Playthrough experience)
Wednesday, October 2, 2013
Resident Evil 5 [Game][PC]
Amount Completed: Entire Game with my spouse.
Resident Evil 5 is a clunky 3rd person survival action game. The graphics are good and the imagery certainly is gruesome at times. As a cooperative game it is fun and at times teamwork can make things much easier. Unfortunately the controls really hamper the ability to feel like you are in direct control of your character. Instead you spend much of the game fighting the interface instead of the zombies/undead/infected/whatever.
The story is not exactly enticing but at least there is a narrative to an extent. Some of the game felt like a designer wanted to make a Tomb Raider game instead of a Resident Evil game. The quick time events in this game are just abusive. Not only does failure result in repetition but often quite a bit of repetition. I hate quick time events that appear over plot development as I want to pay close attention to the action and dialogue not random prompts that can appear up to and including 1 frame of game time (yea that's fair and balanced).
The biggest flaw/bug I saw was a prompt that indicated to hold a button down that was in fact intended to indicated to rapidly tap the button. To make things worse this occurs when battling the final boss. QA wins an award for not actually paying attention when testing the PC version (and possibly others too) in English. Congrats you did terribly!
Gut: Not exactly worth it... invalid instructions for quick time events aside... The experience is more infuriating than enjoyable. I hate most quick time events in just about any video game. This one relies on them too heavily and often requires you to fail to learn the key combinations ahead of time so you can press them within the given 1 frame window (I suggest pressing them before it even prompts you).
Resident Evil 5 is a clunky 3rd person survival action game. The graphics are good and the imagery certainly is gruesome at times. As a cooperative game it is fun and at times teamwork can make things much easier. Unfortunately the controls really hamper the ability to feel like you are in direct control of your character. Instead you spend much of the game fighting the interface instead of the zombies/undead/infected/whatever.
The story is not exactly enticing but at least there is a narrative to an extent. Some of the game felt like a designer wanted to make a Tomb Raider game instead of a Resident Evil game. The quick time events in this game are just abusive. Not only does failure result in repetition but often quite a bit of repetition. I hate quick time events that appear over plot development as I want to pay close attention to the action and dialogue not random prompts that can appear up to and including 1 frame of game time (yea that's fair and balanced).
The biggest flaw/bug I saw was a prompt that indicated to hold a button down that was in fact intended to indicated to rapidly tap the button. To make things worse this occurs when battling the final boss. QA wins an award for not actually paying attention when testing the PC version (and possibly others too) in English. Congrats you did terribly!
Gut: Not exactly worth it... invalid instructions for quick time events aside... The experience is more infuriating than enjoyable. I hate most quick time events in just about any video game. This one relies on them too heavily and often requires you to fail to learn the key combinations ahead of time so you can press them within the given 1 frame window (I suggest pressing them before it even prompts you).
Sunday, July 14, 2013
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 [Game][PC]
Amount Completed: Entire single player game
My review of this game is essentially the same as the review for Modern Warfare (1).
I think in the end... I was a bit disappointed. The game actually started out being a more fun than the first and felt larger-than-life but as the game came to a conclusion I was wishing for something more... grand. A number of the missions with America under siege felt almost open and less on rails than the rest of the game. Unfortunately this didn't continue and instead things were generally right back on fairly rigid rails.
There seemed to be a lot of "going to the well" when it comes to the main character becoming incapacitated or otherwise...
Gut: Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 is a fine (mostly on rails) shooter. The story is nothing too exciting to me and the general gameplay is what I would expect of a shooter.
My review of this game is essentially the same as the review for Modern Warfare (1).
I think in the end... I was a bit disappointed. The game actually started out being a more fun than the first and felt larger-than-life but as the game came to a conclusion I was wishing for something more... grand. A number of the missions with America under siege felt almost open and less on rails than the rest of the game. Unfortunately this didn't continue and instead things were generally right back on fairly rigid rails.
There seemed to be a lot of "going to the well" when it comes to the main character becoming incapacitated or otherwise...
Gut: Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 is a fine (mostly on rails) shooter. The story is nothing too exciting to me and the general gameplay is what I would expect of a shooter.
Friday, July 5, 2013
The Walking Dead [Game] [PC]
Amount Completed: All 5 Episodes
The Walking Dead "adventure" game is definitely intriguing and entertaining. I wouldn't say it is exactly fun as it's not much of a game. There's a lot of cut-scenes and talking. The action sequences are mostly uninteresting and could have easily been skipped to make an even more casual television viewing experience.
I was impressed with the lack of a filter of some very sensitive topics, such as the death of child character. The game is not one of great joy and certainly can be quite depressing at times. As a grand adventure through the world of zombies I think the story fit and moved along reasonably well.
Not all of the episodes are created equally either... Some of the required activities and interactions can become repetitive very quickly.
Gut: The Walking Dead was an enjoyable choose you own adventure. I recommend it for the interesting story and choices. If there is a way remove all the "action" sequences I would recommend doing so.
The Walking Dead "adventure" game is definitely intriguing and entertaining. I wouldn't say it is exactly fun as it's not much of a game. There's a lot of cut-scenes and talking. The action sequences are mostly uninteresting and could have easily been skipped to make an even more casual television viewing experience.
I was impressed with the lack of a filter of some very sensitive topics, such as the death of child character. The game is not one of great joy and certainly can be quite depressing at times. As a grand adventure through the world of zombies I think the story fit and moved along reasonably well.
Not all of the episodes are created equally either... Some of the required activities and interactions can become repetitive very quickly.
Gut: The Walking Dead was an enjoyable choose you own adventure. I recommend it for the interesting story and choices. If there is a way remove all the "action" sequences I would recommend doing so.
Arrested Development Season 4 [Television]
Amount Viewed: Entire Season
As with just about every fan of the show I was looking forward to seeing more Arrested Development when I heard it was given a second life by Netflix. As the release date drew near I heard rumors of very character driven/focused episodes and then I started to realize what was happening. The ensemble would not be an ensemble.
So here are some major points that made season 4 difficult for me to enjoy:
Gut: Unfortunate. "It just blue itself."
As with just about every fan of the show I was looking forward to seeing more Arrested Development when I heard it was given a second life by Netflix. As the release date drew near I heard rumors of very character driven/focused episodes and then I started to realize what was happening. The ensemble would not be an ensemble.
So here are some major points that made season 4 difficult for me to enjoy:
- No longer an ensemble where at least half the cast plays an active role in each episode
- Michael is no longer the straight-man and anchor of the show -- instead he is now a lot like the rest of the characters in the family
- The first episode I found to be tolerable the whole way through was Maeby's. (
- I don't need to see every angle of a story through the eyes of every character.
- Overload of stupid or unfunny
Gut: Unfortunate. "It just blue itself."
Monday, July 1, 2013
Red Faction: Guerrilla [Game][PC]
Amount Completed: Entire single player game (and a lot of the side stuff)
I recalled playing the original Red Faction ages ago but never finished it. I decided I should take this one more seriously after playing it for an hour. The story is a basic uprising against an oppressive government plot. The rebels seek out an upper hand and you run around blasting stuff to bits and agitating the oppressors.
The fun of the game is the physics engine. Blasting buildings and more to shreds is a lot of fun. As you play you gain access to more tools of destruction that arguably make the experience more entertaining. Unfortunately a number of the side missions become tedious and work against the game. I became especially bored with rescuing prisoners as they had a way of getting themselves killed. The "return the car to a base" missions also became extremely frustrating as the vehicle controls left a lot to be desired.
While a lot of fun and interesting enough (story is fairly light) the game simply was too long. Near the end I was ready for it to be over.
In many ways I feel I was spoiled by Just Cause 2. In Red Faction Guerrilla you're glued to the ground and your survival relies heavily on finding cover! There are plenty of very capable enemies working hard to make you die.
Gut: Red Faction: Guerrilla is a very good sand box-like game. Some of the travel required seems to just eat up time instead of adding to the experience of the game. Definitely worth playing through.
I recalled playing the original Red Faction ages ago but never finished it. I decided I should take this one more seriously after playing it for an hour. The story is a basic uprising against an oppressive government plot. The rebels seek out an upper hand and you run around blasting stuff to bits and agitating the oppressors.
The fun of the game is the physics engine. Blasting buildings and more to shreds is a lot of fun. As you play you gain access to more tools of destruction that arguably make the experience more entertaining. Unfortunately a number of the side missions become tedious and work against the game. I became especially bored with rescuing prisoners as they had a way of getting themselves killed. The "return the car to a base" missions also became extremely frustrating as the vehicle controls left a lot to be desired.
While a lot of fun and interesting enough (story is fairly light) the game simply was too long. Near the end I was ready for it to be over.
In many ways I feel I was spoiled by Just Cause 2. In Red Faction Guerrilla you're glued to the ground and your survival relies heavily on finding cover! There are plenty of very capable enemies working hard to make you die.
Gut: Red Faction: Guerrilla is a very good sand box-like game. Some of the travel required seems to just eat up time instead of adding to the experience of the game. Definitely worth playing through.
Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare [Game][PC]
Amount Completed: Entire single player game
I sought out this game not because I thought it would be a great game but because of the negativity directed towards it. I was not surprised with what I found. I can see why there are a lot of complaints about how there isn't much in the way of choice as you play. It's a fairly rigid directed experience that runs you through the narrative and given events along the way.
The sequence that received a lot of criticism was the artillery shelling of a city where the lives of the targets are reduced to blips (hmm much like the lives of characters killed in video games). As a sarcastic/caustic reminder of what military actions are far from the front lines of battle I was not exactly offended. I was a bit disappointed that they called back to it for the ending credits... oh well.
The story did take an interesting route with dual plot lines. Not everything went perfectly so that was a nice break from most shooters where things are generally fine in the end. Unfortunately except for one event I hardly recall what else happened in the game.
Gut: Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare is a fine shooter. The story is nothing too exciting to me and the general gameplay is what I would expect of a shooter.
I sought out this game not because I thought it would be a great game but because of the negativity directed towards it. I was not surprised with what I found. I can see why there are a lot of complaints about how there isn't much in the way of choice as you play. It's a fairly rigid directed experience that runs you through the narrative and given events along the way.
The sequence that received a lot of criticism was the artillery shelling of a city where the lives of the targets are reduced to blips (hmm much like the lives of characters killed in video games). As a sarcastic/caustic reminder of what military actions are far from the front lines of battle I was not exactly offended. I was a bit disappointed that they called back to it for the ending credits... oh well.
The story did take an interesting route with dual plot lines. Not everything went perfectly so that was a nice break from most shooters where things are generally fine in the end. Unfortunately except for one event I hardly recall what else happened in the game.
Gut: Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare is a fine shooter. The story is nothing too exciting to me and the general gameplay is what I would expect of a shooter.
Call of Duty: World at War [Game][PC]
Amount Completed: Entire Single Player Game
Call of Duty: World at War is yet another first person shooter that takes place in World War 2. The experience is very much on rails and often times requires a whole lot of repetition to figure out exactly how to get through certain choke points. I felt I was playing a first person shooter equivalent to VVVVVV.
The game spans a few different plot lines but none of them feel like the main story. The switches between the plot every few missions was disruptive to the flow and occasionally caused me to lose track and or interest in the given storyline. There wasn't much depth and there was little of interest that happened to keep my attention.
As a general fan of the original 2 Call of Duty games this one was quite lackluster.
Gut: Call of Duty: World at War feels like a collection of DLC missions sets glued together to make a game. It was more frustrating than fun. It was a bit of slog.
Call of Duty: World at War is yet another first person shooter that takes place in World War 2. The experience is very much on rails and often times requires a whole lot of repetition to figure out exactly how to get through certain choke points. I felt I was playing a first person shooter equivalent to VVVVVV.
The game spans a few different plot lines but none of them feel like the main story. The switches between the plot every few missions was disruptive to the flow and occasionally caused me to lose track and or interest in the given storyline. There wasn't much depth and there was little of interest that happened to keep my attention.
As a general fan of the original 2 Call of Duty games this one was quite lackluster.
Gut: Call of Duty: World at War feels like a collection of DLC missions sets glued together to make a game. It was more frustrating than fun. It was a bit of slog.
Monday, April 8, 2013
Sleeping Dogs [Game][PC]
Amount Completed: Main storyline and most of the side missions (?)
Sleeping Dogs is definitely a welcome and worthy entrant to the arena of crime-city-sandbox games. GTA4 and Saints Row 3 each have their own positives. Sleeping Dogs brings a much richer hand-to-hand combat experience than the other two games and seemed to do a better job of giving reason to fetch or travel missions. While not perfect, the writing and overall story were fitting. The missions supporting the police were an interesting aside the other two crime-heavy games lacked.
The game looks great and has a very fitting atmosphere. There is a lot to do and see. The characters have just enough depth to pass but in many cases deserved a bit more. The same could be argued for some of the plot points. A bit more time to play things out would have helped the overall experience.
Cheater racing invaded my gaming experience though. This is where the AI magically seems to always be ahead or able to surpass your own maximum speed for 90% of a race to keep you moving forward... and then at the end they drop off and you can pass them. I hate this. The (apparently DLC) Enduro motorcycle race required a good six minutes of near perfect driving to complete. While I finished it after a couple tries I was disappointed that the AI seemed to have such an easy edge.
Gut: Sleeping Dogs is awesome. It is well worth whatever price it is at now. I would have been happy to have paid full price for it at release.
Sleeping Dogs is definitely a welcome and worthy entrant to the arena of crime-city-sandbox games. GTA4 and Saints Row 3 each have their own positives. Sleeping Dogs brings a much richer hand-to-hand combat experience than the other two games and seemed to do a better job of giving reason to fetch or travel missions. While not perfect, the writing and overall story were fitting. The missions supporting the police were an interesting aside the other two crime-heavy games lacked.
The game looks great and has a very fitting atmosphere. There is a lot to do and see. The characters have just enough depth to pass but in many cases deserved a bit more. The same could be argued for some of the plot points. A bit more time to play things out would have helped the overall experience.
Cheater racing invaded my gaming experience though. This is where the AI magically seems to always be ahead or able to surpass your own maximum speed for 90% of a race to keep you moving forward... and then at the end they drop off and you can pass them. I hate this. The (apparently DLC) Enduro motorcycle race required a good six minutes of near perfect driving to complete. While I finished it after a couple tries I was disappointed that the AI seemed to have such an easy edge.
Gut: Sleeping Dogs is awesome. It is well worth whatever price it is at now. I would have been happy to have paid full price for it at release.
Saturday, March 23, 2013
Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic [Game][PC]
Amount Completed: Entire game multiple times as light/dark.
My most recent play through as a dark side character was my third. Revisiting Knights of the Old Republic was a bit of a slog due to my memory of the first planet (Taris) dragging on way too long. My save game confirmed my suspicion. It was 6+ hours when I finally left. Taris, while arguably a bit long, is actually fairly interesting. I just started exploring with a negative attitude (a bit like how I recalled Manaan as well). One major issue is that there are times where your experience is limited to just running around for minutes at a time. Even with quick loading between sections you are just running to/from various points.
Fortunately my memory had a few gaps from my previous experiences so I was surprised occasionally by events/locations within the game. In addition to not recalling story elements I actually forgot some other critical things: If you are a dark side player then using light side skills costs additional force. While understandable who is going to ignore critical light side force abilities like Cure/Heal?
The story and characters provide plenty of entertainment. It is especially humorous to see them react in horror after you make a terrible comment/decision. The opposite is not really true. As a light player the reactions of "negative" characters are not as interesting. HK-47 might be an exception as he becomes very disappointed in the meatbags.
While the combat is fun I find it to be a bit rough around the edges. After my first play through I decided that there is no point to making combat difficult so I just default to easy so I can continue through the story without too much concern for having to repeat battles (though some can still destroy you if you are too lazy). There are too many problems with characters becoming caught on walls/objects/enemies for combat to be taken too seriously. This is not a hard core combat-strategy game.
Gut: Knights of the Old Republic is a great adventure with entertaining combat, characters, music, and choices. I am sure the third is not my last play through.
My most recent play through as a dark side character was my third. Revisiting Knights of the Old Republic was a bit of a slog due to my memory of the first planet (Taris) dragging on way too long. My save game confirmed my suspicion. It was 6+ hours when I finally left. Taris, while arguably a bit long, is actually fairly interesting. I just started exploring with a negative attitude (a bit like how I recalled Manaan as well). One major issue is that there are times where your experience is limited to just running around for minutes at a time. Even with quick loading between sections you are just running to/from various points.
Fortunately my memory had a few gaps from my previous experiences so I was surprised occasionally by events/locations within the game. In addition to not recalling story elements I actually forgot some other critical things: If you are a dark side player then using light side skills costs additional force. While understandable who is going to ignore critical light side force abilities like Cure/Heal?
The story and characters provide plenty of entertainment. It is especially humorous to see them react in horror after you make a terrible comment/decision. The opposite is not really true. As a light player the reactions of "negative" characters are not as interesting. HK-47 might be an exception as he becomes very disappointed in the meatbags.
While the combat is fun I find it to be a bit rough around the edges. After my first play through I decided that there is no point to making combat difficult so I just default to easy so I can continue through the story without too much concern for having to repeat battles (though some can still destroy you if you are too lazy). There are too many problems with characters becoming caught on walls/objects/enemies for combat to be taken too seriously. This is not a hard core combat-strategy game.
Gut: Knights of the Old Republic is a great adventure with entertaining combat, characters, music, and choices. I am sure the third is not my last play through.
Monday, March 4, 2013
Dead Island [Game][PC]
Amount Completed: Entire campaign with my spouse. (most, if not all side quests)
This was the second cooperative-quest game I played through with my spouse. The first was Borderlands. Dead Island brought more of an edge and different survival experience than Borderlands.
The joy of decent teamwork and coordination of attacks was rewarding and challenging at times. When split up it was especially difficult. It really reminded me how critical a teammate in Dead Island can be. Just having another person watch your back (and the obvious pick you up when you are on your way to death) is very important! Zombies like to run from out of nowhere and chomp on you.
The lack of ammo (and/or ability to carry much) meant that this game was very heavy on melee combat. I was initially put off on the concept but as I played the game I found it worked well enough for me. The ammo problem was really stupid... you basically could take down a set (small) number of zombies and then you had to switch to melee.
After many hours of trying weapon types I found only one that was reliable and not dangerous to my partner. Electrified one-handed weapons were the way to go. Anything else was too risky.
The ongoing plot was a bit muddled by so many side quests. I literally lost track at one point... I did not even understand what was going on in the plot because we had done so many distractions and so much exploration.
Gut: A lot of fun! While it has a couple of issues related to easily tracking quest locations and occasional spawn point problems, all of them were forgivable as the experience was fun and kept us challenged.
This was the second cooperative-quest game I played through with my spouse. The first was Borderlands. Dead Island brought more of an edge and different survival experience than Borderlands.
The joy of decent teamwork and coordination of attacks was rewarding and challenging at times. When split up it was especially difficult. It really reminded me how critical a teammate in Dead Island can be. Just having another person watch your back (and the obvious pick you up when you are on your way to death) is very important! Zombies like to run from out of nowhere and chomp on you.
The lack of ammo (and/or ability to carry much) meant that this game was very heavy on melee combat. I was initially put off on the concept but as I played the game I found it worked well enough for me. The ammo problem was really stupid... you basically could take down a set (small) number of zombies and then you had to switch to melee.
After many hours of trying weapon types I found only one that was reliable and not dangerous to my partner. Electrified one-handed weapons were the way to go. Anything else was too risky.
The ongoing plot was a bit muddled by so many side quests. I literally lost track at one point... I did not even understand what was going on in the plot because we had done so many distractions and so much exploration.
Gut: A lot of fun! While it has a couple of issues related to easily tracking quest locations and occasional spawn point problems, all of them were forgivable as the experience was fun and kept us challenged.
Homefront [Game][PC]
Amount Completed: Entire single player campaign.
I was reminded of the edginess attempted in Spec Ops: The Line when playing Homefront. Unfortunately I felt like it was a bit rammed in. North Korea taking over everything and invading the US... and you need to fight back and experience the atrocities of a horrible occupation first hand. It was a bit too heavy handed for me to take seriously at times.
The game plays like a standard on-rails FPS with lots of scripted events and activities along the way. While the campaign was short it does remain fairly interesting throughout. In many cases I felt the game required the Call of Duty style "rush ahead and everything will work out" game play. I can understand the design decision but I am not sure so much of it was required. The game really punished you whenever you were separated from your squad. In particular there was a sequence requiring you to enter a church to reach the bell tower. Without the squad around I died numerous times to memorize where the enemies were as I took each step. It was brutal to get through it. I could be terrible at this game... or I was too spoiled by my squad taking a lot of bullets for me.
Gut: Not bad. It's nothing too incredible. Everything is certainly not roses for the Americans for the sake of the plot. Unfortunately it came across a slight bit cheesy in comparison to Spec Ops: The Line. As the first in a likely series of games I have to say they did well for an original IP.
I was reminded of the edginess attempted in Spec Ops: The Line when playing Homefront. Unfortunately I felt like it was a bit rammed in. North Korea taking over everything and invading the US... and you need to fight back and experience the atrocities of a horrible occupation first hand. It was a bit too heavy handed for me to take seriously at times.
The game plays like a standard on-rails FPS with lots of scripted events and activities along the way. While the campaign was short it does remain fairly interesting throughout. In many cases I felt the game required the Call of Duty style "rush ahead and everything will work out" game play. I can understand the design decision but I am not sure so much of it was required. The game really punished you whenever you were separated from your squad. In particular there was a sequence requiring you to enter a church to reach the bell tower. Without the squad around I died numerous times to memorize where the enemies were as I took each step. It was brutal to get through it. I could be terrible at this game... or I was too spoiled by my squad taking a lot of bullets for me.
Gut: Not bad. It's nothing too incredible. Everything is certainly not roses for the Americans for the sake of the plot. Unfortunately it came across a slight bit cheesy in comparison to Spec Ops: The Line. As the first in a likely series of games I have to say they did well for an original IP.
Warhammer 40k: Space Marine [Game][PC]
Amount Completed: Entire single player campaign.
This is an awesome game.
30 minutes later...
This is getting old.
5 hours later...
This could be getting better... (this is when you stop fighting orcs as much)
1 hour later...
When does this end?!
Space Marine has fun combat marred by the inclusion of a heal method via slaying your enemy in awesome-dramatic-animation-slow mode. Unfortunately the rest of the game continues on so you might be covered in grenades and filled with holes by the time you get your heal from slaying the given enemy. The combat and running around gets old fast... the environments do look good, but they just were not all that interesting. The plot was acceptable but it was way too long. I would have enjoyed multiple small campaigns over one huge one.
Gut: Nope. Sorry this game was cool in concept but the campaign was a long slog.
This is an awesome game.
30 minutes later...
This is getting old.
5 hours later...
This could be getting better... (this is when you stop fighting orcs as much)
1 hour later...
When does this end?!
Space Marine has fun combat marred by the inclusion of a heal method via slaying your enemy in awesome-dramatic-animation-slow mode. Unfortunately the rest of the game continues on so you might be covered in grenades and filled with holes by the time you get your heal from slaying the given enemy. The combat and running around gets old fast... the environments do look good, but they just were not all that interesting. The plot was acceptable but it was way too long. I would have enjoyed multiple small campaigns over one huge one.
Gut: Nope. Sorry this game was cool in concept but the campaign was a long slog.
Raising Hope [Television]
Amount Viewed: Everything just about up-to-date as of this entry. (late season three)
Initially I found Raising Hope intriguing in that it was a version of Modern Family with a more small town American stereotype feel to it. The plots were outrageous at times but it still felt grounded overall. This changed over time and everything became out of control and bizarre. The writers also often forget the title of the show. I guess you can't base a show on a baby after all... with such a cast of oddballs that provide more interesting characteristics.
Raising Hope deserves some credit for being first in line to parody and steal from other shows and/or forms of entertainment. While always fairly blatant in borrowing concepts it felt like the show was always mocking itself. It never took itself too seriously which mostly worked and produced some laughs and occasional endearing charm.
Gut: Slow long death. There is so much garbage to wade through in the later seasons. Having fun with the characters/world is "great and all" but it turns too far into stupid too often in the later episodes. I gave up because apparently the writers did too. It was fun, now let it go Fox. Bring on something better to cancel in half a season.
Initially I found Raising Hope intriguing in that it was a version of Modern Family with a more small town American stereotype feel to it. The plots were outrageous at times but it still felt grounded overall. This changed over time and everything became out of control and bizarre. The writers also often forget the title of the show. I guess you can't base a show on a baby after all... with such a cast of oddballs that provide more interesting characteristics.
Raising Hope deserves some credit for being first in line to parody and steal from other shows and/or forms of entertainment. While always fairly blatant in borrowing concepts it felt like the show was always mocking itself. It never took itself too seriously which mostly worked and produced some laughs and occasional endearing charm.
Gut: Slow long death. There is so much garbage to wade through in the later seasons. Having fun with the characters/world is "great and all" but it turns too far into stupid too often in the later episodes. I gave up because apparently the writers did too. It was fun, now let it go Fox. Bring on something better to cancel in half a season.
Sunday, March 3, 2013
Fallout: New Vegas DLC [Game][PC]
Amount Completed: All four DLC played in this order:
Dead Money: Another fish-out-of-water DLC where you never seem to get a foothold/advantage over things. The enemies are tough and you can die around every corner. It was interesting enough but I never really felt like I knew what I should be doing... I just kind of ran forward and hoped it worked out.
Old World Blues: Plenty to explore and learn about. This was the most fun of the DLC though it had way too much voice acting... Exploring the wasteland of high tech was interesting enough with a ton of unique weapons/additions to be found.
Lonesome Road: This DLC is basically a point A to point B journey with a lot of melodramatic scratchy voiced guy criticizing and confusing you along the way. The activities were fun enough but I lost interest and was just hoping it would end about half way through. It does build out the story a bit so at least it has that going for it.
Gut: Fallout: New Vegas DLC is a mixed bag of fun/frustration/challenges and a lot of dialogue. I will narrow it down per DLC with a simple yes or no.
Honest Hearts: No
Dead Money: Yes
Old World blues: Yes
Lonesome Road: Yes
- Honest Hearts
- Dead Money
- Old World Blues
- Lonesome Road
Dead Money: Another fish-out-of-water DLC where you never seem to get a foothold/advantage over things. The enemies are tough and you can die around every corner. It was interesting enough but I never really felt like I knew what I should be doing... I just kind of ran forward and hoped it worked out.
Old World Blues: Plenty to explore and learn about. This was the most fun of the DLC though it had way too much voice acting... Exploring the wasteland of high tech was interesting enough with a ton of unique weapons/additions to be found.
Lonesome Road: This DLC is basically a point A to point B journey with a lot of melodramatic scratchy voiced guy criticizing and confusing you along the way. The activities were fun enough but I lost interest and was just hoping it would end about half way through. It does build out the story a bit so at least it has that going for it.
Gut: Fallout: New Vegas DLC is a mixed bag of fun/frustration/challenges and a lot of dialogue. I will narrow it down per DLC with a simple yes or no.
Honest Hearts: No
Dead Money: Yes
Old World blues: Yes
Lonesome Road: Yes
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