Saints Row 2 [Game][PC]

Amount Completed: All on-map missions (not all the activities). I played the game using the Gentlemen of the Row modification (the standard set) in hopes of avoiding many of the issues that apparently plagued the PC port. 

Story: Saints Row 2 (SR2) follows the leader of the Saints gang breaking out of prison and re-establishing their power over the city of Stilwater. Along the way the Saints have to battle with 3 gangs (Brotherhood, Sons of Samedi, and the Ronin) and one 'gang-like' police force (Ultor). While the story is mostly over-the-top with parodies of gang activities, the actual events/cutscenes are at times very gritty and dark. I appreciated the dramatic mix and found the lack of ability to choose whether to to perform a given action created a different relationship/association with the character I controlled (unlike SR3 where choices were mine to make). There are some brutally violent twists in the story, especially within the Brotherhood gang storyline.

Unfortunately the beginning of the game was so poorly executed I was close to quitting. Only after progressing a bit in the Brotherhood storyline did I feel it was worth continuing.

Later I found it strange that I apparently opted to ignore the Ronin gang until last. This flowed right into the final few missions against Ultor. The Samedi and Ronin stories were fine but the Brotherhood storyline seemed to deliver the most drama and intrigue (though ridiculous at times). Unlike SR3, most of the game felt a bit underwhelming. The story was not as rushed but definitely felt like it needed a bit more drama/excitement in the end (the final few missions did not exactly make sense). I guess the questions as to "why?" are probably lost on this kind of game/plot. The answer is: "It's an insane gang hell bent on taking over."

Art: SR2 has decent art with the exception of the Johny Gat model and a bit of the Shaundi Character. Johny Gat looked so completely pale and out of place due to his character design I had a hard time taking him seriously. Shaundi on the other hand had some weird art issues with her hair. None of the other characters seemed to stand out as problematic. The city was very populated visually and looked as expected.

Sound: The music of SR2 was fitting but only a few of the songs stood out to me. Also the quality of the music seemed to be very low. While somewhat acceptable to fictionalize radio play it sounded awful when played in the main menu and in a few other instances.

Gameplay: SR2 is an open world game in the spirit of Grand Theft Auto. Throughout the game money and respect are earned. From what I gathered, respect was required to play story missions and earned by playing the side missions. The side missions of the game were familiar to me as many are reused in SR3. I was surprised to find a number that were unique to SR2 that really should have continued into the next game. The FUZZ side missions seemed very entertaining/appropriate (albeit caustic and sarcastic). I was glad to see the septic side mission stayed only with SR2. It was incredibly boring and did not provide the over-the-top entertainment that some of the other activities delivered. To complete the game I actually just played through a couple of the side missions and then stopped. I happened to do just enough to finish the game without running out of respect.

Driving and running around were in-line with my previous expectations of a GTA style game. The combat did not involve anything beyond running and shooting. There was no specific cover system or otherwise. The inclusion of additional gang members (up to three can join you later in the game) was incredibly fun and critical to surviving later in the game. Driving was easy to pick up. Flying a helicopter in the game was not. The controls on the PC resulted in my slamming into buildings and flipping upside down often. One of the helicopter activities was simply impossible for me so I gave up. I could not even get past a few checkpoints of the race. It was not worth the frustration.

The purchase of ammunition was the primary use for money. The actual cost seemed incredibly high for how much you end up using to play through the game. There were also other elements that were unique such as purchasing music for addition to your own custom radio station. I cared so little for much of the soundtrack that I ignored the functionality. 

Gut: SR2 delivers a bit more depth in the story than my experience with SR3 but fails in a few other departments. There are thousands of things to do and I found that I was glad I was able to skip them and continue with the story lines. If you enjoyed SR3 or any of the GTA3 series games then SR2 is worth a try. I highly recommend the Gentleman of the Row (Steam compatible) modification as the PC version was/is plagued with bugs. While not free of bugs the modification undoubtedly helped a lot! There is a lot to do and explore and I probably hardly scratched the surface. I dare say they put too much into the game!

VVVVVV [Game][PC]

Amount Completed To the "Game Complete" screen (all crew saved).

My statistics were:

Time - 2:04:54
Flips - 3554
Deaths - 777
Most Deaths - 46 in The Final Challenge
 
Story The story of VVVVVV follows the captain of a space shipe stuck in another dimension and his efforts to rescue his crew. The missing crew are spread out across a grid of screens (and a bit more). After finding each there is often a sequence in which the captain and the crew member have to travel together through a few additional screens. Other than rescuing the crew you can explore and discover more information about the dimension you are trapped in. I tried to follow the story but I was too busy slamming my head against my desk to remember much due to the unrelenting difficulty of the game (at times).

Art VVVVVV was clearly intended to be a Commodore 64 game and looks accordingly dated. The sad and happy faced characters (and the big weird elephant) fit perfectly and expressed emotions effectively.

Sound The sound is very well thought out. The few number of sound effects express a lot of emotion and again fit the Commodore 64 theme. The soundtrack to the game was catchy and enjoyable.

Gameplay The game is a twitch puzzle game that is very forgiving in that you are allowed to repeat things nearly immediately. Unlike games where one bad decision results in the repetition of twenty minutes of gameplay VVVVVV generally respawns the player immediately adjacent to the difficult puzzle. With respawns being so immediate the puzzles themselves were afforded a lot more difficulty. Playing the game on the keyboard would be alright if the game were a bit less analog. The character has a bit of drift/float as he moves around in the world. At times you can only somewhat predict what pressing a key will actually cause the character to do.

Gut While I can appreciate the difficulty of the game and how it may appeal to some... I have to say that this game was simply not worth putting my fist through a wall for. Frustration gives way in too many of the puzzles. Only a few puzzles were designed where the end result was entertainment, instead most were designed with an end result of relief. Instead of solving a puzzle I felt myself fighting with the controls to the point that I was better off not even looking at the screen and instead counting the milliseconds to hold a key and/or press another.

Dead Space 2 [Game][PC]

Amount Completed: Played through the main storyline. I have no comment on the multiplayer component as I did not try it.

Story: The general setting of Dead Space 2 is about the same as Dead Space. You play as a guy running around in a big metal maze among the stars. You even revisit the big metal maze from the first game. A cult is obsessed with the creation of a large marker from which great things are supposed to happen. Instead nasty creatures run rampant killing and some of them even create more nasty creatures. There are some minor twists as your character is deceived and supported by a small cast of characters throughout the journey. The journey is primarily your own with your current “friend” (might turn on you at any time!) playing navigator. I was hoping for something a bit more grand in terms of the story but instead it was a lot more introspective with your significant other from Dead Space often haunting you. While initially I was not exactly pleased with the approach, it actually became more interesting as more interactions were had with her. In general the story was fine, but I would have liked a lot more real-world events.

Art: The art of Dead Space 2 seems like the art of Dead Space. It looks fine and does the job. The lighting and type of rooms seemed to be more varied in this game. There is a creepy day care center and a lot of other areas intended for day-to-day human life unlike the first game. The creatures look mean and a bit gross with the exception of the supposed tough versions which looked less like their bloody-gory counterparts and more like walking blobs of fecal matter due to their coloring.

Sound: The sound itself is effective at drawing the player into the game. The music is nothing special and sadly forgettable. As with the Dead Space, the sound is what had me jumping from my seat for the first quarter of the game. Unfortunately (well actually fortunately) I learned to expect certain things so the audio cues did not come as a shock after a while. The game used music to indicate that a battle was starting/still-in-progress and I ended up wishing it was not playing at all. That kind of audio hint actually destroyed the suspense that I felt in my first few hours where I had no idea what horror might jump out or remain in an area. 

Gameplay: Dead Space is a third-person game where your character eats up about a third of the screen. It is alright in this day and age of wide screen monitors (I played on one so my experience was acceptable). You explore areas, collect items, improve yourself/weapons, and shoot at enemies. The formula works and has hints of RPG elements with the need for your character to continuously improve.

Like just about every horror game, Dead Space 2 uses scripted events to trigger the introduction of enemies. They will sneak in from behind you, arrive in massive numbers (hint the music changes!), or just jump out in front of you. When I started playing I was jumpy and would react probably more so than even intended... but as time went io I just learned about the likely trigger points. As with Dead Space I even found that in some cases the best approach was to run right through an area that looked dangerous, turn around, and finally blast everything that followed. I recall one storage room in particular I dashed across and started blasting from a corner. I took out ten-plus enemies from the safety of the corner without a scratch. Also I believe you can use objects to trigger the enemies. I swear I shot a box around a corner and an enemy came running out. (I guess I would too if someone hit me with a large box)

Gut: Dead Space 2 is likely enjoyable for fans of the horror genre. I am not one of those fans. I am someone who happened to purchase Dead Space and was curious enough to follow up with purchasing the sequel (both Steam sales). At $10 it was well worth it. Dead Space 2 does take longer than Dead Space. It started to drag at the end when I just wanted to finish the game.

Saints Row: The Third [Game][PC]

Amount Completed: All on-map side missions and the main story line (not all Saintsbook, barnstorms, or other side items).

Story: Saints Row: The Third (SR3) follows the leader of the Saints gang as they re-rise to power in the city of Steelport. The Saints are already well established with legitimate, albeit humrous, businesses. Essentially their business is to hock their image and glorify gang activity and lifestyle. Arguably they are selling a slick high-class lifestyle not necessarily the rough gangs I imagine the world is actually full of. The Saints are pitted against a conglomerate of three gangs known as the Syndicate: Morningstar, Luchadores, and the Deckers. Each one has their own unique style and capabilities. The story is primarily the removal of the Syndicate from the city. Along the way a major military presence, known as STAG, creates essentially a fourth gang to fight with. The story in SR3 is rough and unpolished. It mostly comes across as rushed and/or confusing with weird leaps in logic that even in this bizarre in-game world seem out of place. One of the major issues is simply pacing. In one long mission three brand new characters are introduced with little fanfare and back story. If there is another game I hope they give the story a bit more time to develop.

Art: SR3 looks very good in my opinion for this type of game. I am not a graphics snob so my only concern was with whether any of the art detracted from the overall theme or experience. The character clothing was fairly limited. There were numerous items I would not even consider. Although to each their own... hopefully someone out there actually likes what some artist poured their time into. The character creation was extensive. Unfortunately my character looked a bit different once in different lighting. She looked more like an albino than just some pale woman.

Soundtrack: The music of SR3 was fitting and enjoyable. I did not hear anything that I am a new fan of, but did not find the music grating either. Only rarely would I change the radio station specifically because I did not want to hear a song.

Gameplay: SR3 consists of core storyline missions and a number of side missions/activities to earn money. Money is used mostly to buy upgrades to make the game easier/more fun. You can also buy ammunition which is critical because you will be using a lot! In the beginning of the game you can fairly regularly afford to purchase upgrades to weapons making the experience completely different (easier!). The explosive shells in the pistol seemed like a must in my opinion. For the most part SR3 plays like GTA with a slightly different feel. The driving takes a bit to get used to and in the end works fine (unlike Just Cause 2!). My only complaint would be that the non-helicopter airborne vehicles are way too slow. The VTOL (a jet) feels like it moves like a car. (Jets can go 70mph max right?)

Gut: SR3 is a lot of fun and delivers a unique and rarely frustrating experience. The soundtrack is fitting and provides a good backdrop both in scripted form and randomly.

My playthrough blog: http://sr3play.blogspot.com

RAGE [Game][PC]

Amount Completed: Main story completed and most of the races won. (enough to get all the vehicle upgrades)

Story: RAGE follows the story of a character waking up in a post-apocalyptic world. You soon learn that your character is supposed to be one of many people intended to restore the planet. The plot is very straightforward and without much depth or any twists whatsoever. The Authority represents the ultimate evil in the world throughout. They represent a powerful group bent on … I have no idea (seriously, I have no idea why the Authority exists). Unfortunately without any character representing the authority, beyond the random soldiers you fight against it, the enemy is faceless and actually presents little threat to your “acquaintances” throughout the game. Nothing bad happens to any character you could even remotely care for. At one point the Authority takes a punk of a city leader and it has no effect on the game at all. It is just another event in a mostly bland string of events. The plot moves along slowly and has no climax. There's a conclusion at the end but it is so quick and lacking in any substance that they obviously are planning some kind of sequel.

Art: The art of RAGE does a fine job of immersing the player. As expected the post apocalyptic world is really dirty and generally bland. A couple of minor things pop in the game but for the most part I did not ever find myself admiring the artwork. The characters look good and unfortunately are backed up with no depth worthy of the visual.

Gameplay: RAGE plays like a standard shooter with lots of inventory items to play with to make your experience a bit less than just an outright shooter. Unfortunately the combat just did not feel very good. Many of the enemies seemed to take way too many shots to take down. How many head-shots should it really take? I saw this less as a sign of difficulty and more as a sign of making the player spend in-game currency on ammo in huge quantities. Also the enemies feedback to being shot felt strange. In some cases they seemed delayed taking the shot as though the game was waiting to finish a previous animation before acknowledging the hit. The car combat was simple and worked reasonably well fortunately.

Gut: If you just love high resolution neat graphics, and not much else, than maybe RAGE is for you. If you play the game with any expectations beyond a fairly generic shooter with a bit of car combat you will be disappointed.

Just Cause 2 [Game][PC]

Amount Completed - Main story line completed and all known locations cleared – 88.5% by the conclusion. I skipped most races and collected about 70% of the faction items.

Story - Just Cause 2 takes place on a small south pacific island nation named Panau. The story follows the adventures of Rico, a sly CIA agent, as he brings chaos throughout the nation. The clear conclusion of the story, from the beginning of the game, is the toppling of the dictator “president” of the nation of Panau. Unfortunately the story is utterly bland with very few twists or surprises. Rico becomes the attack dog for three rebel factions vying for control of the nation. Instead of having the factions cross paths in interesting ways the nation is instead literally just cut up by the three groups. Rico's influence with one group plays no role in his influence on the others. This level of simplicity is both good and bad. You can forget about managing your allegiances, but then you can also forget about anything intriguing between the various factions in the storyline.

The many judgments passed down upon the nation of Panau (and the world as a whole) by Rico are way too heavy handed. While there are hints of morality in the bland story the black and white approach to it is a bit strange. The voice acting does not help at all. The main character, while close to what I would like, never really showed enough emotion to make the story come to life in any way. The sound (and general) design of the cut scenes never integrated any sense of urgency or suspense.

Art - Panau is utterly gorgeous. The lighting revolving around the day/night cycles is definitely brings the game to life. While there are really only 4 types of terrain (jungle, desert, snow, and city) there is plenty of variety in each. The characters are alright looking, and understandably not as high resolution as other games due to the view distance among other things. It is a shame there is no built in screenshot functionality as just running around and looking at things is the game's best advertisement.

Gameplay - Just Cause 2 is an open world game after the first two missions are complete. At that point it truly becomes a huge sandbox of potential chaos. The main component of the game is chaos. You cause chaos by destroying things. Just about anything adds to the overall chaos.

Panau is huge. You can spend hours exploring and driving around without scratching the surface of the game. There are over 360 locations to take over by collecting items and/or destroying enemy infrastructure.

Like many recent open world games the player can go anywhere. The major appeal of Just Cause 2 is that it is very easy to go vertical. The grapple Rico is armed with makes Just Cause 2 an over-the-top action movie. You can grapple and take over helicopters, jets, vehicles and even grapple onto enemies. This is the reason to play the game. The ground combat is an absolute blast. While not the most intelligent, the AI is fine and will make an effort to find cover and run away when overwhelmed.

Driving vehicles (ground specifically) is incredibly difficult and was a major annoyance I hit immediately. My car always seemed to spin out of control. Some of the wider vehicles had improved control and stability but they could still easily go into spin mode at any moment. It is a shame the vehicles are so difficult and there is so much fun surrounding driving off road through the various types of terrain in the game.

The button sequences in-game are acceptable and reasonably quick. These require you to enter a sequence of keys under a given amount of time. They use this for taking over vehicles as well as various other activities to create a sense of urgency in the action the player takes.

The on-screen hints are horrible. An indicator for a target location can literally be in the middle of the screen drawing over other critical information (such as what you are targeting).

The difficulty ramp is way too steep as well. I restarted the game on easy mode after realizing that the normal mode was simply ruining the fun of the game.

Gut - Just Cause 2 delivers in every department with the exception of the story and general vehicle controls. I highly recommend it as the combat and exploration experience is top notch. It would have been worth it at full price. (I bought it during a Steam sale)

Fallout 3 Game of The Year [Game][PC]

Amount Completed – Main story line in the main game and all DLC. (some side missions were likely missed)

Story – As made obvious from the title, Fallout 3 is about your character's role in a post-apocalyptic world. Many years have passed since the actual event. The main storyline centers around following your father's trail and possibly vision. Along the way there is a massive bevy of side missions to distract and improve your character and/or inventory. You will have the opportunity to make moral decisions through conversation and actions. Mostly this will result in access to more items and/or trigger certain groups of individuals to attack you. (Example: Kill someone who is marked as a “slaver” and all those consider “slavers” will likely attack you on-sight)

The story of the game is more for you to define and less about a clear start-to-finish narrative. This is actually one of my complaints. The story and events that unravel felt underwhelming. The game is not about ridiculous scripted explosions or major twists and turns. If you want that you mostly have to create it yourself. The one exception to my underwhelming complaint is any mission involving a huge ultra-patriotic robot stomping through enemies. This was really the only time I felt like I was part of something bigger than a character randomly rampaging around rummaging through garbage. (unfortunately I think there are only two such missions) -- other squad based sections are often a bit messy as the AI likes to stand in front of your bullets.

Much of the game centers around your moral decisions affecting your overall karma. Karma indicates how kind you are to (and in) the game world. The moral decisions are sometimes difficult with often odd routes around them. I found that the one that stuck in my mind the most was a request from a virtual character (yes a virtual character within a virtual world inside the game itself) requesting I don a creepy clown mask and murder a town full of people. I found my way out via other means completely avoiding the act. The route I chose also may have limited my exposure to some of the more darker elements. I played the game as an ultra good character.

Fallout 3 avoids many things that would have lead to way too much complexity. You will not find vehicles or other technologies that clearly would not just disappear in a post-apocalyptic world.

Art – The art of Fallout 3 fits the theme and works reasonably well. I found it unfortunate that it seemed like absolutely no part of the game actually appeared to be in any kind of restored state. Humans are decorators. Even after the apocalypse people would not tolerate everything looking like crap to the extent that things do in Fallout 3. Even the supposed uppity Tenpenny Tower lacked the flair I would expect from upper-class stereotypes.

Gameplay – I fought a lot of the same 10 creatures and their 1-3 variations. They strangely scaled (or not) as I leveled my character up. At some point some the semi-common creatures became super weak while others became more powerful than any boss character. For example the Ghoul Roamer (I believe) became so powerful that Fawkes and my character, both with high-powered Gatling lasers, had to fire at one for 30+ seconds to destroy it. This happened to be at the end of the Broken Steel DLC where you fight 10+ on your way through the subway tunnels.

I definitely became a bit bored with roaming through the many many subway tunnels. Expanding my inventory was a slow and mostly monotonous activity. While I was working towards what I believed would be massive challenges requiring tons of ammunition and stimpacks... resulting in awesome cut scenes or activities... I was rewarded with mostly bland mission conclusions. I feel the game may prey on people who are hoarders. You will become lost in collecting junk. I definitely did at times. (ie. Scrap metal gathering)

Weapon wise I stuck with the Rock-It Launcher (garbage launcher) and a very well maintained Chinese Assault Rifle. There are a variety of weapons I mostly ignored as they became ineffective at higher levels.

Gut – Fallout 3 is simply alright. The world to explore and number of missions are overwhelming, but the payoff is just outright underwhelming. It is much more about how you feel about making a decision then necessarily the outcome of the decision. The PC version is riddled with bugs. Enjoy the crashes and other oddities! I may play it again as an evil character.

DLC Gut – As many of the DLC packs are a bit of a departure from the main game I feel it is necessary to comment on them separately.

Operation: Anchorage – Fallout 3 as a military squad combat game. The inventory payoff is definitely worth playing through but that's about it. The power armor I received was able to be worn without training and apparently never needed repair. I never ran into any better armor. (not that I sought it out).

The Pitt – Fish out of water. I lost my inventory for a while, scavenged a bunch of steel ingots from a dangerous steel yard... and fought among some ruined buildings. Nothing spectacular other than a glitchy saw weapon that graphically may or may not appear depending on the phase of the moon.

Broken Steel – Squad Combat leads you to fight an aircraft carrier on tank treads. The level 30 cap increase was the best part. The conclusion of the main plot was again about as bland as possible.

Point Lookout – Swamp People. Very strange and intriguing region with lots to explore and uncover. Many of the threads did not lead to interesting conclusions (par for the course). The enemies were incredibly strong and annoying.

Mothership Zeta – Fish out of water. I lost my inventory for a while. I found some alien laser rifle, a pile of ammunition, and blasted aliens in the head for 4 hours slogging through this. The conclusion was unique but mostly just confusing. Fallout 3 does not handle ship to ship space battles very well if you must know...