Saturday, July 27. 2019
Star Trek: Online Originally Published 3/2017
Mass Effect 2 PC Verision Originally Published 3/2017
Mass Effect 2 is the 2010 sequel to Mass Effect initially taking place sometime after the battle of the Citadel at the close of Mass Effect. At the beginning of the game, Shepard’s ship, the Normandy is attacked by an unknown ship and destroyed. While most of the Normandy’s crew escapes, Shepard gives his (her?) life to save others. The game picks up two years later as the mysterious organization known as Cerberus has resurrected Commander Shepard hoping he can get to the bottom of mysterious alien abductions from Earth colonies on the frontier by a race known as The Collectors, an insectoid people of unfathomable purpose. Shepard is given a new Normandy staffed with some old friends and two Cerberus agents to help him while he recruits an assault crew, made of new allies and old ones, to take on the Collectors. Very quickly is becomes apparent that the Reapers are behind The Collectors and are still very much a threat to the Milky way. Sovereign, the Reaper from the first game, was only a single scout.
The story of ME2 continues where the first left off, and actually references flags in your last save game of ME1 to determine how pieces of the story will go for ME2. Don’t worry – in true Tragic Hero tradition any decision will bite you in the ass, it just makes sure to do it in a unique way. ME2 also continues that tradition and decisions and events that transpire based on you during ME2 will happily come and bite you in the ass in ME3. Does that make Mass Effect players a little masochistic? Yes, yes it does. Happily so. In addition to combat and space exploration ME2 provides a number of very moral compass decisions that have become the cornerstone of BioWare RPGs. Everything from calling in the morality of Cerberus, and its CEO the Illusive Man (voiced by Martin Sheen) to being like Captain Kirk of Star Trek and bedding anyone (thing) willing if that’s your play style. The main narrative surrounding The Collectors and the Reapers gets more and more disturbing as you follow it deeper toward the assault on The Collectors home at the end of the game. The truth behind The Collectors and the abductions is one of the darker revelations in gaming.
The customization in Mass Effect 2 is right along with Mass Effect. Though now, many of the customizations affect stats and abilities and with advances in graphics they tend to look a lot cooler. Again if it suffers from anything, it suffers from too many choices.
ME2 maintains the sound and visual quality of its predecessor. Scene specific music and professional voice actors, including some famous film and TV stars, round the experience out audibly and the graphics are the expected advance and hold up even five years later. The Mass Effect series of games are a sensory joy to play.
There are a couple of control level changes in Mass Effect 2 that I want to address. One breaks a continuity element and the other I felt was just a little lazy. In ME1, guns were unlimited ammo. Odd? Yes but they generated their ammo through a replicative process that caused a lot of heat. So when the gun overheated, you had to give it a few moments to cool down that was congruent with how long you were firing it. In ME2, guns are on an ammo basis. This is literally moving from an advanced technology back to a current day mechanic. That was very jarring. I liked it better than the overheat mechanic, but it was still surprising.
The other mechanic change was in exploration. In the original game as you went from planet to planet you often were able to land and explore planets with your team in a rover, getting out to perform certain tasks. It made for a larger experience than just hitting a scan button and getting a narrative only being able to land on planets that were part of the story. Now ME2? Yeah, you orbit a planet, scan it, launch probes to gather materials, and are able to land only where there’s story. It is a much more closed exploration system and has been almost universally decried by fans of the original system.
Summing up Mass Effect 2:
Story: 5/5: Yes, I’m one of those masochists who love a good heroic tragedy and gets a good giggle out of having something I did previously bite me in the ass. I’m also a big fan of horror and make no mistake, the big reveal in this game would have given Rod Serling the creeps.
Sound: 5/5: Sound is such an important part of a game and BioWare’s investment in their music and voice really speak to the quality of the game and the company. With consistent cinema quality sound the Mass Effect series is among the best ever.
Graphics: 5/5: Still state of the art, and still beautiful five years after its release. The ME games are among those that I’d consider breaking my long-standing view on VR technology as being a gimmick and I’d love to see these through an Oculus.
Control: 3/5: Overall improved controls in combat particularly where cover is concerned helped but the loss of the exploration system hurts this score keeping it on par with the “nothing special” of the original. It does gain a crafting system which is cool but the resource gathering component in place of the hard exploration is just a quick substitute for me.
Playability: 4/5: This is my third time through the game. I think that should tell you everything you need to know. It is a fun game and it’s a fun replay choosing the options you didn’t pick before or switching out your class. There are multiple ways it can play out depending on how you treat your crew and let’s not forget, what feels like a victory will come back in ME3 and bite you in the ass. Happy hunting!
Lord of the Rings Online review Originally Published 3/2017
Lord of the Rings Online, Shadows of Angmar is a 2007 MMO released by Turbine. I jumped in at its two year mark during the release of the first expansion “Mines of Moria” and around the time of the first real overhaul to the crafting system as well as the addition of two new classes. LOTRO offers the chance to wander through a book faithful version of Middle Earth (as opposed to the wildly popular movie version) and gives players the choice of Hobbit, Man, Dwarf, Elf, or Beorning and various sub classes thereof. Some are more survivable solo than others, and some, that should not be survivable solo are freakishly so (looking at you, Loremaster!) Originally release on a pay to play schedule the game went to a fairly successful free to play model while allowing people (like me) who wanted to keep throwing them a fee to experience a few extra perks.
The main story starts you, depending on your choice of race, either in the Breelands, the family homestead of Beorn’s descendants, the Shire, the ancient Elven Home in the Blue Mountains, or in Thorin’s Hall in the Blue Mountains. It begins, for the most part in the years between Bilbo’s 111th birthday party and Frodo feeling the shire (yes, movie fans, that was in actuality several years, not just a few months!). The characters follow a course that has them run parallel with the main story of Fellowship of the Ring from that point up until the siege of Helm’s Deep at which point you become actively part of the main story directly supporting Aragorn and Theoden. You then continue along Aragorn’s story clear up until the Battle of Pelenor and the aftermath ending currently with the King’s approach of the Black Gate. The game is FIRMLY faithful to the source material – even the expanded and extrapolated material remains firmly in Middle Earth. There are hundreds of side quests to take throughout the story as well fleshing out what would otherwise be a linear experience. Of course not every quest is a winner. Early on you’ll learn far more about Hobbit courting that you’ll ever, ever want to know.
When choosing the graphic style for LOTRO, it has been said that they chose a medieval style color palette to promote the proper mood. It shows. At times oppressive, and at times depressive and moody, the game’s graphics are spot on. And those moments of utter oppression are always rewarded with glorious moments that bring out the beauty of Middle Earth. You will never forget the first time you climb Weathertop and look out on the Lonelands or the first time you climb down the switchback trail leading into Rivendell. Entering Moria is awe inspiring at first, and then just as you can’t stand being underground any longer, you come out into the beautiful Loth Lorien. The environs of the Great River take you to Rohan. The Paths of the Dead take you into Gondor. There’s even an instance where you can stand on a bridge in Dale and look to the north and see The Lonely Mountain on the horizon. For Tolkien fans it is a homecoming. For non-Tolkien fans, it is still a beautiful, well executed setting.
Until recently, there was little to no voice acting in LOTRO. It has been added in the last few years to supplement the copious reading for quests. At one point, the only voice was in cut scenes but as the technology advances, so has this. Special attack sound effects and battle effects were always present and appropriate and the game’s music range is well done. In fact, in some places, you can hear the old tunes that Tolkien wrote and if you’re like me you find yourself quietly singing the lyrics. Where the sound does suffer sometimes is the background music, which is often way too loud. You will find yourself turning it down so you can hear the dialogue.
The controls are pretty standard most of the time. WADS or mouse driven movement and multiple toolbars to put your abilities, tools, and mounts in. The interface is easy to learn. Where it hits an issue is in mounted combat. At the release of the Rohan expansion the game included for the first time mounted combat. Many of us begged for it and we got it. The problem is that the horses are difficult to control at anything faster than a gallop and some of the classes abilities are lacking any real use on horseback. In later stages, particularly in Gondor, horseback use can be outright deadly due to lag issues that are concurrent with the majority of the population being in the same area as we’ve all grown and levelled together. What used to be known as “Bree Lag” is now very much known as “Minas Tirith Lag” I’ve often been disappointed and/or annoyed with mounted combat to the point where unless my foes are mounted as well, I’d rather confront them on foot with my full abilities rather than on jerky horseback with limited abilities.
Crafting is done with simple components and not much flavor other than the inscription customizations. Sadly, until recently, the crafting was a great deal more fun and challenging and produced truly unique items. The game was dumbed down in this regard and I feel it hurt it greatly.
Likewise, they dumbed the skill and attribute system down significantly around the time Rohan was launched. Trainers have become useless reminders of a better system and attributes and traits are all “in the box” as compared to the excellent pick and choose system that used to exist. (Shades of Star Wars Galaxies, anyone?)
With Lord of the Rings Online now firmly into the final chapters of Return of the King it is a little hard to say what the future holds. The developers plan on having us in Mordor within the next year and have to some extent, promised a continuation into the 4th age of Middle Earth. My best guess is it has another two good years in it at least; likely more if the writers are talented and they open up to more source material.
Summing Up:
Story: 5/5: From the initial entry right up to the Black Gate you feel you are a vital part of the story of Middle Earth, the protection of the Ring Bearer, and the crowning of the King.
Graphics: 5/5: The right mood, the right feel, and accurate to Tolkien’s writing. What more could you ask?
Sound: 4/5: Effects and voice over are well done and for the most part well-acted, but the background music is often distracting. When it isn’t distracting and it becomes part of the scene proper, it tends to be too quiet. No happy medium here, folks.
Control: 3/5: it’s suffering a couple of points due to the mounted combat controls. Clunky.
Crafting: 2/5: I had a hard time with this one. It used to easily be a 4/5. For reference, the only system I’d ever give a 5/5 is Star Wars Galaxies. That being said, yes, it used to be fun to craft after an evening of adventuring but now it’s just repetitive and a grind.
Character Growth: 4/5: Minus a couple points for being dumbed down but back up for what really is a variety of skills. It would be a 5/5 if we could still mix and match attributes and traits to our own liking rather than following a path.
Longevity: 4/5: I think it has a good chance of lasting a few more years making any investment in it timewise or even moneywise worth it.
Playability a high 3/5 (3.8 for the average!) Boy, that crafting hurts the rating but the overall experience is still a lot of fun. If anyone wants to check out the game drop me a line first and I’ll make sure to meet up with you. The server is Arkenstone and our Kinship (Guild) is the Fighting Felons of Laketown.
Mass Effect PC Version Originally Published February 2017
In the meantime, let's talk about some of the games I've played on PC over the years. PC is actually my preferred format for RPGs, MMO's, and the city builder games like Sim City.
In honor of the coming Mass Effect Andromeda, I'm going to go back several years to a BioWare classic, Mass Effect. Mass Effect, rumor has, started life as Knight of the Old Republic III. When that fell through they continued to develop the game as their own IP and the world of Commander Shepard and the Reapers was born. Mass Effect was released in 2007 and tells the story of Commander Shepard and his crew and their fight against a sentient space dreadnought known as Sovereign and its indoctrinated agents led by Saren, a rogue SPECTRE (think Interplanetary James Bond).
The story of Mass Effect was innovative. Imagine a game where you actually can change the course of the story not only from your own perspective (are you valiant, neutral, or a complete prick) but also how your crew functions and how the story will go in future games! On a whole it isn't a "happy" story and if you don't know that within the first ten minutes of the story then you didn't pay attention in High School English class. Do yourself a favor, before you play any of the Mass Effect games, make sure you're familiar with Greek Hero/Tragedy and put aside your familiarity with Hollywood Happy Endings. If you don't, you will not like these games.
Much like other FPS/RPGs, Mass Effect allows you to customize everything about your character. Appearance, Gender, (Sexual Preference (no kidding)), weapons, armor, weapon special abilities, the works. At times it even feels too customizable.
The music and sound are on a motion picture sale, which we are more than used to today but was still a novelty back then. The graphics hold up to any game today. A cast of familiar and superb voice actors rounded out the sensory experience and through them created a vibrant, living sci-fi franchise/universe.
In addition to the FPS standard of play there was an excellent exploration system as you moved from planet to planet and star system to star system. On planets where it was (more or less) safe and on many story or side quest planets, you could explore it via a rover that was unfortunately left out of later installments.
Summing Up Mas Effect:
Story: 5/5: I'm a sucker for a story that calls into life Joseph Campbell's archetypes and archetype stories and Mass Effect does that REALLY well. The ability to effect the game and future games by your actions is still an innovation ten years later.
Control: 3/5: Average FPS on a computer. Mouse and keyboard driven unless you hook up a controller. It works well but isn't anything "wow"
Sound/Music: 5/5: Very easily could be theater quality feature length film. Amazing and emotional. Excellent voice acting draws you into the story completely.
Graphics: 5/5: Again, easily feature length animated quality. Holds up to today's games easily.
Playability: 4/5: You WILL find yourself playing the game multiple times to see what different decisions will get you. You WILL be sorry when the game is over because it is a joy to play. You WILL want to see how Shepard's story winds up. Though I stress again, ditch any feelings for Happy Endings. The series ends dark no matter how you look at it, it just depends on you as to how dark.
Borderlands Originally Published January 2017
Finally finished Borderlands today!
Borderlands is a 2009 RPG FPS game from Gearbox Software.
Going into Borderlands my initial thought was "Oh look another "RPG FPS". I've heard about the game for years from friends and the humor just didn't grab me at the time.
I was miserably wrong on all counts. Borderlands was surprisingly involved and satisfyingly long (you know my distaste now for short games).
The story picks up with the arrival of several mercenaries on the planet Pandora (take that, James Cameron!). Pandora is a planet full of insane bandits, equally insane settlers, and countless deadly wildlife that makes Pandora the Australia of the video game world. The mercenaries are all in search of an alien Vault. The Vault, is rumored to be full of alien tech, weapons, and riches that will help whoever controls it control the fate of Pandora (i.e. the economy).
Through a harrowing adventure across Pandora's wasteland and into the foothills of a nearby glacier the Vault Hunters discover they're not only racing to become rich and famous, but to save the universe itself.
Each mercenary class gets unique skills that compliment he and if playing multi-player, their teammates. The skills are purchased through a typical skill tree and except for the class action skill are all passive. Weapon control is what you'd expect in an FPS and tool and map selection is pretty fluid. Where the game fails is the vehicles. You have a choice between a rocket turreted buggy or a machine gun turreted buggy. Weapon controls on the vehicles are okay - but the driving is a friggin' nightmare. If it wasn't for some of the distances on the maps, I would have stayed on foot. There was a fun part to the vehicles, you could run enemies over and as long as they were smaller than you, you'd kill them outright. Larger enemies required a couple of runs. There were times when the game's over the top mentality was a little exasperating and it became difficult, even for the tank class, to make its way through the game. Thankfully, those were only a few spots.
The sound in the game was superb. Good, moody-worthy music and good voice overs (I'm pretty sure I heard some old favorite voice actors in there).
The graphics were comic book style cell shaded. I saw a video today with test footage of the game using realistic graphic rendering but they chose to use the cell shading to give the game more personality. I'm torn on this because usually I don't like cell shading to the point it looks cartoony, but they're right, it gave them game a pulp comic book feel that was fun.
Summing up:
Control: 3/5. On foot you're fine, but the requirement to use the vehicle which was a nightmare to control took away from the experience. I also wish they'd have shown a little restraint on how many super armored opponents they sent at you and I'm curious as to why the rocket launcher actually seemed to harm NOTHING in the game.
Sound/Music: 5/5: Fun music, good voice, and a catchy opening theme that I still can't stop singing. THAT is impressive.
Story: 5/5: Good, engaging story. Not so much twisty as it is logical and makes sense. It easily could have been a sci-fi cartoon or even movie. And it was a full game. Way too many modern games are short and rely on DLC and add-ons to tell their story. While Borderlands has DLCs you don't have to have them to be satisfied! I happily did every mission save some of the Clap Trap rescues.
Graphics: Comic book, sci-fi feel but a little hard to read and differentiate some objects unless you were right up on the TV and for the size of my TV, that should NOT be the case. And no, my vision is fine, thank you.
Playability: 4/5: The game was a lot of fun and I'm glad I gave it a chance beyond my initial skepticism. I coming to honestly believe that older games tend to play better.
Well, on to Borderlands 2!
BioShock Infinite Originally Published January 2017
My first impression of BioShock Infinite was the amused thought, "Wow, the bad-guy is a Sky-Mormon. (DISCLAIMER: The commentary here regarding the LDS and FLDS is from 19th and early 20th century values and does not reflect their modern beliefs, which admittedly, I don't entirely understand. The game worked upon religious stereotypes, I didn't and I'm not bashing anyone's faith). As Infinite takes us into the floating city of Columbia in 1912 rather than the sunken city of Rapture in the 60's it presents us with a microcosm of what America could have been had we been a theocracy instead of a Republic.
I was delighted at the bright scenery and openness of Columbia. I was puzzled as I walked past the bandstand to hear a barbershop quartet singing "God Only Knows" by the Beach Boys. (Coincidentally the theme to the FLDS HBO drama, Big Love further cementing the image of Sky-Mormons) in 1912. Then as I crept further I encountered a narrative appropriate moment of racism that left me pausing the game saying, "what the fuck?" for several minutes. At first I thought that didn't fit and then I remembered and a quick google later I confirmed, Yeah, the LDS/FLDS had a huge racism problem in the 19th and early 20th century. Someone did their homework - very impressive.
Moving on: BioShock: Infinite is the last of the BioShock FPS games to date. The protagonist, Booker DeWitt, an ex-army, ex-Pinkerton detective, now Private Detective has gone to Columbia to find a missing girl (presumably Elizabeth) and is quickly branded an enemy of the state and finds the once friendly citizens very hostile. After initially rescuing the girl, who can bend time and reality in a way that would make JJ Abrahms jealous (it is well written and makes sense which is something you can never say for anything Abrahms is involved in), Booker finds himself involved in Columbia's dangerous political situation and fighting for his life and Elizabeth's on multiple fronts until he confronts the Prophet Zachary Comstock and himself in one of the most mind-bending endings I've ever seen. And major credit goes to the developers for taking a huge chance of how the game ended from the boss fight forward. It doesn’t end how a typical FPS game ends. It ends on a narrative that could have been part of the Dark Tower book series (though not quite as complicated).
The environment of Columbia is bright, open, and airy; completely in contrast with Rapture’s oppressive feel. It completely reverses the feel of the first part of the game from the Rapture’s “Man, I’m gonna die horribly down here” to a “This place is pretty cool” attitude. The anachronistic music makes you laugh when you catch it. The music in general is a blend of traditional, early 20th century gospel, and music from the last 50 years. How? Well, that would be spoiling it. Go find out for yourself. Columbia is riddles with skyways. Mono-rail like lines that you could hook onto and transit to other islands in the floating chain. I found them to be frustrating, personally.
Instead of the DNA altering plasmids, Booker has access to 8 vigors that give him supernatural abilities (to fight the False Sheppard and his agents of evil. Or anyone else who gets in the way, for that matter. They’re function exactly like the plasmids of old. The biggest control change is that you can only carry two weapons at a time. That made planning and knowing your enemy a lot more important and is another major departure from most FPS games. At first it annoyed me, but as I went on I realized this was more than a point and shoot game and that gained it a lot of points with me. Also gone is the map. Technically it isn’t needed because you can always use the “find your path” mechanic, but I think I’d rather have the map to at least show me how close to a goal I am. Especially when you get badly turned around using the skyways.
Summing up!
Control: 4/5: Improved controls overall, but the lack of map knocks a point
Story: 5/5: Well thought out, well executed, twisted, and in the end, makes you wonder if Booker is still utterly fucked.
Sound/Music: Fun. Fantastic music and a great troupe of voice actors.
Graphics: 5/5: The environment made for a lot of fun to play in. The openness made combat more strategic and in general it was pleasing to look at.
Playability: 4/5: Great game. A lot more strategic than other FPS games. Better story than most FPS games. Harder than the average shoot ‘em up without being impossible the end didn’t leave you feeling like it was just too easy (I’m looking at you BioShock 2). There is a catch. It would be a hard game to replay unless you are a perfection/completionist. Once you discover the secrets of Columbia, they’re hard to forget so a replay wouldn’t pack as much of a punch.
BioShock II Originally Published December 2016
BioShock 2
BioShock 2 returns us to Rapture, months after the events of BioShock. With founder, Andrew Ryan, and gang leader Frank Fontaine both dead Rapture someone manages to survive The mad psychiatrist, Sofia Lamb has seized control.
The big twist? Instead of an outsider from the surface you are Subject Delta, one of the original Big Daddies (major antagonist from the first game) and your goal is to stop Lamb and reunite with your original Little Sister, Eleanor.
Delta can take utilize several weapons, a few new such as the rivet gun, and the amazingly all-powerful drill. Outside of a few encounters I used the drill exclusively.
Many of the games controls were vastly simplified from the first outing. Less categories and easier choosing and upgrading of the plasmids. Weapon upgrades remained but the cumbersome crafting system was gone entirely.
BioShock 2 is a much shorter game than the original. Where the original had multi-part goals in every level, this one had a very linear goal, one per level. It would be fair to say I finished the game in half the time the original took me.
The graphics of the game were just as impressive as the first time out, conveying a hopeless dystopia in an isolated underwater environment. The sound was on par and the music was excellent. Classic, early rock and sock-hop songs as well as some big-band goodies that just fit the mood.
Returning to the game are the splicers including a new category, the brute. They suck. Not in a bad, the game blows way, but in a "Holy crap, they're a pain in the ass!" way. And joining the Big Daddies are the Big Sisters. For Mass Effect fans they remind me of the Banshees from ME:3. They hurt like the banshees from ME: 3, too.
The boss fight was (without spoilers) way to easy, and the end was a bit Pyrrhic. (really Facebook, that's capitalized?!?) but just bittersweet enough to be satisfactory.
Summing Up:
Control: 5/5: For an FPS it was easy to control and the interface was non-intrusive enough to not result in my ass-kicking during a fight.
Story: 4/5: Once again, it felt like an old-fashioned sci-fi horror movie, just like the ones we hid behind the couch to watch as kids. Mildly cheesy, but fun.
Graphics: 5/5: Right on par with the original game but showing the improvement of time.
Sound/Music: 5/5: Great voice acting and awesome music to accompany the mood of the game.
Playability: 3/5: I'm knocking it one from the original game because of the shortness and linear aspects. Exploration of Rapture seems slightly less encouraged.
Now: On to the Confederate-racist sky Mormons of BioShock: Infinite (no, I'm not kidding).
Assassins' Creed Originally Published December 2016
Today's review is a 2007 classic from Ubisoft: Assassin's Creed
Assassin's Creed tells the story of Desmond Miles, a 20 something bartender who comes from a clan of mysterious assassins and his ancestor, the Persian Assassin Altair and his quest for redemption during the Third Crusade.
The meat of the game takes place in the Holy Land cities of Acre, under Crusader control, Jerusalem, under Saracen control, and Damascus, equally under Saracen control. Altair is tasked with killing nine agents of the Knights Templar, who it turns out are an order even older than history tells us and bent upon achieving peace through domination. The Assassin brotherhood who believe that everyone has a right to freedom and free thought oppose them.
The graphics are 2007 amazing. Very pretty, very moody, and very smooth. Level design is very cool. I don't know how accurate the maps are in this early game (I know that by Unity the maps were pretty damn accurate) but the cities are vast enough to give it a good open world feel even if you are on a bit of a track from one mission to another. What's very refreshing is that you have flexibility in how you complete your missions and how many of the 54 preparatory missions you complete first.
The entire concept of the game's character movement is Parkour, the French game/sport of running, jumping, climbing and rolling. I'll leave the joke alone this time regarding the French inventing a sport based on running away ..opps...guess I didn't.
AC took a lot of criticism in the day for some clunky controls which on my first play through last year I didn't find. This time I found the controls to be pretty clunky even in comparison to AC: 2 but especially in regards to the later titles.
Fighting is pretty dynamic, though honestly I don't think I ever intentionally used the short swords. Your primary weapons are your sword and hidden blade. The hidden blade is a spring loaded dagger hidden in a bracer used for covert assassinations in a crowd and close fighting. The best part of the blade is that when you get good at counterattacks, the hidden blade will one-shot most enemies, including some bosses. The game is fully voiced, with an in-game "mechanic" as to why everyone suddenly speaks English throughout the Holy Land. The only problem is that while EVERY NPC has the proper accent you would expect them to have, Altair, the Persian master assassin, has the most bland and monotone American accent I've ever heard. Ben Stein would tell this guy to learn inflection. Altair's angry voice and happy voice all sound exactly the same and they all sound like someone who isn't American doing an American accent. Oops.
The best part of Assassin's Creed to me is the history. Sure, it isn't history as we learned it, and it isn't history as it happened, but the plot is damn entertaining and the basis for the real history is there. The setting was real, many of the people were real, and the fun was quite real.
Summing Up:
Graphics: 5/5: Top Notch for 2007 so that age difference is taken in to account. Hell, they're pretty good for 2016.
Controls: 2.5/5: They're clunky. I don't know how many times I found Altair humping a wall despite me moving the control stick the other way. It's funny until it gets you killed.
Sound: 3/5: Background noise was pretty good and all the voices were great except for poor Altair.
Playability: 4/5: It was great to play again and I recommend it. There's one mission and two fights that I'd be more than happy to never do again but still high scored. The point loss is due to the beggars and harassers, NPCs in the game that do what their name says. A little too much and a little too often. Nothing is more frustrating than slowly over ten minutes setting up the best kill situation to have a harasser come up and shove you into a guard and go from observed to "Die Infidel!"
Story: 5/5: Absofantasticllyawesome. It's a strange thing to say you can learn and have fun and not sound like an 80s infomercial or bad cartoon, but you live history in this game. While it is a re-imagined history, the basis is there and can be enough to trigger someone to want to learn more about the time. I even encourage parents to let some of their older children play (turn off the gore if you like). If your kid comes away wanting to know more you'll thank me. Altair is a very cool protagonist and a damn cool Halloween costume (right Myles?)
On to Bioshock II
BioShock Originally Published November 2016
BioShock is a 2007 first person shooter with RPG elements and not a small amount of survival horror dropped in. The game opens with the protagonist being the only survivor of a plane crash at sea where you wash up on a rocky island with a lone lighthouse. A short bathysphere ride later you find yourself in an underwater city built by a madman and populated by gene splicing lunatics, zombie-like automatons, and creepy little girls who gather the genetic material of the dead.
The underwater city of Rapture is eerily rendered with leaking, creaking passages and a deserted. Throughout your journey in Rapture the sites and sounds build a continual feeling that combines deserted buildings and a feeling that something really bad not just happened but is still in the progress of happening. While the main character remains silent throughout, the supporting cast and antagonists are fully voiced and very well done. Together they add greatly to the story telling experience and overall feel that I can sum up as early 70's sci-fi/horror movie. If I'd been watching this as a movie as a kid, I'd have been hiding behind the couch on a number of occasions.
The controls are typical of a first person shooter using the right land left buttons to select weapon and special abilities. Some spots are hard to navigate but I think that was more on purpose (exploring a ruined underwater city) rather than quirks of the programming. One potential detriment is the lack of ammo and healing supplies as you near the boss but at the same time it forces you to fight carefully and think creatively; something that most FPS games don't do.
To Sum it Up:
Controls: 4/5: Easy to use, easy to navigate, just a little finger tripping in intense fights.
Story: 5/5: If you're a student of history and you know a little about Ayn Rand it helps, but the story is fun and the two twists are actually surprising.
Graphics: 5/5: Impressive as hell. Creepy, sad, and with a vintage 60s/70s feel that was very genuine.
Sound: 5/5: Equal with the graphics the sound was tremendous. Early rock and roll wafting through corridors and sock-hop music. The best words I can describe it with are immersive and authentic.
Playability: 4/5: All FPS games come with a degree of frustration to me (I believe I may have mentioned I kinda suck at them). But beyond the little annoyances (terrain, ammo etc...) this one was just fun. I'd play it again.
Now I don't have BioShock II in my possession yet but I plan on getting to it before BioShock Infinite (I don't want to skip, I understand the story makes less sense if I skip right to Infinite and the Sky Mormons therein). So I'm actually going to backtrack to as I said I might do.
Beyond Good & Evil Originally Published November 2016
Beyond Good & Evil starts with the world of Hyllis under attack from the DomZ. They capitalize it that way, not me. The brave Alpha Sections (??) are trying to defend the world against the (sigh) DomZ and the traitorous IRIS (news) Network. I'm not going to further describe the story simply because it is just ...bad.
So let's go into the meat of it, shall we? The controls for the game are pretty straightforward 2003 remade in 2011. Not bad but overly comic at times. The angles some scenes are set at can be difficult to see making control extra touchy. Inventory is done relatively well and combat is super simple. One basic attack and a couple of specials. The ranged attack you get is clunky and takes too much time to switch to it and melee and that costs health!
The world is rendered very cartoony with anthropomorphic humanoid animals and human that are at best odd looking. It is colorful, catching, and animated. Hard to say beyond that. It is a re-skin of a 2003 game and it shows but using that as perspective it is a damn attractive game.
Sound and effects are great as far as in game effect sounds and music (odd, and alien but somehow recognizable!) but that's where the good ends. The voices are HORRIBLE. One actress plays three different parts. Normally that wouldn't be a problem assuming she used a different voice for each part. Don't assume that; she doesn't. What else? The characterizations for most of the voices? 100%, absolutely, completely, stereo-typically RACIST. I was embarrassed to play the game within earshot of my children. From the "flaming" PDA voice (complete with a holographic representation that would be at home on the Simpsons) to the Rastafarian Rhinos who are again, absolute stereotypes. I'm sure in 2003 this was an attempt to introduce diversity in the game but it was shamefully done and the developers should be ashamed of themselves!
To Sum Up!
Controls: 4/5: They were okay. Didn't have to tie my fingers up getting to bizarre combinations.
Story: 2/5: You start it and think it is a kids' game. It isn't. And then you think that it has to be a joke. It isn't. It's just baaaad.
Graphics: 5/5: I'm sure it was state of the art in 2003/2011 and I'm using that as my frame of reference.
Sound: 1/5: The only reason it's getting a 1 is because the music and effects were cool.
Playability: 3/5: It's playable if you're completely in a hipster ironic mood. But let's put it this way. I got to the boss fight and stopped caring. I couldn't even bring myself to finish it.
On to Bioshock
Batman Arkham Knight Originally Published 9/2016
Arkham Knight! Well, I'm not 100% finished it (more on that later when I bitch about the Riddler) but I've completed the story and all but one of the infamous "Gotham's Most Wanted". I'm going right to story here. What a HUGE improvement over the previous two games and that's saying a lot because their main stories were damn near flawless. My biggest issue with Asylum and City was how short they were and how little the Bat family played a role. Well, that was fixed and fixed in a big way. It was a wonderful conclusion to the Arkham games.
The game starts several months after the events of Arkham City (about nine) and Gotham is teetering on the edge. Nothing bad has happened, but that worries Jim Gordon more. When Scarecrow (voiced by John Noble of Lord of the Rings) makes his move it takes Gotham to its knees. Complete with his own army and an ally called the Arkham Knight, who seems to know everything about Batman, including his identity and the identity of the Bat family!) the game launches you quickly into both main story and side quests that are (with one exception *cough Riddler cough*) fun!
The big selling point of Arkham Knight was and is the Bat Mobile. Not the sleek car from Asylum, but something more akin to the tumbler from the Nolan trilogy. A monster vehicle and tank that is much a character in the game as Bats himself. Sometimes, a little too much.
During the course of your final outing, you'll play as Batman, Catwoman, Nightwing, Azrael, and Robin. You'll play as one more, but I won't spoil that surprise. The best part of playing as the Bat Family is the combined controls. You can switch back and forth from Batman to his sidekick throughout a fight using each other to perform takedowns and listen to Nightwing talk shit (totally worth it). At the moment when Batman and Robin join up to womp on Harley's goons you get an accolade that made my day. "Return of the Dynamic Duo."
What's my problem, you ask? The goddamn Riddler. Not fun. Not funny. Not interesting. Tedious, boring, bullshit. And this time, folks, this time, they make it mandatory to deal with his shit! They make one section of it part of the main storyline and you can't ignore it! And if you want to see the magnificient true "Knightfall Protocol" ending - you have to complete every Riddler challenge in the game. Some 400 of them. Do yourself a favor when you play, if you have my patience level for the Riddler, do the shit you need to and then youtube the rest. As I said before: "Riddler can eat a dick. Riddler can eat a bag of dicks. And so can the asshole who programmed his quests. Not riddles, not intelligence tests, not even puzzles. Fucking twitch-gaming reflex tests. " In what would be a 5/5 game for playability the Riddler garbage is bringing it down to a 3. I noted above the Batmobile was almost too much a character: It is relied on very heavily throughout the game to fight the Arkham Knight's militia and push through puzzles where you need mass brute force. Then in a couple of situation (i.e. a large tank and a large underground excavation machine) the Batmobile seems useless as these items actually KEEP UP WITH IT and in some cases are faster. Even with the booster. That, is, some bullshit. Overall the Batmobile might knock the score down to 2 if it wasn't so damn fun to play with.
Graphics this time out take full advantage of the One's capabilities. Just blows away Asylum and City. And there's so much more to see as you have access to a wider area of Gotham. At times they're almost photo-realistic. Just amazing.
Likewise the sound continues to be tops. Scaling music, more and better voice actors, musical clues that are part of the story. Voice really does make a game in a lot of ways. Sound and music are an important part of the experience, and the Arkham games have always reflected the best in this. Background conversations you pick up are just as cool. Thugs bragging. Militia trying to boost confidence. Some of it damn funny.
Militia 1: "There goes Batman"
Militia 2: "Aw, doesn't he want to fight? Where you going Batman?
Militia 1: "Stop that. You don't taunt the Batman."
That leaves us with Controls. If it isn't broken, don't fix it. They tried to fix it. Muddled up gadget selection but once you got used to it it was a good flow. The fighting, the predator abilities, the movement remain top-notch. Batman is all about his toys and his toys need to have the intuitive use that this game delivers.
So to summarize Batman Arkham Asylum:
Controls: 4/5 (I drop it one because they tried to redo City's control and gadget selection and it hurt them.
Graphics: 5/5 It could have been a news report and not just a game.
Sound: 5/5. When you play the serial killer quest you'll see what I mean and you'll thank me.
Story: 5/5. So. Much. Better. Better content (which was hard to do!) and longer content. Felt a lot better about buying this game in a Gamestop than I would have the other two.
Playability: 3/5: Great fun, great moments with the Batfamily. Riddler can eat a bag of dicks. Seriously, who the hell thought that crap was a good idea. I constantly wound up muting the insufferable prick when doing his quests.
On a side note: An awesome, awesome detail. As you completed quests and brought in the knight's militia, Two-Face and Penguin's goons, and the other dregs of Gotham (including said Two-Face and Penguin) the GCPD jail begins to fill up. Everytime you return to the GCPD there's more criminals there to taunt you and at the same time sigh in relief they're on the inside of a cage AWAY from Bats.
On a last note, and I won't come right out and say who he is, if you're a long-time Batman fan you realize pretty early on who the Arkham Knight is. A little different from comic continuity but damn awesome.
I'm likely going to torture myself and finish the damn Riddler trophies with the help of a cheat sheet just to get that 100%, but I have OCD.
In the meantime, so long, Gotham. Farewell rogue's gallery. Alfred, initiate Knightfall protocol. Let the other's know.
Batman Arkham City Originally Published 9/2016
Batman: Arkham City:
Another outing for the Dark Knight opens with Bruce Wayne being arrested and put in Gotham's new experimental prision, "Arkham City." His accuser: Prof. Hugo Strange who is working with a mysterious outside agent and Mayor Sharp (formerly Warden Sharp of Arkham Asylum) to block off a large section of Gotham City and leave it to mob and criminal rule. It doesn't take long for Wayne to don the bat suit and get on with finding out who is behind Strange's rise to power and quickly encounters several of his rogue's gallery, including Two Face, Then Penguin, Mr. Freeze, and of course the Joker and Harley.
The largest change from Asylum is an more open world environment and side quests. Or so it seems, at first. Aspects of the side quest are triggered by events of the main story, and much like Asylum, you find yourself at the end of the main story entirely too fast as each mission tends to lead directly into the next with either no warning or a plot twist that forces you to continue the main story whether you're ready or not! I was also lucky enough to have the GoTY edition that had the Catwoman downloadable levels that integrate themselves into the story. They're short but amusing and a good break to the seriousness around Bats. The under user prize goes to Robin. He shows up briefly (and it's hard to tell if it's Tim Drake or Dick Grayson at this point and if not for Barbara being Oracle and not Batgirl I would never have figured out it was the Tim Drake Robin). He shows up, smacks a couple of assassins, and gets chased off. Meanwhile Hugo Strange is preparing to almost literally nuke the city, prisoners and innocent political prisoners alike. I get it, Batman likes to work alone but even he knows when that's tactically stupid.
I cannot add much to the visuals that I described in Asylum. They're very similar and still, very stunning. As good as any Batman animated feature.
The sound remains superior. Kevin is still the Bat and Mark is still the Joker. (Diane's note: And Harley is still enough to get me to leave the room). I still very much approve of the music lowering at times to hear the dialogue and being unobtrusive.
Control remains fluid and easy to use. it is an enjoyable play.
Story: Once again, like its predecessor, it is too short, and there's no indication how far along the main story you are so you don't know if/when you can separate and do those side quests which are a lot of fun with one exception.
The Riddler. Fuck the Riddler. With his question mark shaped cane.
The Deadshot story, however, is entertaining and actually requires a bit of detective work!
In synopsis:
Controls: 5/5
Graphics: 5/5
Sound: 5/5
Story: 3/5 This get's knocked down a tick because they dropped the ball. You have an entire section of Gotham City and the story is the same length as what took place in the Asylum. Good story - well written, just too short.
Playability: 3/5: Would have been 2/5 without the Zzass and Deadshot side quests to boost the story simply because of how obnoxious the Riddler shit is.
Batman Arkham Asylum Originally Published 9/2016
How to start with a classic game as Batman Arkham Asylum...
In case you've been under a rock, Arkham Asylum is a 2009 part RPG, part action game featuring the titular character in the titular location. The game opens with Batman delivering the Joker back to Arkham Asylum. Of course the Joker escapes and reveals a master plan to enlist the island's other inmates in using a variation of Bane's Venom drug to create an army of monsters to kill, maim, and generally cause chaos.
The game is visually stunning. From the run down asylum to the expressions on characters faces the game is gorgeous. Even the way the batsuit takes on damage as the game progresses shows that very little is forgotten.
Most of my friends can tell you that background music often ruins a game for me. Not whether or not the music is crummy, but how goddamn loud it always is. Inevitably in almost every game I have to play I turn down the background music so I can enjoy the vocals and other sound. I don't have to do that with this game. The music goes up and down dependent on the action and it doesn't detract one bit from the experience. Best of all, Batman and Joker are voiced by Kevin Conroy and Mark Hamill. For most of my generation, these two ARE Batman and Joker. Keep your Christian Bale etc... When Batman starts speaking if it is Kevin Conroy then you know you're in good hands.
I've played the game twice now. The first time was on the PC and then now on the 360. The PC controls are clumsy and had to be customized a lot before it was possible to play. Let me tell you, the fight with Bane is RIDICULOUS on a keyboard. The XBox's controls are a lot more intuitive, even down to the gadget selection. And oh, what gadgets you get. Multiple batarang choices, zip lines guns, grapplers. They're all fun. So are all of the signature moves - my favorite being hanging from a gargoyle and pulling a thug up to knock them unconscious and leave them as a warning to his friends.
Arkham Asylum is worthy of any animated DCU production or even the comics themselves. It is a faithful representation of Batman. My only complaint: It is too short. The end comes surprisingly quick after a mini boss (Poison Ivy) and with no warning that this is really the end. The end Joker fight is fun, but it just comes at you too quickly.
Batman: Arkham Asylum is a great game. The hardest part of playing it is often deciding whether or not to walk around in detective mode or regular vision to see the amazing graphics. If there is a bad part it is the riddler challenges. They're monotonous and frankly unless you're an achievement junky, not worth it. I began to dread hearing Riddler's snide-ass comments as the game went by.
Diane's Note: Harley's Voice is grating I had to leave the room anytime she had a monologue..I get that she was the voice actress for the cartoon and that holds a place in people's hearts but the way she was drawn nobody was paying attention to Harley for her voice.
Summed up:
Controls: XBox 5/5. PC 2/5
Graphics: 5/5. Couldn't feel more like a rundown hospital if it was VR.
Sound: 5/5 Because Kevin Conroy is Batman. And it's possible to actually hear their performances!
Story: 4/5. I tick the point off because of the abrupt ending. Otherwise it was as good a Batman story as I've ever read.
Playability: 3/5 More story time and less Riddler collections, please. But definitely good enough to play more than once!
007 Nightfire Originally Published 8/2016
Let's talk a bit about the game I've started with. 007 Nightfire is a 2002 first person shooter released on several consoles and PC.It was the first 007 game to include an original theme song. And at the the time of its release: I sucked at it. I sucked at it's predecessor, Goldeneye, too. Why? Well until this point my exposure to FPS gaming was Doom, Doom II etc...where stealth and patience went by the wayside for "Blow it the Fuck Up Quickly." That tactic didn't work in spy games so I had to completely relearn FPS gaming logic.
The game itself had a multitude of missions with sub missions in each. It had a story worthy of a Bond film - in fact better than some! More on the levels as i go through them.
The graphics were very advanced for its day; especially on the cube which wasn't necessarily a heavy graphics console. It also had very impressive sound. Too bad the sound didn't match the faces (i.e. Pierce Brosnan didn't voice Bond but it was his likeness in the game!)
The controls for the game were standard for the day, and for the most part standard today, too.
The mutli-player wasn't as robust as Goldeneye. In our house we'd still resort back to Goldeneye for the deathmatch possibilities. The options just didn't seem to be as varied.
I don't know if there's replayability since I've never finished it, but I do recommend that if you can get a hold of a console version of the game and you like Bond and FPS grab it and give it a go! Though I'm told the PC version is a complete technical disaster.
007 Nightfire: Completed 8/29/2016. The last two things I wanted to talk about before moving on was the level design and my overall feeling. I believe I mentioned before that the levels are beautiful and well designed graphically. Some are so expansive you can explore them and see new things each time. Some are short and sweet and there's a good mix of both. The PROBLEM with the levels are the goals. Sometimes the goals are shockingly ambiguous. If you're not an experienced gamer you're going to be stuck wondering just what the hell you're supposed to do. Even experienced, I found myself wondering in a couple of the missions, particularly "Double Cross: Save Mayhew's Servants" Where the Hell are they? The map is HUGE. You're getting shot from every direction. That is the level that made me initially put the game down all those years ago.
The submarine/car level is easily the most imaginative, entitled "Deep Descent" though my favorite is "Chain Reaction" as you skulk around a decommissioned nuke plant looking for evidence of what Drake is up to. Drake is the bad guy, another gentleman industrialist who believes by taking over the world's nuclear arsenal he can eliminate governments and turn every country in a subsidiary of his own corporation. Hey--maybe we should give the guy a chance!
So overall:
Controls: 5/5: It's an FPS. What could you want? Weapon switching and gadget switching is intuitive as is aiming and firing.
Graphics: 4/5: Pretty damn good for the Game Cube. And Bond looking like Bond (Brosnan) is a huge atmospheric plus.
Sound: 3/5: Top notch music but the voices are strained. And Bond may look like Bond, but it sure isn't Brosnan.
Story: 4/5: It really could be a Bond movie. They went all out. The cutscenes are well timed and keep things moving rather than being a nuisance and after you've seen them once you can ALWAYS skip them with the A button.
Playability: 2.5/5: This is the part that hurts the game. The ambiguity of goals during missions is frustrating.
Saturday, May 25. 2019
Delving into the Citadel: The Fall of the Goblins
But what of "things worse than the goblins..."