Another week begins and here I am at work on no sleep, after tossing and turning for six hours. That also happened last Wednesday and I called in sick, I don't think they'd much like it if I did it again in such close proximity. Anyway, let's talk video games and stuff.
So getting tired of waiting for the release of the PC version next month, I finally popped in the copy of Mass Effect I got for the 360 a while back (Off the Expert Zone, I didn't pay $60 and just let it sit there). That was Friday night, and by the time I went to bed just before the sun began to rise on Sunday I had put 15 of your earth hours into it. What we've basically got here is a prettied-up Knights of the Old Republic that's more action-oriented and not set in the Star Wars universe, and that's fine by me. The enemy AI is a little clunky in that most creatures, humanoid, machine or otherwise, will most likely just run right at you and the game really likes to fuck you over in some of the indoor sections of side-quests where you'll enter a room and suddenly be gang-raped by twenty rocket-packing security droids. It's very clear that it was a carefully created game, crafted by teams of writers, artists and programmers that all brought a vibrant and complex universe, full of strange planets and races and history, to realization, but apparently there was only one guy in charge of the inventory interface and he was doing his best to get fired. When bartering there's no way to separate items by category, they're all just lumped in together, and when there's a billion types of everything (There are three different armor classifications per species alone) it gets a little frustrating, especially when scrolling moves so slowly. When you reach your maximum inventory limit the game tries to warn you when you're reaching it and when you find new stuff and want to take it but don't have room to you're not allowed. You can't even put it back down or swap out some older equipment for it, you're forced to discard it forever. Other than interface problems the game is engrossing and gorgeous and filled with character, the new conversation system isn't revolutionary but enjoyable and effective, and all the voice actors involved do a great job, save for Seth Green who plays the character of Seth Green as a spaceship pilot.
Since Grand Theft Auto IV is coming out in roughly two weeks I've decided to jump back into GTA: San Andreas, picking up the GTA collection for $30 on Steam. If you haven't played it yet then by all means you really need to because it's one of the best action games ever created and probably why I'm excited for GTA IV's release since I can only expect them to take the same improving formula and make it even better. Typically I'm very critical and dismissive of a game that takes more than an hour to "get into it" but that's the case with this, for me, at least. It isn't the fault of the gameplay, that's perfectly fine, it's just that in the beginning of the game you're introduced to a cadre of some of the most annoying characters ever produced in any piece of fiction. If there was a drinking game based on how many times someone says "gangsta," "busta," or "nigga" you'd be dead within the first two minutes. Though once you get out of the first city and out into the countryside, eventually meeting up with James Woods' CIA spook character, everything gets much better. James Woods makes everything better.
Been watching Nick Frost's (Shaun of the Dead, Hot Fuzz) Danger! 50,000 Volts and it's a very entertaining show. Basically it's Nick tackling different survival scenarios that range from avoiding kimono dragon attacks to how to seal up a sinking naval vessel, with Nick interviewing related experts and taking part in hands-on demonstrations. There's an extra on the Shaun of the Dead DVD featuring an extra segment not in the series titled "Danger! 50,000 Zombies," with Simon Pegg as an Australian zombie expert, that's done in the exact same format of the show. I'm told you can find that particular "episode" on the internets, specifically YouTube. You should watch it because I said so.
That's pretty much it, I'm going to concentrate on not passing out at my desk now.
-K.
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