Dead Space - Someone merged Doom 3 and System Shock 2 and remade it using the Resident Evil 4 format. And it works really well.
Far Cry 2 - Not as mind-blowing as I hoped it would be, but once you get over the initial hurdles of almost instantly respawning enemy checkpoints and lots of driving there's a fairly deep and engaging free-roaming FPS game here. A good tagline would be "S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Lite, done right." Also it sometimes falls victim to shoddy dead-person-physics as well.
Fallout 3 - Yes, the people who have been saying "Oblivion with guns," especially in a disparaging fashion over at No Mutants Allowed, are not far off. It's got bugs, but it's not exactly like the originals didn't have them either, though the lackluster animation from Oblivion has carried over. In the end, though, there are ghouls and mutants, colorful characters, and pitch-black humor; This feels like Fallout, and it's very good.
-K.
Thursday, October 30, 2008
Quick Impressions of Games I Haven't Finished
Thursday Morning Video: Fallout 3 - When Physics Goes Wrong
There was a man with a minigun trying to kill me so I shot him in the head, this was the result:
-K.
Tuesday, October 28, 2008
No Time for Love, Indie Games
So far the start of nearly endless big name releases has been a good one, kicking off with the latest Brothers in Arms game (If that counts), Hell's Highway, which was excellent. I'm now hip-deep in Far Cry 2 and Dead Space, which have both also been high-quality experiences. But since the train has now pulled into and come to a complete stop at Crazy Town Release Station, I've had very little time to survey what's new on the indie or purely free front, hence the lack of genuine Play This Now updates. If FedEx doesn't let me down, there should be a copy of Fallout 3 waiting for me when I get home, which means you should fully expect this trend to continue.
I have heard, though, through various news outlets, that the Pikmin-esque medieval fantasy game Overlord is available for free via GameTap. Granted I can't really give a very glowing recommendation towards it because all I played was the demo before it released, but I did enjoy that, and free is an extremely agreeable price tag. Basically you're a big, evil bastard running around with a big, evil bastard sword doing big, evil bastard things with your small, evil bastard goblins at your command, Pikmin-style. Where could that go wrong?
Also, keep an eye out, Penny-Arcade Adventures Episode 2 is supposed to release tomorrow, I believe.
-K.
Friday, October 24, 2008
Open for Business
Good Old Games, the absolutely DRM-free classic games service I've spoken highly of in the past, is now out of beta and completely open to the public. Even to those shifty, suspicious-looking people from that country. You know the one.
Go ahead and pick up Jagged Alliance or Giants if you're looking for a cheap distraction.
-K.
Thursday, October 23, 2008
Max Payne Not Okay, Says Internet
Ouch.
I have not yet seen the film, but all indicators seem to point to it being a complete mess. The worst part about a failure like this is that it serves only to embolden Roger Ebert's and his fellow critics' dismissive attitude towards the medium as a valid art form. You'll see plenty of review blurbs that simply say "It's a video game movie, so you know it's not good." The problem isn't video game movies, it's the people making them and the people choosing which properties to give the film treatment in the first place. I could have told you, even at a young age when there were rumors of it starring Schwarzenegger, that Doom was not going to be a good movie. Fighting games are almost completely devoid of story to begin with, but the more popular franchises (Street Fighter, Mortal Kombat and even Dead or Alive) get live-action counterparts. I understand what drives these decisions; the games are well-known, big sellers, not necessarily if it has a compelling story. This is why the Halo movie has not been snuffed out yet and there's a Gears of War film on the way.
All I can do is sit back and dream about what it would be like if a studio like Pixar were to make a Grim Fandango movie.
-K.
Thursday Morning Video: QI - Outtake
Another not-terribly-long video, an outtake from one of my favorite shows, QI.
-K.
Thursday, October 16, 2008
Thursday, October 9, 2008
If I Had a Million 1200 Dollars
So a few weeks ago someone backed into my car while I was asleep and to their credit they were kind enough to leave a note and take responsibility. The damage does not appear significant, to me at least, but since the cost to repair it would include replacing the driver's side door the estimate I got came to the tune of about $1200, which I have opted to take in the form of a check. I've had the car for about 16 months now and it's already got almost 110,000 miles on it so it's not like the resale value is going to be tremendous when I'm done with it. Unlike before I will not be using this money to purchase another pinball machine (Not even a Neo-Geo arcade cabinet), but rather apply the bulk to my credit card, which will already be seeing considerable use this month and the next.
My dismissive attitude towards the PlayStation 3 is not something I have really kept hidden, and most of that is really the fault of the Sony's PR department going out of their way to tell people that, and this may not be verbatim, we don't need games to get you jerks to buy our crap. And they certainly delivered on that statement. Outside of big releases like Metal Gear Solid 4 and the recent LittleBigPlanet (Of which I was also dismissive but word-of-mouth is beginning to spread and I'm slowly starting to take notice), there isn't much the system has to offer that I could not consume elsewhere. So, obviously, it's not a platform that is on my radar. But while I'm pondering how I'm going to divy up this cash, last night a friend of mine tells me about Sega's Valkyria Chronicles, a PS3 exclusive.
From what I've been able to discern from various media which I have spent much of the morning consuming it is a turn-based real-time strategy action RPG, in which you get to control each individual unit's specific movement and attacks in real time. This same friend spent some time in the Land of the Rising Fun and talked about getting his hands on it during his visit, telling me it is exactly the kind of game I'd get really into. From the looks of it, he's right. Goddamn it.
-K.