It's a ritual every games writer must go through at some point; the traditional run down of his or her top ten favourite games.
After scribbling down a shortlist and then using an advanced method of moving bits of paper about on my desk, I decided on an order. I'm still not a hundred percent sure about the order of the bottom five, but the games that matter are all there. So let's begin;
10; Wario Land 3, GBC, 2000
Probably the least known game on the list, but one that has always stuck with me, WL3 is a 2D platformer in a similar vein to the other Wario games. The game features a linear upgrade system where Wario's powers develop over the course of the game. This allowed for an element of the game which probably is the main reason for it sticking in my top ten; after gaining new abilities, you would go back to older levels and unlock new routes through them, resulting in new levels unlocking. A night and day cycle that altered the enemies and layout of certain levels was a clever feature, as well as some fantastically ridiculous boss fights and an ingenious power up system that beautifully exploited Wario's invincibility. Wario Land 3 showed me that small cartridge games didn't have to be small in vision.
Showing posts with label fallout 3. Show all posts
Showing posts with label fallout 3. Show all posts
4 Nov 2010
Viva New Vegas
I went for the easy option with the title today. And why not?
So yes, as should be clear by now, Fallout: New Vegas is here, and has been for about a week and a half now. I really wanted to write about it but the problem was that it was so damn good. The reservations I had about it after playing it at Eurogamer were completely unfounded. After I had starting playing for a while and I had recovered from being shot in the face by Matthew Perry, I really got into the swing of things. The attack on Goodsprings was a really good start, and it felt great to rally the people around town. There is a lot more variety in quests, and a lot of the story telling is much more compelling. I've also enjoyed the humour which is much more obvious.
Obsidian clearly wanted the player to have more choice in the direction of the plot, as I've been bombarded with options as to who to support in the grand battle for New Vegas. I'm currently supporting the NCR, in the hope that we can push Caesar's Legion right out of the Mojave. I've even toyed with the idea of disguising my self as a Legionary and assassinating Caesar to get it over with, although I get the feeling that killing him wouldn't really put an end to things.
My character, who travels by the name of Zach, is a gun-toting science geek with a penchant for smoothing talking, which is not entirely dissimilar to my Fallout 3 character (also called Zach). There are a lot more stat checks in the conversations, which I really love because passing them makes me feel as if I'm cheating the game somehow. It's also a bloody marvel that Zach isn't addicted to Mentats because the amount of them I take to pass repair and science checks is unbelievable.
New Vegas is really great fun, maybe more so than its predecessor. If you enjoyed roving the Capital Wasteland, you'll equally enjoy moseying through the Mojave dressed as a cowboy. If you didn't enjoy Fallout 3... There's something wrong with you.
I'll be posting more updates over the next few months. I've even thought of turning a few of the quests into short stories, just for a laugh. Who knows?
Next time; Adventures in Albion with John Cleese! See y'all on the throne!
3 May 2010
Deliverance 2277
Point Lookout is big, dark, moody and disgusting. It's also pretty good.
It's with some what of a heavy heart that I headed into the Swamps of Maryland, as it was to provide the final chapter of my Wasteland Adventure. Sure, I can go back and play as my evil character but it won't be the same as charging around the Wastes with my Stealth Armour and my Shady Hat, electrocuting Super Mutants.
Anywho, after installing the add-on, I got the obligatory message on my Pip Boy telling me to get down to the docks to hop onto a steamer, after paying 300 caps for a ticket. That bastard Tobar. I mean I could totally afford it, but it's still a lot.
After riding the steamer all the way to Point Lookout, I began exploring the surroundings, as is the style, and got used to the area.
Point Lookout is REALLY creepy. I mean seriously, it's pretty much always grey, and when the sun goes down, the trees block out a lot of the light, meaning you can barely see whats around you. It's not a good area if you've got a cowardly stealth character like me. The fact it's a swamp means having to cross several rivers to get around, meaning I have to break my cover. I don't like being attacked. I like attacking people from the shadows.
The main story is actually really good. The first "defend the house" mission is enjoyable, and pretty fun when you can use a bottlecap mine to fling your enemies into a balcony. The hallucination sequence was very strange and didn't really work for me. I didn't really get the point, but it gets better when you are attacked by a group of Tribals whilst attaching a radio transmission blocker to a Ferris wheel.
When the Tribals showed up, they actually killed the only trader in Point Lookout, which I felt bad about, but I felt better when I liberated all of her inventory from her locker. You know, so it wouldn't go to waste. The main quest wraps up when you can either kill one jerk or a different jerk. In the end I decide to kill the slightly less likeable jerk, but only cause the other jerk was slightly British.
The end result? A microwave gun, which depressingly didn't fire microwaves at people, and 100G more gamerscore.
Overall, I couldn't help but be a tad disappointed with Point Lookout. Others had really praised it for being such a fantastic new area, but I couldn't help thinking that there really wasn't that much to do (excluding the main quest, and that good one with the Chinese Agents and the Sub) But still, it got me to Level 30, and made me better at killing things when I'm standing still, so that's... a benefit is suppose.
So until New Vegas comes out, my Wasteland roaming adventures will be put on hold. I'm sure the Brotherhood will handle the Super Mutants fine without me, since my character is headed to New Vegas. YES I KNOW THAT THE CHARACTER IS DIFFERENT.
Next time, riddles, mutated henchmen and batarangs! See y'all at the Asylum!
It's with some what of a heavy heart that I headed into the Swamps of Maryland, as it was to provide the final chapter of my Wasteland Adventure. Sure, I can go back and play as my evil character but it won't be the same as charging around the Wastes with my Stealth Armour and my Shady Hat, electrocuting Super Mutants.
Anywho, after installing the add-on, I got the obligatory message on my Pip Boy telling me to get down to the docks to hop onto a steamer, after paying 300 caps for a ticket. That bastard Tobar. I mean I could totally afford it, but it's still a lot.
After riding the steamer all the way to Point Lookout, I began exploring the surroundings, as is the style, and got used to the area.
Point Lookout is REALLY creepy. I mean seriously, it's pretty much always grey, and when the sun goes down, the trees block out a lot of the light, meaning you can barely see whats around you. It's not a good area if you've got a cowardly stealth character like me. The fact it's a swamp means having to cross several rivers to get around, meaning I have to break my cover. I don't like being attacked. I like attacking people from the shadows.
The main story is actually really good. The first "defend the house" mission is enjoyable, and pretty fun when you can use a bottlecap mine to fling your enemies into a balcony. The hallucination sequence was very strange and didn't really work for me. I didn't really get the point, but it gets better when you are attacked by a group of Tribals whilst attaching a radio transmission blocker to a Ferris wheel.
When the Tribals showed up, they actually killed the only trader in Point Lookout, which I felt bad about, but I felt better when I liberated all of her inventory from her locker. You know, so it wouldn't go to waste. The main quest wraps up when you can either kill one jerk or a different jerk. In the end I decide to kill the slightly less likeable jerk, but only cause the other jerk was slightly British.
The end result? A microwave gun, which depressingly didn't fire microwaves at people, and 100G more gamerscore.
Overall, I couldn't help but be a tad disappointed with Point Lookout. Others had really praised it for being such a fantastic new area, but I couldn't help thinking that there really wasn't that much to do (excluding the main quest, and that good one with the Chinese Agents and the Sub) But still, it got me to Level 30, and made me better at killing things when I'm standing still, so that's... a benefit is suppose.
So until New Vegas comes out, my Wasteland roaming adventures will be put on hold. I'm sure the Brotherhood will handle the Super Mutants fine without me, since my character is headed to New Vegas. YES I KNOW THAT THE CHARACTER IS DIFFERENT.
Next time, riddles, mutated henchmen and batarangs! See y'all at the Asylum!
20 Apr 2010
Cleaning Up The Wastes
I've made a return to The Capital Wastelands, since I can't think of any other games to play it the moment. It also satisfies my desperate craving to play New Vegas, which is looking brilliant. FORE!
Aside from collecting up all the unique weapons (and then immediately putting them in storage) I finished the main story campaign for Broken Steel. Three quests doesn't seem like much but there's quite a lot to do in each of them. The first one kills off the best character in the entire game (Liberty Prime!! NOOOO!!), the second scenes you to a sewer full of Deathclaws and the last has you laying siege to Enclave's headquarters. Overall, it rounds up the story well and allows you to get a pretty sweet weapon (the Tesla Cannon) out of the deal.
When I first got Broken Steel back in August, I didn't actually play any of the games missions. Instead I just used the raised level cap to allow me to gain some experience from killing Super Mutants (as if I need a reason) By the time I got round to the campaign, I was at round about Level 25, so most of the enemies I encountered weren't much of a threat. The exception is the Super Mutant Overlords, who appear to be immune to pretty much everything I can through at them. I've tried everything and nothing slows them down (except the dart gun).
It wraps up the storyline in Fallout 3 nicely, and it's nicely prepped me for my final Wasteland excursion into the swamplands of Point Lookout. It's gonna be fun on the bun!
Until next time, I'll be gathering as many cameras and sensor modules as possible to repair Liberty Prime as I can. See y'all alongside me!
Aside from collecting up all the unique weapons (and then immediately putting them in storage) I finished the main story campaign for Broken Steel. Three quests doesn't seem like much but there's quite a lot to do in each of them. The first one kills off the best character in the entire game (Liberty Prime!! NOOOO!!), the second scenes you to a sewer full of Deathclaws and the last has you laying siege to Enclave's headquarters. Overall, it rounds up the story well and allows you to get a pretty sweet weapon (the Tesla Cannon) out of the deal.
When I first got Broken Steel back in August, I didn't actually play any of the games missions. Instead I just used the raised level cap to allow me to gain some experience from killing Super Mutants (as if I need a reason) By the time I got round to the campaign, I was at round about Level 25, so most of the enemies I encountered weren't much of a threat. The exception is the Super Mutant Overlords, who appear to be immune to pretty much everything I can through at them. I've tried everything and nothing slows them down (except the dart gun).
It wraps up the storyline in Fallout 3 nicely, and it's nicely prepped me for my final Wasteland excursion into the swamplands of Point Lookout. It's gonna be fun on the bun!
Until next time, I'll be gathering as many cameras and sensor modules as possible to repair Liberty Prime as I can. See y'all alongside me!
14 Apr 2010
Certain LOOM
No prizes for guessing what today's post is about, but first, some housekeeping. Or possibly blog-keeping. Whichever.
I am home now for an month or so, which means I'm back on the 360 for a bit. I've hooked it up to the big 1080p screen in the living room which makes all the difference. SMI:SE looks amazing in full high def on a big screen, but the best thing is definately Just Cause 2. Although admittedly it's just the demo. I've been really psyching myself up for it, and I have to say that it does fufill my exceedingly high expectations. To list the awesome things I have done would take far too long, but safe to say, military attack choppers are awesome.
But enough of that. Onto the point. LOOM. Because it's looming over me. Ugh. I apologise.
So released in 1990 as the fourth SCUMM game, LOOM puts you in the shoes (or possibly sandals, it's never really established what Bobbin has under his cloak. Could be stiletto heels for all I know) of Bobbin Threadbare. Old Threadbare is a weaver, which apparently in the world of Loom means he's some kind of magical reality-manipulating wizard. Within the first ten minutes, a magic sparkle had spoken to me, my stepmother was turned into a duck and a swan turned a bunch of people into swans. It was clear from the outset this was going to be a far cry from Monkey Island.
Loom doesn't feature your typical adventure game interface, lacking an inventory or verb list. Instead, you are in possession of a magic distaff which allows you to manipulate the environment via playing the notes of a musical scale on it. The game features a wide range of "weaves" which have a variety of magical effects on the environment around you. One of the first weaves you learn is "open" which can be used on a variety of objects (such as the sky, for some reason), but what is really clever about it is that reversing this weave by playing the notes in reverse order causes objects to close. It's quite a clever touch when you can reverse a weave designed to turn straw into gold in reverse and make a temperamental dragon's horde become worthless.
Unfortunately, Loom fails in some crucial areas. First of all, it's rather short. I think I must have played through it in an hour, two hours tops. I was all set up for a big epic story to unfold, there with my pen and paper (actually Notes on my iPod) to note down all the weaves, and then before I knew it, it was over. The plot seems to rush along, as if it had a lot to do in a short space of time. Backgrounds are left unexplored and characters half-developed, although this leads on to the next point; The ending. Without giving too much away, Loom ends on an epic, if somewhat confusing note, which is apparently a set up for a sequel that never was. Reading a description of the planned sequels from the lead developer Brian Moriarty, Forge and The Fold would be perfect for a revival right about now. Perhaps a surprise announcement at E3.
Well, it's late, and I have more Fallout 3 to play tomorrow. Gotta reach Level 30.
See y'all next time!
I am home now for an month or so, which means I'm back on the 360 for a bit. I've hooked it up to the big 1080p screen in the living room which makes all the difference. SMI:SE looks amazing in full high def on a big screen, but the best thing is definately Just Cause 2. Although admittedly it's just the demo. I've been really psyching myself up for it, and I have to say that it does fufill my exceedingly high expectations. To list the awesome things I have done would take far too long, but safe to say, military attack choppers are awesome.
But enough of that. Onto the point. LOOM. Because it's looming over me. Ugh. I apologise.
So released in 1990 as the fourth SCUMM game, LOOM puts you in the shoes (or possibly sandals, it's never really established what Bobbin has under his cloak. Could be stiletto heels for all I know) of Bobbin Threadbare. Old Threadbare is a weaver, which apparently in the world of Loom means he's some kind of magical reality-manipulating wizard. Within the first ten minutes, a magic sparkle had spoken to me, my stepmother was turned into a duck and a swan turned a bunch of people into swans. It was clear from the outset this was going to be a far cry from Monkey Island.
Loom doesn't feature your typical adventure game interface, lacking an inventory or verb list. Instead, you are in possession of a magic distaff which allows you to manipulate the environment via playing the notes of a musical scale on it. The game features a wide range of "weaves" which have a variety of magical effects on the environment around you. One of the first weaves you learn is "open" which can be used on a variety of objects (such as the sky, for some reason), but what is really clever about it is that reversing this weave by playing the notes in reverse order causes objects to close. It's quite a clever touch when you can reverse a weave designed to turn straw into gold in reverse and make a temperamental dragon's horde become worthless.
Unfortunately, Loom fails in some crucial areas. First of all, it's rather short. I think I must have played through it in an hour, two hours tops. I was all set up for a big epic story to unfold, there with my pen and paper (actually Notes on my iPod) to note down all the weaves, and then before I knew it, it was over. The plot seems to rush along, as if it had a lot to do in a short space of time. Backgrounds are left unexplored and characters half-developed, although this leads on to the next point; The ending. Without giving too much away, Loom ends on an epic, if somewhat confusing note, which is apparently a set up for a sequel that never was. Reading a description of the planned sequels from the lead developer Brian Moriarty, Forge and The Fold would be perfect for a revival right about now. Perhaps a surprise announcement at E3.
Well, it's late, and I have more Fallout 3 to play tomorrow. Gotta reach Level 30.
See y'all next time!
16 Nov 2009
UF-OMG
Ugh, it hurts to have a title that cliche. I'll go flay myself after this.
No blog posts for a while. I went home at the weekend, but I didn't update the blog because I'd left my laptop charger back at the flat, and I didn't realise until the second the train pulled out of Canterbury East. Just my luck.
I had a go on this weird white box next to my TV, which I'm pretty is called a XBox or something like that. I finally finished Mothership Zeta on F3, which was good. There's a very weird space battle section at the end which involves pressing three buttons, and that's pretty much it. Although there is an awesome explosion at the end. Upon returning to Earth I wandered around the Wastelands aimlessly, and it rekindled my love for Fallout 3. Plus, alien lazers are pretty awesome.
I also am looking to buy Torchlight, mainly because I need a new game to play, and also something to review on NR. I'd spent most of last week entering a six-word story competition to try and win a copy. On one hand, I like the idea of a contest that isn't entirely luck based. On the other, HURR ME CANT WRITE GOOD WORDS.
Finally, go read this webcomic. It's clearly designed for cool people, so god knows why I'm reading it.
As you may be able to tell I'm feeling a tad self-depricating this week. Thumbs up though.
See y'all at some other point in the future!
No blog posts for a while. I went home at the weekend, but I didn't update the blog because I'd left my laptop charger back at the flat, and I didn't realise until the second the train pulled out of Canterbury East. Just my luck.
I had a go on this weird white box next to my TV, which I'm pretty is called a XBox or something like that. I finally finished Mothership Zeta on F3, which was good. There's a very weird space battle section at the end which involves pressing three buttons, and that's pretty much it. Although there is an awesome explosion at the end. Upon returning to Earth I wandered around the Wastelands aimlessly, and it rekindled my love for Fallout 3. Plus, alien lazers are pretty awesome.
I also am looking to buy Torchlight, mainly because I need a new game to play, and also something to review on NR. I'd spent most of last week entering a six-word story competition to try and win a copy. On one hand, I like the idea of a contest that isn't entirely luck based. On the other, HURR ME CANT WRITE GOOD WORDS.
Finally, go read this webcomic. It's clearly designed for cool people, so god knows why I'm reading it.
As you may be able to tell I'm feeling a tad self-depricating this week. Thumbs up though.
See y'all at some other point in the future!
19 Oct 2009
Ich bin ein PSP owner
Well sort of. I have one on me. It's just not technically mine.
But first to business! This late blog comes to you courtesy of a shoddy internet connection and several coughing fits. And also my lectures. Those take up lots of time.
Went home at the weekend, on a rather long train journey. I started to fall asleep towards the end, so I played a little CivRev on my iPod. Nothing makes a train journey more exciting than dropping a nuclear ICMB on Paris. Except nachos. Nachos make anything more exciting.
At home, I actually ended up playing no Fallout 3, a fact that surprised me most of all. Instead I recompleted Shadow Complex with all of the items collected (for no real reason) and also played a little bit of Halo 3. Halo 3 is okay, but a tad dull at times. I really should have adjusted the controls because they felt way too sensitive.
I also watched a lot of The Simpsons Season 11, because my parents gave it to me as sort of a well-done-for-surviving-one-month-at-uni-without-resorting-to-theft. I think I deserved that one. I haven't stolen anyone's milk. Yet.
I also missed out on the oppotunity to get StarCraft for £10. This is because I am an idiot. Learn from my mistake, children.
But to the crux of the matter ; das PSP. Although I've yet to take the plunge and actually buy one (with all that money I don't have) I have borrowed one off of my neighbour, who got it a few years ago but never played it.
I've been playing a bit of God of War; Chains Of Olympus, which is fun but fairly tedious. Although I got to fight the bastard offspring of the Cloverfield monster and a dragon. Can't complain...
Right, gotta sleep. Oh an speaking of Shadow Complex... GO!
But first to business! This late blog comes to you courtesy of a shoddy internet connection and several coughing fits. And also my lectures. Those take up lots of time.
Went home at the weekend, on a rather long train journey. I started to fall asleep towards the end, so I played a little CivRev on my iPod. Nothing makes a train journey more exciting than dropping a nuclear ICMB on Paris. Except nachos. Nachos make anything more exciting.
At home, I actually ended up playing no Fallout 3, a fact that surprised me most of all. Instead I recompleted Shadow Complex with all of the items collected (for no real reason) and also played a little bit of Halo 3. Halo 3 is okay, but a tad dull at times. I really should have adjusted the controls because they felt way too sensitive.
I also watched a lot of The Simpsons Season 11, because my parents gave it to me as sort of a well-done-for-surviving-one-month-at-uni-without-resorting-to-theft. I think I deserved that one. I haven't stolen anyone's milk. Yet.
I also missed out on the oppotunity to get StarCraft for £10. This is because I am an idiot. Learn from my mistake, children.
But to the crux of the matter ; das PSP. Although I've yet to take the plunge and actually buy one (with all that money I don't have) I have borrowed one off of my neighbour, who got it a few years ago but never played it.
I've been playing a bit of God of War; Chains Of Olympus, which is fun but fairly tedious. Although I got to fight the bastard offspring of the Cloverfield monster and a dragon. Can't complain...
Right, gotta sleep. Oh an speaking of Shadow Complex... GO!
14 Oct 2009
A Time for the Signs
I don't think I should feel bad about paying such a small amount for a game.
I mean the reason that I only paid a dollar was that I figured it would be in pounds anyway so I could tell exactly how much I was paying. But it wasn't so a pound seemed like a round amount.
World of Goo. It's an incredibly popular game on both the PC and the Wii (and I also hear rumours of an iPod version), and to celebrate its first birthday, the game's designers 2dboy decide to do one of those "pay what you feel like" events that have been gaining in popularity recently. I thought it was a sweet deal, because WoG costs 17 quid on Steam, and I can't afford that in a reccession.
This made me laugh way more than it should have
A physics based puzzler, WoG presents you with a crazy world, filled strange globs of goo that can stick together to form different shapes. The goal in each level is to reach the pipe, which carries the blobs of gunk off to the shadowy "World of Goo" corporation. The story progresses in the form of short cutscenes, which give away small bits of the background story, although still enough to keep you in the dark (or should that be goo?)
That's one of the things I like most about WoG; the shadowy coporation behind the whole set up of the game. I've just finished Chapter 2, and I sort of think I know what's going on, but the story is very well laid out. The signs left about by the Signpainter are a genius touch, giving you a different angle on the event unfolding around you. The art style is also fantastic, and works with the gameplay so brilliantly, I almost fell over. Oh, and it runs well on The Toaster, which is good.
This is a weird sentence. However, this cutscene had brilliant music (which obviously you can't hear)
So, World of Goo. It can be very cheap now, if you want it to be. It can also be ridiculously expensive, but I don't see anyone paying a million dollars for it. Although that would be fantastic if somebody did. 2dboy would go on forever with that backing.
Next time, on The Starting Village...
Edd returns home and re-discovers the 360!
Aliens get shot at in slow-motion in all new Fallout 3 DLC!
And Edd wishes he had a decent game to play on the train ride to London!
All this, and perhaps more, in the next exciting installment of The Starting Village!
27 Sept 2009
Ice, The University and Everything
This weekend's installment of "The Starting Village" comes to you live from a brand spanking new location; a small room in a flat to the north of Canterbury!
Yes I have moved. And after soom furious battling with the internet, I established a connection, and got back to what really matters; teh interwebs.
Over the past week, I've been using my laptop a lot more than I normally would. I've downloaded a few demos off Steam (because I have no money and my Xbox is at home), and here's a short sentence for each of them;
- Gish; Jumping is too hard, lighting is nice
- Psychonauts; Good length, if I heard the word punch again I'll explode
- Blueberry Garden; Whiskey Tango Foxtrot?
I've also bought the LucasArts Adventure game pack, or whatever its called, and I've been playing both Fate of Atlantis and LOOM. FoA is very... cheesy, and LOOM... Well in the first 10 minutes of LOOM, all of my friends had turned into swans and my mother turned into a duck and flew through a rift in space time. Yes.
Another thing I've been playing is this, or for those of you who are scared of links, Icycle, a bike game set in an icy apocalypse. Insanely tough and incredibly well designed, it's a great time waster.
Because I'm now using a wired connection, I've been playing more BFH. I still suck, but at least I can get better because I won't have "THERE IS A PROBLEM WITH YOUR CONNECTION" popping up every ten seconds.
Well that's all for now. I'll be doing a "Postcards From..." for all the LA games I just got, but until them, don't feed the Yao Guai, chiiildren!
I miss Fallout 3 =(
Yes I have moved. And after soom furious battling with the internet, I established a connection, and got back to what really matters; teh interwebs.
Over the past week, I've been using my laptop a lot more than I normally would. I've downloaded a few demos off Steam (because I have no money and my Xbox is at home), and here's a short sentence for each of them;
- Gish; Jumping is too hard, lighting is nice
- Psychonauts; Good length, if I heard the word punch again I'll explode
- Blueberry Garden; Whiskey Tango Foxtrot?
I've also bought the LucasArts Adventure game pack, or whatever its called, and I've been playing both Fate of Atlantis and LOOM. FoA is very... cheesy, and LOOM... Well in the first 10 minutes of LOOM, all of my friends had turned into swans and my mother turned into a duck and flew through a rift in space time. Yes.
Another thing I've been playing is this, or for those of you who are scared of links, Icycle, a bike game set in an icy apocalypse. Insanely tough and incredibly well designed, it's a great time waster.
Because I'm now using a wired connection, I've been playing more BFH. I still suck, but at least I can get better because I won't have "THERE IS A PROBLEM WITH YOUR CONNECTION" popping up every ten seconds.
Well that's all for now. I'll be doing a "Postcards From..." for all the LA games I just got, but until them, don't feed the Yao Guai, chiiildren!
I miss Fallout 3 =(
23 Sept 2009
Trench Warfare Fun in the Snow
Rejoice, celebrate and so on. After spending a whole half a day bouncing up and down staring out the window, just when I had decided to give up, the postman FINALLY arrived and I literally snatched the parcel from his hands. Maybe a slight over-reaction but I didn't care.
The result of this perplexing display of anti-socialism? I had gained the first two DLCs for Fallout 3, although because they came on a disk, we shall now be referring to them as add-ons.
First up was Operation Anchorage, a military simulation set during the communist occupation of Anchorage, Alaska. After investigating an emergency signal from some Brotherhood Outcasts, I found myself in the middle of a small battle between said Outcasts and some Super Mutants. After reloading my game because I accidentally shot one of the Knights (who decided walking into my line of fire was a sensible strategy) the group and I bested the Muties and moved onward to a Pre-War armoury containing a military simulation of the Anchorage ho-down. After leaping in without a thought for my personal safety, I found myself half way up a cliff with very little in the way of weapons. After receiving some exposition from a cliff-climbing American soldier, I wandered off along the cliff face to shoot some Communists, which cheered me up. Actually that was the second best part of OA; Shooting commies. It's more fun if you shout "Better dead than red!" or something similar every time you shoot them.
Anyway after fighting invisible Chinese ninjas and blowing up some rather large cannons, I found myself in command of a squad of troops, and this was where OA got slightly confused. You are given the option of putting together a squad of soldiers (or robots) to help you in fighting the Chinese, but there doesn't really seem to be much point to it. Allies can be respawned almost instantly, which bears no penalty, so the threat level is minimal. You also get to choose between a rather crap selection of weapon packs, and unfortunately there's no option of Chinese Assault Rifle. As much as I slag off the commies, they knew what they were doing with the Xuanlong.
The long and short of Operation Anchorage is that you get access to a ton of cool armour and weaponry, most prominently, the Chinese Stealth Armour. This is possibly the coolest piece of tech I've seen in pretty much seen in any game ever. Ever. Probably. Invisibility is awesome...
So the end word on Operation Anchorage is that it plays out well, with some odd squad based combat, but worthwhile rewards. Next time, I'll be shouting about The Pitt, and why I think everyone needs an Auto Axe. See y'all then!
The result of this perplexing display of anti-socialism? I had gained the first two DLCs for Fallout 3, although because they came on a disk, we shall now be referring to them as add-ons.
First up was Operation Anchorage, a military simulation set during the communist occupation of Anchorage, Alaska. After investigating an emergency signal from some Brotherhood Outcasts, I found myself in the middle of a small battle between said Outcasts and some Super Mutants. After reloading my game because I accidentally shot one of the Knights (who decided walking into my line of fire was a sensible strategy) the group and I bested the Muties and moved onward to a Pre-War armoury containing a military simulation of the Anchorage ho-down. After leaping in without a thought for my personal safety, I found myself half way up a cliff with very little in the way of weapons. After receiving some exposition from a cliff-climbing American soldier, I wandered off along the cliff face to shoot some Communists, which cheered me up. Actually that was the second best part of OA; Shooting commies. It's more fun if you shout "Better dead than red!" or something similar every time you shoot them.
Anyway after fighting invisible Chinese ninjas and blowing up some rather large cannons, I found myself in command of a squad of troops, and this was where OA got slightly confused. You are given the option of putting together a squad of soldiers (or robots) to help you in fighting the Chinese, but there doesn't really seem to be much point to it. Allies can be respawned almost instantly, which bears no penalty, so the threat level is minimal. You also get to choose between a rather crap selection of weapon packs, and unfortunately there's no option of Chinese Assault Rifle. As much as I slag off the commies, they knew what they were doing with the Xuanlong.
The long and short of Operation Anchorage is that you get access to a ton of cool armour and weaponry, most prominently, the Chinese Stealth Armour. This is possibly the coolest piece of tech I've seen in pretty much seen in any game ever. Ever. Probably. Invisibility is awesome...
So the end word on Operation Anchorage is that it plays out well, with some odd squad based combat, but worthwhile rewards. Next time, I'll be shouting about The Pitt, and why I think everyone needs an Auto Axe. See y'all then!
9 Sept 2009
Wasteland Survival 101
Welcome to the Capital Wastelands, stranger. Here's a gun, here's some irradiated water, and here's a futuristic wristwatch/PDA that can stop time so you can aim at specific parts of your enemies body. Good luck.
So here's the deal with Fallout 3. It's probably the best game I've ever played, hands down. It's atmospheric, it's open-ended, it's brutally realistic (except VATS, but VATS is excellent anyway) it's visually astounding and it's compelling. I know this is an year-old game, but I would say to anyone that hasn't played yet to buy/rent/steal/pickpocket a copy and give it a go.
In terms of genre, Fallout 3 is a survival RPG with some light first person shooter elements. This suits me just fine, because my FPS skills are lackluster at best. VATS is also a brilliant tool for me as it makes aiming, and killing, makes more satisfying. Admittedly, the stats might be off, but nine times out of ten it hits the mark (bad pun alarm)
But what makes Fallout 3 so brilliant (I hear you cry)? The survival aspect of the game is so well implemented, it creates a whole new level of gameplay. Because you have a limit of how much you can carry, your weapon and healing items are limited to only what you carry. Weapons steadily degrade meaqning you have to find, scavenge or buy new ones to keep them in good condition. And almost all healing items you can find give you radiation, which steadily builds up to do damage to your stats.
There are so many things I could talk about in Fallout 3, but a lot of it has been said before. I'm currently at Level 19, and I realise I'm soon going to hit my peak at Level 20, but I'm already looking into getting the DLCs. I'm also on a mission to collect all the bobbleheads, as well as some of the unique weapons, so wish me luck...
What I am trying to say is that Fallout 3 is one of the best games I have ever played, and anyone he thinks otherwise is a FOOL (obscure reference). I'm sure there'll be more posts in the future about F3, especially considering the aforementioned DLCs. But right now I've got a sniper rifle and a violin to find...
See ya at the top of the Washington Monument, y'all!
2 Sept 2009
...and now for something completely different
Oh man this is embarrassing. Remember last time when I said that my brain would be exploding from joy due to the arrival of Fallout 3? Well I can firmly say that my grey matter is still safely encased inside my cranium. Turns out the best time to order things from Amazon is not the Friday before a bank holiday. Go figure.
So there is no new epic Fallout 3 stuff for me to natter on about. Instead... Uh-oh, I have nothing to talk about!
Uh... I beat 'Splosion Man. This officially wins the award for strangest final boss fight ever. For the most part it involves the normal running around dodging attacks stuff, but the way you beat the boss is amazingly inventive and the sequence at the very end of the fight is bizarre. Also, Hardcore Mode is ridiculously unnecessary. Seriously, who would do that to themselves?
I've been playing Battlefield Heroes again, in no small part cause of the new outfit I've got. For a free to play game, BFH is a surprisngly good game. Sure, the lack of maps is annoying, but the vechicles and classes make it interesting, and the RPG elements mix things up. I'm getting better at it too, although connection issues are still a bitch. Check me out, yeah?
So there is no new epic Fallout 3 stuff for me to natter on about. Instead... Uh-oh, I have nothing to talk about!
Uh... I beat 'Splosion Man. This officially wins the award for strangest final boss fight ever. For the most part it involves the normal running around dodging attacks stuff, but the way you beat the boss is amazingly inventive and the sequence at the very end of the fight is bizarre. Also, Hardcore Mode is ridiculously unnecessary. Seriously, who would do that to themselves?
I've been playing Battlefield Heroes again, in no small part cause of the new outfit I've got. For a free to play game, BFH is a surprisngly good game. Sure, the lack of maps is annoying, but the vechicles and classes make it interesting, and the RPG elements mix things up. I'm getting better at it too, although connection issues are still a bitch. Check me out, yeah?
I'm so cool. With my jacket, and weirdly shaped legs, and holster I can't use because I use a shotgun.
Fianlly, I used the PC Zone DVD to install The Elder Scrolls II; Daggerfall to my laptop. This was the whole game, for free on the DVD, and as you all well know, I've yet to resist a free game. Unfotunately, I have little to no idea about how to install the game, so the closest I got was clicking a lovely little install button in a lovely little dialogue box with a lovely little dragon in it, and getting absolutely no where swiftly. Richard, if you're reading this, help me please! If you do, I'll buy your magazine forever and also mention it on this blog every week (if I remember to). PC ZONE MAGAZINE IS AWESOME. There, free marketing.
Right, I'm just about out of information, so I'm signing off. If I never do another blog it's because Fallout 3 hasn't arrived and I've topped myself. Although there's equal chance it has arrived, and I can't stop playing it to do the blog. I'm sure I'll be alright.
See ya in The Wasteland, y'all!
29 Aug 2009
Arcade Cavalcade
Most people who play games for hours on end only to get the achievements are often accused of having no life. This hasn’t happened to me yet, but only because I didn’t have a life to begin with. This means I am free to play games non-stop until my eyeballs bleed just to get one achievement.
Now that I’ve cleared that up, I can talk about what I’ve been up to games-wise, and barring the problems I’ve been having with a certain beta game, they’ve all been on that wonderful white cuboid that sits next to my TV and hums loudly whenever it has to do anything. To be more accurate they all have been downloaded from XBLA, which in my opinion is a very good marketplace for downloadable games.
So what’s on the menu for this downloadable feast? Up as a starter, the spellcheckers nightmare, ‘Splosion Man. A 2.5D platforming puzzle set-up, you control an exploding man, surprisingly enough, who uses his ability to explode to blast his way through the levels, turning scientists into meat for some reason. The controls are incredibly simple with analogue stick controlling movement and every other button makes explode, flinging you into the air (having said that, the right trigger makes you “self-detonate”, killing you. I found this out the worst way). You can ‘splode mid air to continue a jump, and ‘splode once more for a third mid-air jump. The game is fairly robust, sporting 50 single player levels and 50 multiplayer modes (I think), although as is the major complaint with this game, they go on for too long and get too hard. Overall, ‘Splosion Man is a good XBLA title. The levels are interesting, the character is very quirky, and the boss fights spice things up. I’d like to see more boss fights in the sequel actually. Take notes, Twisted Pixel.
For a main course, the game I refuse to refer to as a “Metroidvania” style game, Shadow Complex. This game is also a 2.5D platformer, except this time you play as Nathan Drake-alike, Jason Flemming, although from this point on he shall be called Jason Asskicker. The story, inspired by an Orson Scott Card novel and written by Peter David, involves Asskicker and his girlfriend of apparently one day Claire going into some caves, but discovering a group of well-equipped home-grown terrorists who are preparing to cause civil war in the US of A. After Claire is capture Jason fights his way through the shadow complex, risking his life on several occasions to save the girl he’s known for one day. Plotholes aside, Shadow Complex is a good game. At the start of the game, you have a flashlight, climbing gear and a gun, and that’s what makes it so brilliant. As you hang from a ladder and blast a guard’s head in, you feel badass. When you jump off a ledge and punch a guard in the neck, you feel badass. When you fire at someone with anti-riot foam and then fire a grenade at the foam and it explodes, you laugh for a bit, then realise how badass it was. This game should be sold as a badass simulator. Seriously. It’s just a shame that towards the end, the sheer amount of enemies turns the game into more of a run and gun affair. Closing statements; Solid all-round game, few niggles.
For dessert, a classic given a new dressing, it’s The Secret of Monkey Island; Turbo HD Remix, or whatever. Although the game remains exactly the same, this new version features full voice acting, hand-painted HD backgrounds and characters and some smoother animations. First of all, SoMI is my third favourite MI game, after Curse and Revenge. My feelings towards this new game are slightly odd, in that I feel that a bit more work could have been put into it. Some of the voice acting seems weak, and whilst Earl Boen does a fantastic job with LeChuck, some of Guybrush’s lines sound slightly tired. Sorry, Dom... So to summarise, nice to hear the voices in the original, but doesn’t exactly meet my expectations. Here’s to the sequel, an infinitely better game.
So that’s that. I’ve also got the two Fable 2 DLCs but we can cover those another time. Coupla weeks, I dunno. I might do a bit about Fable III as well.
Next time on The Starting Village, I get Fallout 3, then my brain explodes from joy. See ya then!
Now that I’ve cleared that up, I can talk about what I’ve been up to games-wise, and barring the problems I’ve been having with a certain beta game, they’ve all been on that wonderful white cuboid that sits next to my TV and hums loudly whenever it has to do anything. To be more accurate they all have been downloaded from XBLA, which in my opinion is a very good marketplace for downloadable games.
So what’s on the menu for this downloadable feast? Up as a starter, the spellcheckers nightmare, ‘Splosion Man. A 2.5D platforming puzzle set-up, you control an exploding man, surprisingly enough, who uses his ability to explode to blast his way through the levels, turning scientists into meat for some reason. The controls are incredibly simple with analogue stick controlling movement and every other button makes explode, flinging you into the air (having said that, the right trigger makes you “self-detonate”, killing you. I found this out the worst way). You can ‘splode mid air to continue a jump, and ‘splode once more for a third mid-air jump. The game is fairly robust, sporting 50 single player levels and 50 multiplayer modes (I think), although as is the major complaint with this game, they go on for too long and get too hard. Overall, ‘Splosion Man is a good XBLA title. The levels are interesting, the character is very quirky, and the boss fights spice things up. I’d like to see more boss fights in the sequel actually. Take notes, Twisted Pixel.
For a main course, the game I refuse to refer to as a “Metroidvania” style game, Shadow Complex. This game is also a 2.5D platformer, except this time you play as Nathan Drake-alike, Jason Flemming, although from this point on he shall be called Jason Asskicker. The story, inspired by an Orson Scott Card novel and written by Peter David, involves Asskicker and his girlfriend of apparently one day Claire going into some caves, but discovering a group of well-equipped home-grown terrorists who are preparing to cause civil war in the US of A. After Claire is capture Jason fights his way through the shadow complex, risking his life on several occasions to save the girl he’s known for one day. Plotholes aside, Shadow Complex is a good game. At the start of the game, you have a flashlight, climbing gear and a gun, and that’s what makes it so brilliant. As you hang from a ladder and blast a guard’s head in, you feel badass. When you jump off a ledge and punch a guard in the neck, you feel badass. When you fire at someone with anti-riot foam and then fire a grenade at the foam and it explodes, you laugh for a bit, then realise how badass it was. This game should be sold as a badass simulator. Seriously. It’s just a shame that towards the end, the sheer amount of enemies turns the game into more of a run and gun affair. Closing statements; Solid all-round game, few niggles.
For dessert, a classic given a new dressing, it’s The Secret of Monkey Island; Turbo HD Remix, or whatever. Although the game remains exactly the same, this new version features full voice acting, hand-painted HD backgrounds and characters and some smoother animations. First of all, SoMI is my third favourite MI game, after Curse and Revenge. My feelings towards this new game are slightly odd, in that I feel that a bit more work could have been put into it. Some of the voice acting seems weak, and whilst Earl Boen does a fantastic job with LeChuck, some of Guybrush’s lines sound slightly tired. Sorry, Dom... So to summarise, nice to hear the voices in the original, but doesn’t exactly meet my expectations. Here’s to the sequel, an infinitely better game.
So that’s that. I’ve also got the two Fable 2 DLCs but we can cover those another time. Coupla weeks, I dunno. I might do a bit about Fable III as well.
Next time on The Starting Village, I get Fallout 3, then my brain explodes from joy. See ya then!
5 Jul 2009
Men in Tights, Pointless Updates, and Adventures in High Definition
Yeah, I could have updated yesterday. But I didn't just because I could. So there.
Ever since watching "Superman Returns", I'd been wondering about Superman films generally, and I remembered I actually have the original on my DVD shelf. So I put it in and watched it (as I believe is the current style). It wasn't too bad actually, apart from being INCREDIBLY camp. It's amazing how much of the dialogue was essentially stolen for "Superman Returns", although I guess it could be called a "reimagining". Also, Superman is the only film I've ever seen that sets up the plot of the sequel before establishing the plot of the actual film. KNEEL BEFORE ZOD, and so forth.
I bought the update for the iPod touch the other day, purely so I could get Rolando 2, which I have REALLY been looking forward to. But, because I only have an iPod touch, it's apparently my job to pay for the update. Grr. SO I bought it, but unfortunately I now don't have enough iTunes credit to buy the new Rolando, which sucks big time... So I now have the ability to copy and paste text, but no new game. I fail at everything =)
I've also been watching many a high definition video recently, just because the option is there and I've got the time to let it render, or buffer, or whatever. Videos on YouTube are quite good, especially Fallout 3, which is a noticeable improvment from all the blur you get on regular videos. The Simpsons looks very strange in HD, but the new intro sequence is cool. Unfortunately, I don't know anything about the specs of my screen so it could be a waste of time really... Meh.
Oh, I have the Determinance demo on my PC. I should really play it at some point...
Ever since watching "Superman Returns", I'd been wondering about Superman films generally, and I remembered I actually have the original on my DVD shelf. So I put it in and watched it (as I believe is the current style). It wasn't too bad actually, apart from being INCREDIBLY camp. It's amazing how much of the dialogue was essentially stolen for "Superman Returns", although I guess it could be called a "reimagining". Also, Superman is the only film I've ever seen that sets up the plot of the sequel before establishing the plot of the actual film. KNEEL BEFORE ZOD, and so forth.
I bought the update for the iPod touch the other day, purely so I could get Rolando 2, which I have REALLY been looking forward to. But, because I only have an iPod touch, it's apparently my job to pay for the update. Grr. SO I bought it, but unfortunately I now don't have enough iTunes credit to buy the new Rolando, which sucks big time... So I now have the ability to copy and paste text, but no new game. I fail at everything =)
I've also been watching many a high definition video recently, just because the option is there and I've got the time to let it render, or buffer, or whatever. Videos on YouTube are quite good, especially Fallout 3, which is a noticeable improvment from all the blur you get on regular videos. The Simpsons looks very strange in HD, but the new intro sequence is cool. Unfortunately, I don't know anything about the specs of my screen so it could be a waste of time really... Meh.
Oh, I have the Determinance demo on my PC. I should really play it at some point...
22 Jun 2009
Looking to the future....
I was actually free yesterday evening, but I didn't feel like doing a blog. So there.
So I'm finally done with my secondary education. And now... three months of gaming, more or less. I was gonna call the whole thing "The SCUMMer of Xbox Live" but I realise that sound dumb. So instead here's a list of all the stuff that's coming up;
The Secret of Monkey Island
Monkey Island 2; LeChuck’s Revenge
The Curse of Monkey Island
Sam and Max Hit The Road
Cave Story
Fallout
Fallout 2
Fallout Brotherhood of Steel
Fallout 3 (when I get it)
Fable 2 (if I get it)
Super Mario Galaxy (with Luigi)
No More Heroes
House of The Dead; Overkill
Punchout!! (Maybe)
Zenonia (iPod RPG)
Darwinia
Uplink
Half Life 2 + Episodes
Portal
Team Fortress 2
Hellz yeah =)
Day of The Tentacle and Beneath a Steel Sky narrowly missed this list because I beat them yesterday and a few days ago respectively. That gives me something to talk about midweek then. And Zenonia =)
See y'all on the flipside.
So I'm finally done with my secondary education. And now... three months of gaming, more or less. I was gonna call the whole thing "The SCUMMer of Xbox Live" but I realise that sound dumb. So instead here's a list of all the stuff that's coming up;
The Secret of Monkey Island
Monkey Island 2; LeChuck’s Revenge
The Curse of Monkey Island
Sam and Max Hit The Road
Cave Story
Fallout
Fallout 2
Fallout Brotherhood of Steel
Fallout 3 (when I get it)
Fable 2 (if I get it)
Super Mario Galaxy (with Luigi)
No More Heroes
House of The Dead; Overkill
Punchout!! (Maybe)
Zenonia (iPod RPG)
Darwinia
Uplink
Half Life 2 + Episodes
Portal
Team Fortress 2
Hellz yeah =)
Day of The Tentacle and Beneath a Steel Sky narrowly missed this list because I beat them yesterday and a few days ago respectively. That gives me something to talk about midweek then. And Zenonia =)
See y'all on the flipside.
29 Apr 2009
G4M3 H4XZ0R5... Or something
So as previously mentioned at the weekend, I got Uplink and Darwinia at the weekend off Steam for a low low price of only 6 quid, which works for me. I've been playing them all this week, all though not as much as I'd liked to, having to fit it around revision, but I've given it my best shot. Although I've only played Darwinia once. But I'm entitled to my opinion, so there.
Uplink is a hacking game, which I had no idea about prior to download, except it was a hacking game. Set in some kind of bizarre future where hacking has become so prominent, it qualifies as employment, you take on the role of an "Uplink Agent", whose job it is to, unsurprisingly, hack things. Right from the outset, you really buy into this illusion that it is REAL hacking. The game asks you to put in a username and password, and asks you to wait to connect to the network. It's all very nice.
Visually, there's not a whole lot to see, but it's not really necessary. It reminded me a little bit of text based adventures which I've never played. It is fun to hack computers though as the trace tracker makes you really impatient for the password to be cracked before you get traced and fined and OH MY GOD IT'S SO STRESSFUL!
Onto more relaxed things, Darwinia. I had no idea about this game either, cept it was a sort of real time strategy in a virtual world. Which is sort of what it is, but also sort of not... If that made any sense.
Set in "the world's first virtual theme park", Darwinia is a strategy game with a difference. You don't build troops, you run programs. You don't research upgrades, you get upgrades by collecting Research. You don't collect resources, you collect DNA spirits... Okay several differences. It's a nice change from your average strategy game. The visual design is very good, and does sort of look like what the internet might look like if it were visualised.
The only bad thing about Darwinia is that I feel I'm playing it in the wrong way, although I guess that's my fault, not the game itself. My strategy is to shoot everything, then send my little Engineers in to scoop up the DNA so they don't get hurt. But this strategy doesn't work, since the DNA fades away quite quickly. Ergo, I need to be braver. Actually that's true in real life =)
So that's my take on the first two Introversion games. I'll be playing them for a while yet, so expect to hear more about them.
Three things to cover, very swiftly, since this is already way too long;
1. My iPod has some how fixed itself. It seems to do that a lot. I think it has a learning chip in it.
2. I've been eyeing up the classic Fallout games in preparation for getting Fallout 3 on the XBox (that I don't have yet) Only 6 quid for all three on Amazon? Yes please.
3. View this for me;
This is what I've made using Word and Paint. I know it's not funny, but that's not the point. The point is that I did it. I desperately wanna do a Link's Awakening webcomic but ComicGenesis doesn't like breach of copyright, and I'm worried it wouldn't work.
Meh. What happens happens I guess.
Anyway, I've wasted too much of your time already. Catch you at the weekend.
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