MetaUpdate

Here's the thing. I've been playing a bunch of games recently. I've got a new phone, with games on it. I've also been playing a lot of App Store distractions. But I just haven't got around to writing about it.

I could blame it on not having a decent computer, which is half true. I switched on for the first time in a month yesterday, specifically to write a lab report. It's a poor piece of machinery and I generally now dislike using it. I'm writing this on my girlfriend's laptop to avoid using it. Hopefully, by Christmas I'll have a whizzy new computer that can actually run stuff. Fun fact; I've only played 45% of my Steam games. Not because I don't want to, but because I can't. Portal breaks when I use a portal, Trine just refuses to start, and I'm not even bothering with TF2 after the free weekend debacle.

But really I can only blame the lack of content on myself. I just don't have the self control to post. I get bored writing down my own thoughts, or get stuck on the title or the opening paragraph. I lack motivation. It's why I got 40% in my first year of university and it's why I'm writing this now. I originally started this blog because I wanted to go to E3, although that's a bit of a pipe dream really.

So here's the thing; I'm going to start afresh. Not in any blog-changing way, but I'm going to go for more regular status updates, with better content, that isn't just me talking about sentiments that have already been expressed by everyone. Hopefully, next year I'll have a podcast on the go as well so fingers crossed for that.

Basic gist of this post; coming in 2011, compelling content, and maybe a podcast. See y'all then!

And also, ilomilo. I've got a WP7 now, and I want this more than anything.

Use A Potion... Maybe.

So Fable 3 is pretty fun.

Thought I'd open with that. Get it out of the way. Mix things up a bit.

Fable 2 was the first ever game I played when I first got my XBox and I absolutely played it to death. It was a lot of fun and despite a few flaws I really had a lot of fun crafting a character who, for some reason, wore sunglasses.

So on to the sequel, which I have been waiting for since it was announced back in 2009 (possibly) and I was waiting on the courier for aaaages until it turned up. For some reason, despite pre-ordering it at least a month ago, Amazon decided to send it out on the say of release. Play were smart enough to send out New Vegas two days in advance so it arrived on release day, but Amazon... Well I certainly won't be using them again for any pre-orders. Not that I can afford another. Saving up for that 3DS.

Fable 3 was always very pushed as removing many of the features that were apparently clogging up Fable 2, and that's obvious from the get go. The health bar has been stripped away, the weapon equipment screen has been removed, and the emotes wheel has been taken away. It's a bold choice and it feels like something you might see in an experimental indie game as opposed to one of the 360's flagship franchises. Personally... It doesn't gel too well with me. The pause screen is clever I suppose and Jasper's dry humour is something I enjoy, but I didn't particularly ever feel that Fable 2 was clunky. The choice of only two emotes when interacting a character seems to detract from the level of interaction in the previous game and I liked having a health bar to indicate when I should start panicking. In Fable 3, it's more guess work.

The combat is still fun, striking the balance between challenging and manageable. There are some surprisingly vicious flourishes, like the other day when I jumped onto the shoulders of my enemy and BROKE HIS NECK WITH MY KNEES. It was pretty horrendously awesome. I also enjoy weaving spells together, with my personal favourite being a mix of fireball and lightening. Burn 'em and stun 'em. Just like Bioshock. Ranged combat is still ranged combat, and it's still great fun to blast away at enemies as they charged toward you. The weapon morphing is a nice feature, but doesn't really seem to be as dynamic as initially suggested.

The story is progressing nicely and has a more fantasy based plot-line than the previous. Whilst it took a while to get going, the cave sequence was very intense and really got under my skin. Freaky skull this are freaky.

Fable 3 will keep me busy for a while and gives me something to play when I'm tired of New Vegas, and vice versa. I have to see between the two I prefer F:NV, but they are both top notch games, and I heartily recommend them both. Although play Fable 2 first.

Next time... Something else. More New Vegas. See y'all in the Dino's mouth!

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!

DLC: Downloadable Complaining

Okay, that might be a bit unfair. I don't actually have any problems with the stuff I've downloaded (well, maybe a bit) but you'd think being about two metres away from a wireless router would affords me some favourable download speeds. However, I am in a flat where five people are all trying to get internet access from a 6MB connection, which is suppose to be 20MB, but isn't. MARG BLARG INTERNET STUFF.

So, I've been busy downloading a few things recently. XBLA has, in my opinion, had a run of really fantastic releases recently, I'm very swiftly going to run down a few of the ones I've been firing up on the ol' 360.

DeathSpank; Thongs of Virtue was released a week or so ago and although I failed to get it then, I did get it a couple of days before I went off to university. It's really good fun. It's a direct sequel to DeathSpank, which was released way back in July (which I intended to write about but it got lost in the ether of Mass Effect 2). My personal favourite is definately the latter. Whilst some of the humour is not as cutting as the original the gameplay is much more well rounded, and also, you can have a ray gun. And a chain saw. And a cowboy hat. And space boots. It really appealed to the childish side in me (so, it appealed to the only side of me) with aliens, soldiers, cowboys and robots all turning up, and then later being shot. Overall best part; Shooting a dinosaur with a laser. Screw high fantasy.

Alan Wake was good. I really enjoyed it, as it had one of the most compelling stories of any game I've played in a while. However, one of the downfalls of the story was the ending. I found I was left stranded not really understanding what the hell had happened to Alan. The first bit of DLC help a little; it seemed to suggest after defeating the Dark Presence, Alan had somehow regressed into his own dark mind. However, I still wanted answers (dammit) and The Writer DLC was all set to provide them. Which it sort of did. The pacing of The Writer is very good, and it has a very clever final fight which I didn't see coming. The storyline is still left relatively open though, and there are some major unfinished plot points (e.g. Mr Scratch?) Let's hope despite middling sales, Remedy are working on a sequel. Overall best part; Either the ferris wheel of death or the giant typewriter of self reference.

Comic Jumper is some what of a media darling at the moment, garnering positive reviews from almost everyone, and for the most part I agree. The different art styles and comic book universe world swaps are a feature I absolutely love and the humour is really some of the best I've seen/heard in a game. I just wish it was more enjoyable to play. I really loved 'Splosion Man, but one of my major criticisms was that it was just too damn difficult at points, and CJ suffers from exactly the same problems. I died about six times on the first level of the second world. If you are gonna make it so easy for me to get hit, Twisted Pixel, at least give me a way to gain back my health. It's a real shame but I am going to persevere and upgrade Captain Smiley to make it easier. Overall best part; "Why do you hate birds so much?" "I don't know, I just do!"

Finally, before I go, quick shout out to two internet based companies; GamePointsNow.com, who provide me with cheap Microsoft points via email, and Insert Coin Clothing, who have garnished me with an incredibly brilliant Quantum tee. Go visit them.

Right. Posted. I'm off. New Vegas and Fable 3 are just around the corner. See y'all when the post arrives!

Video-Game-Conferencing

Coming to you from a small room, above a Londis, near a graveyard, it's The Return of The Starting Village!

So I'm at university after three months of... well, work but now work is done! It was at Buckingham Palace, which I feel I can probably say now the job is over. Working in a gift shop was FUN.

So the last weekend, I went to Eurogamer, which was really great fun. After an embaressing situation where I may have queued up in the wrong queue for like twenty minutes, I got in and started looking around my first ever games thing.

First thing I saw; Fable 3. Off to a good start it was really great to finally have a go on it, and I enjoyed what I played of it. There was definitely more of an emphasis on story, with the player character having a voice, as well as interactive cutscenes. The art style is similar and I really cannot wait until it comes out. You know the tie in novel is already out in America? It wouldn't wind me up so much, but Lionhead are a British company.

I also had a go on Fallout New Vegas, my other most anticipated game of the year, and it was... It really pains me to write this. I have so much love for Fallout 3. My whole summer was spent playing it to death. And playing on NV should have left me awestruck. But something just seemed off. The graphics looked really quite dated, and the game seemed a bit slow, although I'm hoping this is because it was a demo character. I've still got the game on pre-order, cause I really want my caravan shotgun and binoculars.

Other things I had a go on; Move. The Fight was, ultimately, shit. Punches seemed ineffective and didn't land with any degree of force. There was also three-dee support but it really didn't seem to be working, putting the glasses on just seemed to reduce the blur on the screen. Echochrome 2 was kinda fun, although it didn't particularly use the Move controller in a innovative way. From what I saw of all the Move stuff, it really seemed like they had just recreated the Wii controller, but with knobs on. Literally.

A quick run down of other stuff; Assassin's Creed Brotherhood looks fun, had a quick go, quite enjoyed it, but I'm more interested in the single player. Brink was insanely popular, watched a few people playing but didn't really look like my sort of thing. Dead Space 2 was also popular, but did look really good. Despite not having played the original, the sequel looked intensely atmospheric with some real blistering action sequences and a clever alternative to quick time events.

It was also my first time meeting the guys from the Newb Review, and we all had a real laugh. We recorded a podcast, which you can listen to here. I also sat in on an interview with Ian and the producer of Hunted; The Demon Forge. It hasn't gone up on the site yet, but when it does, you can hear me ask one question about multiplayer. Exciting stuff I'm sure you'll agree.

Overall, I had fun at Eurogamer. Whilst there was not a whole lot of new stuff, there was clearly a lot of effort put into the show. From what I heard, the developer chats were really interesting, and I'd love to be able to go to more of them. I will strive to be there next year, for at least the first and second day.

Well, I'd best be off. I'll be back soon to talk about... I dunno, downloads or something. See y'all when I next get bandwidth!

Missing The Normandy

I've had to ditch the older post because it's been well over a month, and I can't just start again as if nothing has happened.

So here's the problem; I was finishing Mass Effect so I'd have something to write about, and then I moved onto Mass Effect 2. Turns out this was a poor idea because ME2 is wildly addictive, and meant that all of this time that I could have spent talking about games and stuff, I was saving the galaxy from overgrown bugs.

And now I'm putting off writing this as well, so lets just run with this;

Mass Effect is an outstanding game series. Buy the first, play it, then port your character over to the second, and play that, so when Mass Effect 3 comes out you have a universe which is entirely unique to you.

Right then. Hi.

I've played a lot recently, or more accurately since I last posted, so in the last month. Let me see...

DeathSpank, Mass Effect 1 and 2, Monkey Island 2 SE, Angry Birds, Mega Worm, Rayman 2, Limbo...

And that's pretty much it. There's so much stuff I meant to play and write about over the summer, but I just haven't had the time. Any time I'm not working, I'm playing games, and that's basically stopping me from writing.

Here's the kicker; I'm back to uni on Friday, which means I'll have the time to write about the games, but not the time to play them. But this time I've got my Xbox with me. And fable 3 comes out soon. Good times.

This has been such a non-post. I may as well have written Mass Effect on the top of the page then rubbed my face on the keyboard for ten minutes then written this bit.

Finally, I attended a BAFTA Q+A session the other day for the upcoming action-adventure Enslaved, and it was a really great evening. I met a load of great guys there, including Jon Porter, whose blog can be found here. It's great if you like valid, insightful commentary on games, as opposed to the stream of bullshit you get around these parts.

Right, I'm gonna go a watch a video about MineCraft. See y'all after Eurogamer!

Bright Falls? More like DARK Falls!

There are some dumb people out there. I know, Bright Falls is ironic. Just covering my tracks.

So Alan Wake came out this year and although it wasn't a massive hit on the charts, it still was critically acclaimed and received plenty of praise from the press. A couple of weeks ago now, just before my birthday in fact, I picked up the Limited Edition copy off GAME for 20 quid (the same price as the regular edition, for some reason) and started playing some of it. Before I go into that, I really liked the Limited Edition. The book that accompanies it, The Alan Wake Files, is great at filling in the backgrounds of some the characters, and also expanding the story. It's actually written by Clay Steward, the guy that gets killed in the tutorial (spoilers, I guess). It also has a great packaging designed to look like a novel, that the game, book and extras pack all fit into. It's pretty neat.

So to the game. Alan Wake dubs itself as a psychological thriller, but it's basically a survival horror action adventure game. The game mechanic of burning away the darkness is a clever one, and the use of flares, flash bangs and the environment shows that the developers clearly looked at the best way to make the most of the mechanic. The lighting engine in the game works beautifully, as you expect it would, and really highlights some of the great character models on show. At the time of release a lot of people said Alan Wake was to the Xbox what Heavy Rain was to the PS3, and I agree, the narrative, character driven structure of both games is fantastic.

There's a lot in Alan Wake I didn't really get. Half the time, I didn't get what was happening, I just knew that I had to GET AWAY FROM THE SCARY MEN TRYING THE AXE MY FACE IN. The end of the game is a bit of a let down. I know they've released the DLC, which adds on to the end, but I'm still a bit whisky-tango-foxtrot about the whole thing. I'm sure it will be cleared up in the next episode. That's another part about the game that really worked well for me; the TV show structure was a great touch.

In terms of playing the game, I've beaten the game once, and on Hard mode for some reason. I think I'd set it that way for the Achievement at the start, and entirely forgotten about it, which explained why I died so many times throughout. What's even stranger, is that I'm now playing through in Nightmare mode, which is aptly named. The bigger enemies are almost impossible to burn down, and I haven't even got to the ones with chainsaws yet. But this shows that I'm willing to take on bigger gaming challenges. I'm already planning to play New Vegas in Hardcore mode, which is why I intend on having a high Strength stat and a knife at all times.

Wow, semi-regular posting. This probably means I'll disappear in a few days. Or perhaps not. Maybe I'll be back on Friday to talk about XBLA or something...

Hint; I probably will.

See y'all when the darkness is vanquished!

Needs More Shotgun

Still working on posting more regularly. It's getting there. Maybe I'll post twice this month. Who knows?

Bioshock 2 was released, what, in March, possibly? I actually got it on release day for 35 quid, and it's now 7.99 on Amazon. Ah well time makes fools of us all.

Anyway, after playing it for a bit the day after release I remember thinking that it was vastly similar to Bioshock, which at the time, I had just finished playing. It wasn't bad but it seemed kinda samey which, when considering Bioshock, isn't all that bad. I got up to the second Little Sister Gather, and died quite efficiently, which led me to get stuck in a rut of not having enough money to buy ammo, and not enough ammo to kill Splicers. After a couple of attempts I quit out, and wandered off to go to a job interview.

About four months later (having passed the interview and training for the aforementioned job) I decided to pop back into Rapture, to see if anyone had fixed that leak (Spoiler: No)

It's more of the same. The plot might be a bit more convoluted, and some of the characters might be stereotyped, but under the skin, Bioshock 2 is almost a mod of the original. That's not to say that I didn't like it. The weapons started off disappointing, but once I got hold of the double barrelled shotgun, I was kicking ass all over again. The final upgrade to it left me somewhat disappointed. Random electro shocks? If I wanted to electrocute people I'd use Electro Bolt. Although I don't see why I would. Incinerate! is clearly the way forward.

Aside from the weapons and the plasmids, there's something a bit off about Bioshock 2. Nothing ever really felt as scary as it did before. There was a moment when I walked into a toilet and saw an EVE hypo on the floor I picked it up. When I turned around, a Spider Splicer dropped from the ceiling. Normally this would scare the crap out of me, but instead I went "Oh", hit him in the face with my shotgun, and blasted him across the room. It was then I realised I wasn't worried anymore. This was towards the end of the game and I was fairly tough, but still, I felt some of the magic had gone.

Speaking of the end of the game, the final area is a real plateau. The game builds up to a big crescendo and then just flat lines after a cool fight in the dark with a couple of Big Sisters. There's a interesting bit where you play as a Little Sister (Spoilers, I guess), but apart from that the end drags on for way too long.

Overall; I liked Bioshock 2, but I can see why it didn't go down too well. It didn't really try anything new.

Gasp, a new Bioshock Game! What a strange coincidence! Almost like I planned this post!

Immediate impressions; Apart from a dumb name, looks really REALLY promising. Can't wait to see where Irrational Games go with this.

Next time, shootings things in dark forests and being arty, it's Alan Wake, y'all!

Assassin's Need (To Post More Regularly)

It's been well over a month since I last posted and I've been getting myself bogged down in trying to start the next post so I'll summarize quickly;

Back home, got my Xbox, working over summer, secret job, not very content friendly.

Right. Assassin's Creed. Creeds.

I've had Assassin's Creed for ages, ever since I originally got my Xbox, when I was lent it by a friend. After said friend traded in his 360 for a PS3 and didn't ask for the game back, I figured the game was now mine. I'd never got round to playing it, but when I came back from uni, I needed something fun to play. Since Bioshock 2 seemed a bit heavy, I decided to scuttle around the streets of Damascus, introducing knives to people's jugulars.

AC is pretty good fun. The assassinations and the run up to them are all relatively formulaic, although it's still fun to pickpocket people in a busy street. The missions that involve hunting down guards in the street were quite annoying, but relatively satisfying when I pulled them off successfully. The plot wasn't fantastic, and I knew the twist was coming, although frankly, it was pretty obvious. So, I generally enjoyed AC. It reminded me a bit of the old Sly Cooper games. Only with more stabbings and crusaders. Overall thoughts; AC is pretty fun, but a bit aged.

As a result of my enjoyment of AC, I decided to get the sequel. And by decided, I mean I accidentally stumbled on it in GAME for 15 quid.

As it goes, AC2 is pretty good. The character of Ezio is much better formed compared to that of Altair. He develops from a hot-headed youth to a more mature, yet vengeful assassin. Also, he gets a very cool armour set, and has much better finishing moves.

The game is set in Italy, a country I have actually been to (hooray, I guess). I've actually been to Florence as well, so running around the city and climbing the Duomo was quite cool because I've been there. What was really weird is that I've also been to Sam Gimignano, meaning I'm fairly sure Assassin's Creed 2 was designed around me. I am probably an Assassin. Go figure.

Quick notes about AC2; Better, story, better locations, better weapons, better side quests, generally a better version of the first game. Pretty much everything I didn't like was improved, and it had Leonardo Da Vinci, which was cool. Overall thoughts; AC2 is better than AC, and still plays great.

I also got Altair's Chronicles on my iPod touch but the less said about that the beturrrrggghghhblzzzzzzzzz.

**This blogger has been almost killed by the godawfulness that is Altair's Chronicles. And honestly, I gots know idea when he'll be back. See y'all when it next occurs!**

Hobbits, Zombies, and Conventions

Sounds like a a post about cosplayers or something.

Lord of The Rings Online never particularly interested me before, but I've been reading Shamus Young's in-character diary of the game over at The Escapist, and I decided to take a closer look. I'd seen LOTRO before when a friend was playing it, and I really only had one thing to say about it; it's just WoW reskinned. I couldn't see the point in going back to a game which I'd already been playing for a year.
However, after reading the articles, I decided to have a look at the game's site to see if there was a free trial available, which there was. The specs for the game were a tad too high for the Toaster, so I decided to wait until the summer and my new computer to try it.
A few days later, Turbine announced that LOTRO was going free-to-play. Yet more evidence that the universe in fact does revolve around me. This is good news for me. It means I can play LOTRO as much or as little as I want, and also that there is finally a high budget game that's relatively successful that I don't have to pay for. I think my social life can take another hit.

I started playing a bit more of Nazi Zombies on the iPod recently, primarily because I have nothing else to play at the moment. I didn't realise that Treyarch had released Shi No Numa, but as it turns out, it was there ready to be downloaded. It's impressive that they've managed to squeeze the whole map (and all the weapons) onto the handheld, but the game still runs perfectly. Hellhounds are still a bitch, mind. In Apple related news, where's my fourth-gen iPod touch, Steve? HUH?

It's E3 next week, and normally I'd be excited, but for the third year in a row, my exams are getting right in the way. This year, I'm sure my uni has planned my exams around the show, with one every day starting on the 14th right up until the 17th. I swear, one day I'll be able to stay up all night watching live coverage of games I don't really care about. I'm only looking forward to a few things at E3; MI2 SE, New Vegas, Fable 3, the potential Half Life 3 announcement and the cost of Natal. I'm also kinda interested in the 3DS, but mainly from a tech point of view.

Until next time, I'll see y'all at the aftershow.

Sick Note

Not dead! Still not dead!

I have been ill however, which is why it has been over two weeks since I last updated. I went home last weekend (a trip which lasted until Wednesday) but felt so bad most of the time that my only gaming related activity was to change my Xbox display pic from my avatar looking confused to a gun-toting fedora-wearing Vault Boy. In the meantime, I rolled around on my bed, clutching my stomach, looking forward to the day when most of my body is artificial and illness just requires a reboot.

As a side note, being ill is now a rather strange experience for me. Last Thursday, I spent most of the morning in bed with a fever, and it was a rather odd feeling that I knew exactly what was wrong with my body. I could tell you that pyrogens had raised the set point of my core body temperature in the hypothalamus and so my body was desperately trying to reduce heat loss, which was why I felt so cold. I'd imagine it's kind of how a game designer might feel when looking at a game. Except more ill. Unless the game was Daikatana.

Been playing Guerrilla Bob and Minigore recently. I may do a Newb Review for them because I haven't submitted any content for a while. Eyes peeled.

I'm gonna have so little money and so many decks of cards. I should learn to play poker or something to justify these purchases. Might even win some of my money back.


I probably won't update for a while. My exams are literally just around the corner (my first one being this coming Friday) so I'm gonna be revising hard until about the 20th of June, which seems like an age away right now. But when that time comes, it's gonna be gaming Nirvana for me.

See y'all in the summer!

Hey Riddle Riddle, The Bat In The Middle

Just like the Riddler, me. We have the same first name, so I'm halfway there. Next I plan to commit overly complicated crimes, although since I have no nemesis, there's no real point.

It's no great secret that I'm a fan of comics, and although my main graphic literature of choice is normally of the Marvel persuasion, I was quite interested in Batman: Arkham Asylum when I saw it in a trailer. My main attraction was that the Joker looked like a fantastic character, with all his craziness and fantastic voice work. I wasn't a big fan of Dark Knight Joker, but that's just me.

I picked up the game fairly cheap second hand over Christmas and played a little bit of it, fighting random goons and having fun introducing peoples' noses to Batman's shoes. But this time around I decided to knuckle down and get to work putting the Joker behind bars and solving the mystery of Arkham Island.

Batman is a well structured game. It merges story and gameplay better than most I've seen. The combat system is fantastic, and although I might be useless at stringing together combos, it's easy to use and when you really get to grips with it and are knocking down enemy after enemy, it feels well made. Having said that, I'd love to have a go at the original rhythm action beat-em-up style combat. Just for a laugh.

The riddle system was funny and I really enjoyed looking for the answers to some of them, although others were clearly designed to show off the locations that the developers had made. This said, this is exactly the sort of thing The Riddler might do himself, a point well made in one of my favourite podcasts. A part of the game that disappointed me was the lack of any really good boss fights. None of them were particularly bad, but for a superhero game I expected some better showdowns. Maybe in the sequel.

Batman: Arkham Asylum. Great game, great story, great combat, great voice acting. Buy it.

Finally, wrote a piece for the Newb Review the other day, which I haven't for a while. Read it soon mind, because it's a time sensitive piece of semi-satire, which sounds very pretentious. Just go read it.

See y'all when I next sign in!

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!

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!

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!

iUpdate

Yes, it's another one of those blog posts. Deal with it.

Can't say I've been up to anything major recently, which is why I haven't been posting much. Also, I've been bogged down in university assignments, as we are coming up to the end of term. There's nothing fun about those. Except log graphs. Sort of. Look, I think log scales are cool. Screw you.

My iPod's busted, again. This time, the home button has become stuck, so I have to press it REALLY hard to elicit any response. And this is a mechanical failure, so all of that "press the home and off button at the same time on the unlock screen" bullcrap ain't helping. Hopefully, I can get it fixed. Or replaced with a new one. That'd be cool. But, breakage or not, I'm still using the thing for Internet perusal.

Been playing more of Zenonia recently, for no real reason other than that I saw the sequel had been released on the App Store. I'm thinking I might complete the original then by the time I'm ready for the sequel it will have come down in price. And I might have a newer, faster iPod. Or an iPad. That'd be sweet.

I've also been re-discovering Ron Gilbert's blog Grumpy Gamer. If you don't know who he is, well then, you are not allowed the Internet back until you find out. I appreciate that'll make it harder to find out, but that is your challenge.
Anyway, to those of you who do know who Gilbert is, his blog is genuinely funny and refreshing. I say genuinely funny as if I expected him to be dull and sombre in real life. I have seen one video of the guy and he seemed neither dull nor sombre. So. Grumpy Gamer. A good blog. Go read it.

Finally I've been watching quite a few videos for Just Cause 2 via YouTube. On my iPod. It's vaguely related. The game looks really fun, and from what others are saying, it's apparently a fantastic toy. The epic open world, combined with the variety of vehicles looks awesome, and I'm really looking forward to blowing everything up. And I mean everything. Cars, buildings, planes, myself, you name it, I'm gonna turn it into shrapnel/giblets.
This video is pretty good. The guy is a tad over-excited, and it would have been better if he had just managed to land it, but it's still good for a laugh.

Well, until next time, I have work to be done. Work that increases by a factor of ten every cycle.

QED, y'all!

WHAM!

KAPOW! ZORK! KERSMAF! BAJOINKL! AND SUCH LIKE!


Comic cliches. Cause they never get old.


Haven't blogged for a while. Not sure why. Been trying to think of something to write about. Uh-oh, that's a direct quote from XKCD. But I've been doing this for a year, I'm much cooler.

But it's a good start to a blog post about comics, since I've been reading a few of them recently.

I recently downloaded an iPod app called Comics X (or X Comics, I'm not sure), and it's got a ton of free comics available to download. I've been sampling a few, and a few were pretty good (Atomic Robo, Hunter Killer, Elephantmen, Wanted) but one that really caught my attention was Chew. In fact it caught my attention so much, I bought all of the comics in the volume.

Chew follows cop-turned-FDA agent Tony Chu, who is cibopathic (fantastic word) meaning he can take a bite out of anything and get a psychic impression of its history. Of course, this means lunch time can be a bit of a struggle, but it also mean that he is a brilliant detective after a slight round of cannibalism. The comic features some fantastic dark humour, as well as brilliant realised characters, all of which are expertly drawn. For more info on Chew, check out the official blog here.

So, until next time, I'll be doing... something... else. I don't know what. Biology probably.

See y'all on my next blog post!

Birthday Cake Joke

Although the 19th of March might not seem a big deal, it does represent a rather momentous occasion for me. One year ago today, I finally got around to setting up the blog I'd been thinking about doing for a while, and I made that first post about fishing in "Twilight Princess". A hell of a lot has changed since then. I changed the name and layout of the blog, changed consoles in July, became a semi-serious journalist, and went to university. And so, in lieu of any actual gaming updates, I'm gonna talk about my most anticipated games for this year.

And you are going to listen.

Fable 3; Can't wait to start making swords out of dragons teeth or guns out of fog or whatever. I really hope that this doesn't get delayed, cause then I'll have to set fire to something/one. I'm also gonna have to increase my GamerScore if I want really awesome weaponry.

Enslaved; might not have heard of this but it's a new action adventure from Ninja Theory, based on Monkey; Journey to the West. In future New York. And there are robots. So you know, that's cool.

Just Cause 2; I'm aware this comes out very soon, but I won't be able to play it for a while due to uni. Flying round a tropical paradise with parachuting and Spiderman-style sling shooting. And awesome cars.

HD Monkey Island 2; Cannot come soon enough.

Star Wars; The Old Republic; Although I'll probably never play it cause it's on PC and subscription, I'd love to have a go at a free trial, cause this game looks awesome. Smuggler or Bounty Hunter?

Fallout New Vegas; Might not be out this year cause of potential delays, but considering how much I loved Fallout 3, I know I'm gonna love this new iteration. Mainly because there will probably an awesome fedora hat in there somewhere.

Mass Effect 2; Although it came out earlier this year, I still have yet to play it, mainly because I haven't to finish the original. I don't want to start the game without a saved ME1 Shepard to use. Looking forward to more space opera fun. IN SPACE.

L.A. Noire; Film Noir style detective stories have always interested me so I'm really looking forward to this open world crime solving action adventure from Rockstar. And more fedora hats.

SMG2; The original is pure platforming elegance, so surely the sequel will be more of the same. It'll give me something to play over the summer on the Wii, which is good. I should really finish my second playthrough with Luigi at some point...

Half Life 2; Episode 3; Yeah, right.

You know, I never did get that Frog lure. Hm.

Singing the News

COMING TO YOU LIV- Sorry that's too loud.

Coming to you live, across the globe, report from nowhere near the front-line, this is...

The Starting Village News Network!

Last week, Portal 2 was revealed in a flurry of updates, ARG hints, radio transmissions and ASCII art (god, I hate ASCII art). It seemed odd since the whole ARG set up looked like it was going to unfold over time, slowly revealing the game bit by bit, but I guess that got kicked in the head somewhere along the way. Probably when people hammered through the radio transmission in super-quick time. Perhaps the ARG will carry on, even after the game is released.
I read the scans of the GameInformer article, and the game looks very different, but also very interesting. I've made my feelings about Portal clear, but one of my major gripes was that I didn't feel the game was long enough. The fact that this new game is full length speaks to me as I feel I would enjoy a longer game. There's also the co-op play, which could turn out to be fun. Only time will tell I suppose.


Although this is only rumour and speculation at the moment, Kotaku informs me that a Monkey Island 2; LeChuck's Revenge remake could be in the works. This is major news for me, as I adored this game as a child. It had so many fantastic puzzles and vibrant characters, and as I said previously, it's an infinitely better game than its precursor.
I remember reading... something a few months back saying that the developers were not too keen on doing MI2, but since the last one sold so well, perhaps they were persuaded. So now MI2:LR:SE is going straight to the top of my "Most Anticipated of 2010" list, slightly ahead of Fable 3 and Enslaved. Although I insist on calling it Super Moneky Island 2 Turbo HD Remix.

ROLL ON GDC Y'ALL!

Plants of Mass Destruction

So, as February levels up into March, I peek my head out of the trenches and survey the battlefield that is gaming.

Unnecessary metaphors aside, I've been playing two games recently. Both of them quite heavily feature plants. Let's go!

Eufloria is an indie game by two developers, Rudolf Kremers and Alex May, and is a sort of exploration/RTS hybrid. It's very much as describe on it's site, an ambient game. The goal is to send your seedlings to other asteroids and plant them, so that they can create new seedlings. You encounter opposition in the form of rival seedlings and have to fight them off using defensive trees and the seedlings themselves. One rather cool feature is the ability to zoom in and out of the battlefield using the scroll wheel. From far away, you can view all of your asteroids, with dots representing your seedlings, but you can zoom right down to the level where you can see all of your seedlings firing at the enemy. It's a neat feature.

Plants Vs. Zombies... It feels weird typing this, since originally I was not a big fan of the whole concept of tower defence where your towers can be destroyed by the enemy. But PvZ has really grown on me. It's a fun game with a fair amount of longevity, since you can replay the adventure mode again with a slightly harder difficulty level. The games sense of humour is fantastic, and the final boss fight in the adventure mode is a good laugh. The achievements give the game a real sense of depth and give you something to aim for.
I take it all back, Plants Vs. Zombies. You're alright.

I started this post on Wednesday evening. So much has happened in terms of gaming since then. Grr.

See y'all in the garden!

Postcards from; Machinarium

The hectic pace of day to day life getting you down? Want to escape the tensions of work, and just relax for once? Well, here at VideoGame Travel, we're committed to finding you the best possible travel destinations that games companies can create. Today, let's take a look at what you can get up to in the world of Machinarium...

Visit scenic Hull!*

Meet drug-dealing robots!

Bump into Jewish robots on the stairs!

Pretend to be in the circus for no reason!

Hang out in a dilapedated greenhouse!

*Hull, I don't really have any problem with your town. We cool. Sorry by the way. Must be tough to live in Hull.

Schmupdate

Lotsa things been occurring. Therefore, this is the next in the series of general updates, which I title by putting random letters in front of the word "update". DON'T ASK, I DON'T KNOW WHY.

Had a rather expensive month this month. Valentines Day was more expensive than usual, because I was buying many a present for my lovely girlfriend, who is lovely. And I'm sure she won't be reading this blog. I'm sure of it. Sure. Hey.

Went home on Monday evening, to see Jimmy Carr at a local theatre. A very fun evening, but more relevantly, I took the opportunity to use the 360 to have a go at Bioshock 2. I picked it up cheap from GAME cause I traded in Dante's Inferno for it. I only got to play the first hour or so, but what I played of it I enjoyed. The storyline could be interesting, and the simultaneous plasmid-and-gun combat feels great. I didn't really like the rivet gun, it didn't seem to have that much "umpf." I'm really looking forward to sitting down for a big play session at some point.

I also managed to grab six (that's right SIX) indie titles for the cheap sum of 12 quid. The pack is comprised of Machinarium, Eufloria, Osmos, Aztaka, And Yet It Moves, and Auditorium. Admittedly I haven't heard of some of them, but all the descriptions looked really interesting. That, plus Machinarium cost £15 on Steam. BARGAIN! Expect a NR review for some of them soon. I'll probably do a "Postcards From" for Machinarium as well...

Plants Vs Zombies got released on the App Store the other day, and I thought I may as well pick it up, since it's cheaper on the iPod than on Steam. I had a few reservations about it on the PC which stopped me picking it up. As a big fan of online Flash games, I've played my fair share of tower defense games, and PvZ seemed all over the place. After having a go on the iPod version, I have to say that I do enjoy it, but I still don't understand why it was such a media darling when it was released. The resource gathering is questionable at best and the plants don't feature any upgrades, which is a feature I always enjoy. That said, there's a wide range of plants to choose from, and the game has quite a good sense of humour. DOOM-SHROOM!

Right, that's that then. I'm gonna walk away from this blog post as it explodes behind me, as I strut forwards. In diamond covered boots.

See y'all next time.

iWant... So Much Stuff

It sucks being a student. You get up, go to a place to do some work, and then LOSE money. And now I want stuff. SO MUCH STUFF.

New Laptop/PC. Been thinking about going in for a PC instead of a laptop. It's not like I need to move the thing around anymore, so it would make sense to have reduced mobility for increased power. The way I described it there was like having a choice of weapons in an RPG. In Borderlands, I always seem to choice rate of fire over accuracy. I do use a lot of shotguns. I guess I assume the more I can fire, the more likely I am to hit the Jason-Vorhees-a-likes trying to kill me.
Tangents aside, I'm looking at something around the £400-500 mark. I think I can get something quite good for that, right? RIGHT?


iPad. Apparently, I'm one of about twelve people on the Internet who is genuinely excited about this thing, although that twelve does include Stephen Fry, so I'm with good company. A lot of people are saying it's just a bigger iPhone. As far as I can remember, the iPhone is doing pretty well for itself. I was very excited by the idea of iBooks, which is insanely hypocritical of me, because I've been against the idea of electronic books since the start. eReader, Kindle, nook, all of them, but then Apple does it and bam! I'm desperate to start reading off a screen.


This is all just me talking rubbish though. I definitely can't afford both, and buying even one would result in me having to save money by eating roadkill.

You see if I was employed, I'd be loaded, and be able to buy "dis shit". This is my understanding of how having a job works.

On the M2 to Hell

Back from the depths of Hell, and my hometown, I have returned, truimphant and bloodied, to type into a keyboard about Dante's Inferno. Hooray! Relevant gaming news!


I've got a copy of the real Dante's Inferno and I've tried to read it a few times, but unfortunately it's a poem translated from Italian, and a lot of the flow is lost in translation. I sort of get what's going on, but when Virgil is chatting for a page about something, and I realise I haven't got a clue what he's talking about.


However, Dante's Inferno THE VIDEO GAME forgos all that talky talky crap and just throws you into Hell, with the SCYTHE of DEATH and a MAGICALLY HOLY CROSS and says "Kill the crap outta everything and save yo lady" which is a lot simpler than a page full of text talking about sinners.

I picked up the Death Edition of the game, which, amongst other things, contains a code to download a Dead Space costume for Dante. Although it doesn't add anything major to the gameplay, it's quite fun to see Isaac waving a scythe around and blabbering about honour and God.

Dante's Inferno is a good game. It's not great and it's not revolutionising any genres. My major issue with it is that it isn't just similar to God of War; it IS God of War. Visceral Games haven't just taken inspiration from GoW, they've used some of the same ideas. I won't go into too much detail, cause I've thrown in my two cents to a review Crofterz over at the Newb Review wrote, so go and have a look when it goes up. Possibly today. I am not sure of these things.

I've actually completed DI, and in one weekend, which for me, is generally unheard of. I've also got quite a few of the achievements (side note; Dante's Inferno is a great achievement game). I thinking about taking it back to GAME and returning it to get all my money back, as opposed to a trade in, and then use the money to buy Bioshock 2 (and I'll still have some left over. Maybe I'll get this)

Well. I'm hungry so... Yeah, it's about lunch time. See y'all in Purgatorio!

MASS EFFECT 2 (BOX) REVIEW!

I got Mass Effect 2 the other day! YAY! I I CAN'T PLAY IT! YEAH! SO HERE'S MY MASS EFFECT 2 REVIEW.

OF THE BOX.

SO. Let's get started.

As with all new games, it came in some stupid plastic wrapping. Normally these are pretty tough to get into, but this was something else. I ended up jabbing at it with a knife, which finally got through, and only slightly damaged the box art.

The box art! At the top is MASS EFFECT 2 in BIIIIG letters, which makes sense since... that's what it is in. The image below shows three of the characters, starting with Shepard. I never really noticed till now, but if you squint, and turn your head slightly, he looks like an angry Matthew Fox. With an assault rifle. Miranda looks oddly happy, considering she is probably fighting for her life, and the lives of thousands of others. But then I realise who she looks like and think... AWESOME. Jigsaw-Face man looks like he had a very late night. Or is on drugs. I am aware of his real name, for the record.

Owards, breaking through the seal on the box (which is a certificate of authenticity, telling me... it's definately a plastic seal.), to the discs. Quite surprised when the first disc swang outwards, revealing... ANOTHER DISC! Totally wasn't expecting that, but I guess it's more to be expected than say... I dunno, a cougar. That'd suck. 30 quid for a cougar mauling. That's a total rip. Side note; the disc has a little note on it which says "Do not make illegal copies of this disc" Presumably, Microsoft thinks pirates won't break the law if asked nicely.

Manual! It's got the same front as the box, unsurprisingly, but it's got black and white stuff on the inside. I'm sure the original had colour artwork, but I guess it's not the end of the world. Although from what I read on the blurb, whole planets are vanishing, so it's the end of some worlds, I suppose.

Finally, the Cerberus Network membership, telling me I case access a wealth of in game stuff. The code itself is printed on a card in the middle of the flyer, and has cut out lines. I'm thinking about cutting it out. Perhaps getting it laminated, keep it in my wallet and flash it at random strangers. I dunno.

And so that concludes my review of the Mass Effect 2 box.
It's taunting me.

Sitting on my desk.

Wanting to be played.

blurgh.

There Is Nothing for Me To Talk About...

...so this is a non-blog post.

What am I meant to say? That I'm still really excited for Mass Effect 2, and I have preordered it? That I really want my Xbox? That I want a new laptop so I can play Team Fortress 2 which I bought but haven't played yet?

Until something exciting happens to me (don't hold your breath) just stick at the Newb Review. There should be a podcast featuring me going up at some point, and I've got a couple of reviews there as well.

Till then... Yeah, I got nout.

Hack N Slash N Tits

I'm back at uni. My 360 isn't. Lame.

But, briefly before I left I had a go at two demos; Bayonetta and Dante's Inferno. And since they are fairly similargames I'm going to compare them in a simple and concise way.

Bayonetta features a main character, who is apparently a witch, but looks more like Sarah Palin at a dominatrix NRA meeting. The whole game uses her"sexual attractiveness" all the way through, by which I of course mean, her tits. I was fighting a giant... thing and then all her clothes came off and turned into a dragon. This is a game entirely marketed towards slightly perverted gamers. Which is all of us. The point is, the entire game you are wondering if you are gonna catch a peek at her lady dumplings, and I have it from a reliable source that you don't. Spoilers I guess.

Dante's Inferno, on the other hand, clearly establishes that there are tits from the outset. For some reason, Dante's wife always appears naked, because apparently there are no decent places to go shooping in Hell. I wasn't really listening to the plot of the game, so as far as I understand it's like this; "There's a pair of sweet tits at the bottom of Hell. Off you pop." I've checking in my copy of Dante's Inferno and it's exactly the same. Trust me on this.

In actual real people world, I do enjoy Dante's better. It's ripping a lot off from God Of War, but it's got a decide amount of scope to be good. The enemies in the demo were all pretty samey, but the potential combo moves looked good, and the later levels were enough to move me from "indifference" to "interest".
Bayonetta, whilst appreciate is going for the crazy Japanese thing, is just about as sensible as a new pair of shoes for a pirate. Assuming the pirate had a pegleg. There's another bunch of people who are showing diversity in the work place. Pirates have amputees, and people with one eye. Pirates and cyborg detectives.

It's late, people. I need to go to BED. Catch y'all when I wake up. Peace out.

I Wish I Was A Spaceman

HELP ME. MASS EFFECT IS SLOWLY CONSUMING MY LIFE. AND WORST OF ALL THE ACHIEVEMENTS ARE ALL REALLY OBSCURE, MEANING IT HASN'T GONE UP IN AGES.

Right then, now that the insanity is out of the way, onto the matter at hand; talking about Mass Effect.

Mass Effect is good. The story is captivating and very immersive. The talking sections have plenty of options and allow you to explore the plot as much or as little as you want. The driving sections admittedly aren't the best but as previously mentioned, I find it hilarious to drive into absolutely everything. Randomly searching the galaxy for things to do is also good fun and helps to make my character better, which I desperately need.

As I said in my last blog post, I don't enjoy the combat in Mass Effect. It feels clunky, and shooting enemies doesn't feel as gratifying as say Borderlands or Fallout 3. The biotic powers are good, so long as your opponent is standing still, and your teammates can use them properly. Admittedly I have started to adapt my play style to suit the game better. It's all about seeking cover, you can't just run into combat scenarios and expect to come out the other side unperforated. Having said that, what is the point in seeking cover if the enemies just walk right behind you, perfectly shielded and shoot the hell out of you?
I've also levelled up more efficiently, putting more points into armour, shotguns and the Barrier biotic. I need all the help I can get, and my logic is, if I can stay alive longer, I have more chance of hitting the bastards.

It's still a hard decision on Mass Effect 2. The collector's edition costs a grand sum of £54.99, and that's a fair amount. Requires more thought. Must resolve problem.

Until next time, I will see you all on the front line, ducking for cover from a missile behind a small crate, y'all!

Vehicular Menace

It says quite a lot about my mental state that when someone offers me control of a vehicle in a video game with a gun attached my thought process is less "Oh, that's useful, a fast and safe way of getting from Point A to Point B, with the added safety of a gun which can be used to take down roadside enemies" and more along the lines of "Cool, now I can mow shit down."

Borderlands has got cars. Admittedly, they're sort of dune-buggy style cars that have entirely independent front wheels, but a car none the less. They also come with a choice of machine gun or rocket launcher, the latter of which has officially been designated "the nuts" at taking down... Pretty much anything. Despite this, I still find the best way to take down enemies is to just drive into them. Skag? Drive into it. Bandit? Drive into it. Rakk? Go off a jump, into it (I haven't done this, but it would be freaking sweet). The more I play of Borderlands, the more I like, and I haven't even left the first area yet. Great Crimbo present =)

Another thing that does what be havin' cars is Mass Effect. Well, not a car. It's an ATV with ridiculous suspension and jump jets. In a similar way to Borderlands, it gets you from Point A to Point B, and it's got a gun on it. However, it's more fun to run the Geth over. Admittedly, the Geth Armatures don't go down so you have to machine gun 'em a bit, but it's brilliant if you can slide the Mako just right and take out three rocket troopers. Alternatively, jump jetting onto their heads. Both of this work well.
Mass Effect is fun, but the combat is shockingly bad. I love the talking bits, and just navigating around the ship and the Citadel. The voice acting is absolutely spot-on, which is obviously of vital importance. It's just a shame that the combat is shockingly poor. I was having a great time, right up until the point I had to start shooting things. Then suddenly, it all fell apart. But I'm persevering. I have until Mass Effect 2 comes out to start liking it more, and get past the point I am at now. I'm thinking about pre-ordering the GAME Collectors Edition, with the exclusive stuff in it. Good times.

And that's me done for the evening. I've got to go pack my bags, because I'm off for little under a week, but I shall return Sunday evening to chat to you about... something. See y'all on the bridge!

Happy New Fear

Hooray! Rejoice! And other such sentiments! It's 2010, the start of a new decade, moving on from the zeroes to the tens (I'm insisting on calling them the tens. "Tenties" doesn't make any sense.) I think 2010 is officialing living in the future. I'm making this year my best ever. I'm gonna buy more lottery tickets.

So I didn't really say what I got for Christmas since I've been ill for a lot of it, and I've also been distracted by all the awesome games I've been playing. Here's a quick run down of what's on the table;

Borderlands; Really fun and awesome FPS and RPG hybrid, bit grind-fest at points, but always quite humourous
Bioshock; Brilliant-ness, but I can't go on about it, cause I'm writing something for NR
Mass Effect; This was really good, right up until the point when I actually had to start shooting at things. Then it all fell apart, cause the combat doesn't work.
Batman: Arkham Asylum; Holy crap Batman, it's the NewbReview GOTY!
Prince of Persia; Ehhhh....

ALSO. For Christmas I got iTunes credit. Hooray for that. So I bought DOOM Ressurection for the iPod. Why? I dunno, I was bored. As opposed to being a real first person shooter, it turns out it's a on-rails dealy, with a few interesting weapons, like a chainsaw, but apart from that, it's a pretty standard affair. Sometimes the accelerometer would become badly calibrated and I'd have to reset the game to fix it. Overall, not bad but not overly fantastic. I shoulda bought COD WAW Zombies...

Sorry about the lack of quality in this blog post. I've been busy with games and I'm still a bit sick. Also I'm lazy, and easily distracted, so I spent most of the time whilst I was writing this watching The Big Bang Theory. Go figure.

Right, I'm going to write an email. You didn't need to know that. GOOOOOD-BYE.