Lost time...

I must apologize gentle reader. It has been far too long since I last posted. What happened?

Batman: Arkham Asylum started it. Blame Batman. Or maybe the Joker is more deserving of blame. Anyway, this game is amazing! I had a ton of fun playing it. I listened to a podcast recently where one of the members said that he would be happy if it was just a bunch of Batman set-pieces. Well they were in there for sure, but the gameplay backed them up in a great way.

All of the buzz about the "free-flow combat" was worth it. The hand-to-hand fights in Batman: AA are just great. It takes a bit to understand the mechanics and timing, but once you get it going, you really feel like Batman taking out a large group of thugs. If you liked the scenes in the recent movies where Batman is taking on 5 or 6 guys all at once, you will love playing these parts of the game. Even when you get hit, the effects are amazing. If a thug has a melee weapon like a pipe and manages to score a hit, the screen goes fuzzy and the image doubles, which is a perfect effect for such a hit. As you take damage, the color slowly bleeds out of the picture, giving you a sort of life-bar without actually having one. Batman's "health" replenishes when he isn't hit for a while, so you are never low on resources in that way.

So, hand to hand combat is great and all.. But Batman is really all about the stealth and fear. These elements are present as well. Throughout the game there are various situations that require to you take out enemies silently and without being seen. This could be traps set off by thugs when they see you, or simply thugs carrying guns, and guns will stop you pretty quickly if you get hit multiple times. As you progress and acquire more of Batman's gadgets your mobility increases greatly, and your ability to take out foes in a stealthy manner is further enhanced.

Mobility is something I love in games. Batman has the means to move quickly through areas. Zip-lines, cape-gliding, grappling hooks, and more. Batman is rarely seen strolling about, and this game lets you emulate that in spades.

Batman Arkham Asylum is simply a great game. Penny-Arcade's Tycho called it a "metroidvania" title, an apt description. You are constantly moving through parts of the island, acquiring new tools to help you reach new areas. There is a lot of revisiting, I suppose, but somehow this game manages not to become boring. Of course, the scenery does change after parts.. But no spoilers here. Any fan of Batman will love this game, and I'm certain that anyone who likes fun games will love it too.

But Batman came out over a month ago, what the heck have I been doing? Well, Batman kept me entertained to the point where I preferred to play the game instead of blogging it for quite a while. Longer than most games lately. Since I decided to let the disc cool, and since budgetary constraints are growing, I've been re-playing some older titles.

I got back into Fallout 3 for a while.. Until it kept crashing on me. One of the perils of PC gaming and modding I suppose. I've tried to reinstall the game and play the vanilla game, modding slowly and keeping track of things that cause problems.. But there just doesn't seem to be any way for me to run that game in a stable way with Mods. This is pretty upsetting. The vanilla build is fun and kept me entertained for a LOOONG time... But now I want the new content as well. I'll keep at it.

I was on a Star Wars kick for a few weeks (still am, actually). As a result, Star Wars: The Force Unleashed found its way back into my 360. I still love this game. I think the critics panned it for various troubles, but the game is a lot of fun anyway. If you have ever wanted to wreak havoc with the force and a lightsaber... This is your game. The story is fairly true to Star Wars (I'm serious.. Watch the movies again if you think I'm full of it) and the extra costumes and such are just fun. Some elements were added (The dark troopers) that are there simply to make the game more challenging than throwing stormtroopers around all day. I turned the difficulty up once I started playing again, and was rewarded for doing so. On the easier levels, the combat is pretty straight-forward, but as you increase the difficulty, tactical prowess becomes a necessity. I'm sure this game is pretty inexpensive these days, or wait for the Ultimate Sith Edition this winter!

And as for right now, I'm replaying Mass Effect. I loved this game the first time around, and am enjoying it this time as well. I've tried most of the classes, and I think Infiltrator is my go-to. I am very excited for the sequel, as well. I hope that in their "streamlining" of some of the features they don't just dumb everything down. If you don't keep your character upgraded organically as you play, it can get tedious, but I love all of the micro-managing when it comes to gun upgrades and ammo types. I guess this is gone in the sequel.. We'll see how that works out. From the videos and information I've read, they are going for more visceral combat in the sequel, so shooter fans should find more challenge and excitement there. It is hard to wrap your head around the fact that the game is not really a shooter. It is an RPG that just happens to use guns. Further developments should be interesting. I just had a taste of Pinnacle Station before I decided to start over. I had to kill one of my favorite characters to advance the story.. And I can't have that happen, especially since he will stay dead in the sequel! So I get to see the beginning again. Not my favorite part, but hopefully I can soldier on and get to the meaty parts of the game.

List Time:

Titles I am excited for:
Borderlands (probably for Xbox) The art style and classes interest me. Should be fun.
Dragon Age: Origins (PC) I've actually pre-ordered this game. I love bioware titles, and especially dungeon crawl RPGs a-la Baldurs Gate.
Bayonetta (Xbox) I am a huge Devil May Cry fan, so some competition (from the original creator) should be a great thing, hopefully pushing future titles of both series to greater heights. Sort of creeped out by the hair thing though.


There, a load of content. Doesn't make up for my lack of posts, but catches people up.

Fallout 3 anecdote (but not the promised one..)

So, after having considerable trouble installing Microsoft .Net Framework 3, in order that I could use Games for Windows Live to download the Mothership Zeta DLC for Fallout 3... I finally was able to download, and play the Mothership Zeta DLC for Fallout 3.

I have not finished the quest yet, but I have enjoyed it thus far. The sort of 50's inspired designs for the aliens equipment and ship just really works for me. I hate the aliens that have some kind of shielding though!

So, on to the anecdote. First, you must know that for some strange reason, I have an irrational fear of aliens. Yes, it makes no sense whatsoever for someone who attempts to be rational in most, if not all things to fear aliens. But I do. Especially the "greys." I was able to like Elvis in Perfect Dark.. But I don't know how. So the aliens in Fallout 3 are not quite the right style to really bring on the fear, but they are very very close. Then came the abominations. They are so tough and so much like what I fear for no good reason that they really amped up the fright-factor for me.

They give me the heeby-jeebies. So I'm playing through the quest, finding the recordings of the people that the aliens have captured previously. They are sometimes funny and sometimes sad or scary (for me..). I am having a good ol' time.

Then comes last night. I did not sleep particularly well. A couple of times I woke up and was just thinking about aliens. Not something I want to think about with a tired brain and no light. Finally 10 till 5:00 rolls around and it is time for me to get up and walk the dogs. We got a lot of rain here yesterday. So it was incredibly foggy out this morning. Maybe 20 feet visibility. The sun was not yet up. So it is just me and my tiny dogs, walking down dark streets, seeing the halos around street lights. PERFECT after someone with an irrational fear of aliens has been playing a game about alien abductions.

I know, toughen up, wise up, and whatever else up I can do to get over it. It is an irrational fear, no matter how much I think it through, I can not truly get over it. So there.

Anyway, thus far the DLC has been incredibly fun, and somewhat cathartic. I usually am not a huge fan of killing things for the sake of doing so... But blowing these aliens to hell kind of makes me feel good.

Gaming heaven?

I know that we are in the strange time right now, summer, when big game releases are infrequent. For me, this has been nice. As I have mentioned previously, I am extremely succeptible to being swept away by the media bandwagon and yearning for the next big thing. With our current "drought," I've been able to catch up on the games that I have, and try out an awesome Indie game.

I recently suffered some pc problems, and had to do a system restore. Much to my chagrin, my "my documents" folder was wiped. This folder is where most new games keep their saves. So I lost my Fallout 3 save. I was pretty upset at first. But now, I am replaying the game, and having loads of fun doing so. As strange as it seems, this game still has me hooked. I had a level 29 character, over 130 hours into the game, and yet I can start over and not feel too bad about it. I think that this speaks volumes about the game.

I have also been playing Red Faction Guerrilla. This game is a lot of fun. Demolishing buildings is a surprisingly fun concept for a game. Add the guerrilla nature to the conflict, and you have an interesting, if troubling game. Despite what they have said, I am sure that the designers had to consider current events when they made the game. I have struggled some to reconsile my role in this game, but the storyline does justify the means you employ. Though I am certain that most fighters in a conflict feel justified. Anyway, this game is fun, and I shall relate an anecdote when I have more time.

The other game I picked up recently is Trine. I bought it off of Steam. What a fun, beautiful game. The physics based puzzles are interesting, as is the application of multiple characters. I am short on time, but I hope to give a really detailed explanation of my affection for this game soon.

Short post, but that's what I am playing, and enjoying at the moment.

An auditory idea

When I purchased my Xbox 360, I was happy to find out that some of the features it had were more on par with what pc gamers had been able to do for years. The main feature I am focusing on is the ability to load my MP3s, or rip CDs the hard disk for play when I am playing a game on the system.

Now of course I could always mute the music in the game of choice and use my PC or stereo to do this anyway, but I like not having to do so. Call me lazy.

I had an idea this morning. Custom soundtracks have been made possible for PC gamers with games where the developer offers toolsets, or in the old days when you could replace the mp3s that came with the game with your own. But why not make this a more mainstream feature?

I love a lot of video game music, don't get me wrong. The iconic works of Koji Kondo, Nobuo Uematsu, and others never fail to bring a smile (or wistful sigh). However, for each of the greats, there are other... Not so greats. I read once in a book I can't remember that sound guys are often the least respected members of video game development teams. This is sad, as sound is so important for game to player communication. The 8-bit sound effects of the past are still strong in my mind. Does anyone else think of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles game for NES whenever they hear certain models of Microwaves sound that time is up?

Perhaps not. The point is, sound is an important aspect of immersion, but budgets are more focused on the visual flash of graphics, which is easier to sell through commercials and pictures. While some games have composers writing scores that stand up to any film score, others have music that grates on the ears and is quickly muted.

I return now, after much rambling, to my idea. What if games had an option for custom soundtracks? There could be a track list, with a basic description, and you could put your own audio file into the game. Descriptions such as "intense action" could be used so that the player could input their own songs of choice. The only thing that I see standing in the way of such an idea is that mainstream gamers probably don't want to spend the time on the front end of a new game purchase uploading songs. However, I think that it would be a great addition to many games.

I read an interesting article over at Kotaku recently. This article is a "how to guide" for making games using the license from upcoming movies. The advice is pretty common sense, and mostly panders to the audience, but it did have some, well one nugget of information that I found interesting.

"The summertime release list for video games isn't typically as stuffed as the fall and holiday release list, meaning potentially less competition. So if you can release in the summer time, day and date with the theatrical release, do it. Failing that, wait for the DVD, as EA did with the video game release of Superman Returns and Warner Bros. is doing with the second episode of Watchmen: The End Is Nigh.
While risky, most of the spending in the U.S. happens during the fourth quarter of the year, a product of the video game industry following a "toy-based" model, according to Wolf, not a media-based model."

I have often wondered why there is such a dearth of "triple A" titles during some parts of the year. I suppose that if previous models show more spending to happen during the fourth quarter, it makes sense to try and target that release period, at least to an executive.

I think that most gamers, or at least I, crave content year-round. I consume games at a fairly rapid rate. Part of this comes from not being a "completionist." This admission will probably reduce my gamer-cred to a lot of people. I enjoy the narratives of games, I also enjoy the action and hopefully the combat system. I do not enjoy scouring every nook and cranny for obscure items that I can complete the game without anyway.

With our consumer-based economy, and many adults having loads of disposable income, it seems strange to not be releasing titles year-round. Less competition during the summer months would seem to be a good incentive to try and release at that time.

I read the reviews for Red Faction: Guerrilla, before I purchased the game. They were not stellar. However, the game had enough interesting ideas to make it a viable purchase without any more tempting alternatives. I am glad to be playing it, make no mistake there, but I wonder how it would have fared against other big titles in a fight for my free time.

I suppose my main concern is the coming storm this fall. Dragon Age: Origins, Bayonetta, and more than a few others that I can't think of at the moment are looming on the horizon, all releasing very close to one another. I won't have the time or the funds to play them all when they come out, and that is disappointing.

Another note is the increasing prevalence of DLC in extending the life of games. Anyone who reads this will know of my extensive love for Fallout 3. I have purchased every DLC released by Bethesda on, or very near to release. I enjoy this game and love new experiences within the world that they have created, and it has given me more to do during these months when there has not been much else to buy new.

I suppose that I should also look at the slower months as a time to catch up on the titles I may have missed. I find that I am affected by our forward-looking consumer culture and crave the newer titles, shunning those who have fallen by the wayside. I am certain that this is my own loss, but unable to change my ways.

Vacation

I have not taken a full-on vacation in several years. That changed this year. We are visiting some of my wife's family in the Houston, Texas area. With all of the airplane travel and my tendency to wake up early in the morning, my DS is getting a workout.

I picked up Moon for the DS. It is an interesting title that has excellent 3D graphics for the platform. I would say that anyone who enjoys FPS's and adventure games should give this a shot. The controls work very well, and I am constantly amazed by the environments as I work my way through the levels. I hope that this game sells well enough to merit further games from the developers.

I also picked up Children of Mana. At this point, I am fairly certain that everyone out there who is into Action RPGs and the DS has played this title. I am a bit slow in getting on board sometimes. So far I am loving this title as well. Beautiful 2D graphics and tight controls help this game a lot. I played very little of The Secret of Mana on the SNES when I was younger, but I always wanted to play more. I don't know what took me so long to pick this game up for my DS, but I am glad that I did.

Even with these great titles, I can not wait to get back home and jump back into Fallout 3 and Red Faction: Guerrilla.

Video games!

I ordered Red Faction: Guerrilla using google shopper because I was able to find it about $20 under retail. I am very happy with the game thus far, but I have a probem.

I also downloaded the Point Lookout dlc for Fallout 3 because I thought that Red Faction would not get here as quick as it did..

So now I have to split my free time between them. What a world!