Bastion Demo

For those with 360s at your disposal, I can't recommend trying the demo for Bastion enough.  I can't necessarily recommend buying the game, since I'm not even sure its right for me yet, but I can sincerely say that everyone who can, should play the demo.

Bastion is a blend of old school RPG, mixed with a sort of contemporary action oriented combat.  Set in a 45 degree view, grid like layout, the player will navigate the world, all while seemingly create it.  The world seems to be falling apart at the hinges, but is also reconstructing itself all the while.  I'm not a huge RPG guy, so this one would probably be a bit of a stretch for me, but the gameplay wasn't really what drew me in.

Bastion uses narration in a really interesting way, at least in what I've seen so far.  Narration seems to drive the story forward most of the time, at least in a traditional storytelling way.  If the narrator says something, it happens.  In Bastion, the narrator responds to the player, describing in real time, what he is currently doing, in the past tense... almost.  Although it's a pretty simple concept, it really does a tremendous job of drawing the player into the narration almost forcing them to actively listen.  I found myself trying to anticipate what the narrator was going to say, but was usually caught off guard by him.  He seems to know what's going to happen before it happens, and the smug delivery of the dialogue even sells this home more.

It's just such an intriguing concept to me, that the gameplay, the parts the player is solely responsible for, is what drives the story.  This is a method that active participant media can employ that traditional storytelling mediums (Film, books, etc.) just can't - without putting the power of progress into the participant's hand, the story will always be driven by the author, in the exact way that the author intended it to be.  Games grant a unique level of involvement, and as a result, a higher possibility of immersion.

  If there is a case to be made as "Games as Art", this element needs to be a part of the discussion.  Games copying styles from other mediums isn't going to be what convinces the naysayers and storytelling elitists of the world otherwise.

Anyway you would like to look at it, give the demo for Bastion a try.  I think you'll enjoy the few minutes you play, even if you know it isn't going to be for you in the long run.  And while you're there, check out "From Dust".  That one is looking good as well.

Halo: CE Anniversary deal

I came across this deal, and I'm ready to jump on it, but I can't get it to work. I just thought I'd post it up here to see if anyone else can actually get the promo code to work. It could be expired, but I'd like someone else to try it to see if it works.

http://slickdeals.net/permadeal/55646/newegg-halo-combat-evolved-anniversary-xbox-360-preorder

Ganon Not in Skyward Sword

Story here.

It just struck me to post this here because Amateria told me long ago that the best Zelda's have Ganon in them.

I've only ever fully played Ocarina and Wind Waker, both of which I loved, and they both had Ganon.

Thoughts?

Limbo

I've long been a critic of this game. Not so much that it's in any way a bad game, but I didn't think it deserved to be called "ART". Just because it's 2D and has a very unique look to it doesn't make it art. It makes it a sidescrolling physics based puzzle game with a unique look. Basically, I'm tired, as a gamer, as seeing any different looking game heralded as art.

Below isn't a review, but some thoughts and obvious comparisons to Braid may pop up.

Limbo finally made it's way to the PSN and I didn't hesitate to pick it up. The art direction and audio are by far the two most appealing things to me. I found myself overly in love with the 2 tone landscape. It was incredibly more compelling and interesting than the colorful backdrops of Braid. Granted, Braid is a gorgeous pornography of color, but in terms of putting me into a mindset and and mood, Limbo wins hands down.

The audio was fantastic. I went total gay on the minimalist approach to everything, but the absolute overcompensation for when there was something going on. Whether it was a spider walking, a saw blade, an elevator, a ball rolling or a fly it was all very "in your face" and I loved it.

The puzzles were fun, overall, but I found them to actual hinder my enjoyment of the game. I know that sounds weird to say about a puzzle game, but I guess it sucked me out of the world even though they are such a large part of it. I guess I just wanted to hang out in the world and not be bothered. I wanted to experience it without the hindrance of puzzles. I just wanted to explore.

I was a giant fan of the larger puzzles like pulling a switch and the entire world spins. I went apeshit in one section after hitting a switch and seeing the entire backdrop shift. In such a small game with such a small scope it gave the world a huge mass in my mind. I kept thinking that this place is gigantic!

Bottom line is that I really loved the game. I really liked Braid a lot, but consider my time with Limbo to have struck me on a much more personal and memorable, even terrifying, level.

Is Limbo art? I don't know and I don't really care because it's an awesome game.

Also, the soundtrack is astounding. I found a free zip file download of it yesterday that the game maker released because there's no official release.

Trailer

Did anyone see the trailer for The Amazing Spider-Man? I was a little confused.....I thought I was watching Mirror's Edge!

This blog is dead.

Juniper and I are starting our own site.

That is all.

F.E.A.R.

As a couple of you know I've been in a gaming slump for a bit. I don't like it and I wish I could get out of it.

I have many games to play and at least 4 new ones and I just don't care about any of them at the moment. I'm bored. I'm tired of the same old methods and formulas. I know the tricks and games styles and I want a shake up. I have 5 different games right now that are sitting unfinished. Not because they're bad games, but because I'm bored to death with them.

Brjahu even sent me Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood and I can barely bring myself to play it. It's the EXACT same as the others. That wouldn't be so damn bad if the games had a larger space between releases, but it feels like the series isn't growing at all. It's been CoDied.

A little over two weeks ago, after the release of FEAR 3, I got a strong hankering to replay the original FEAR. In a way I was hoping that it would shake me out of my slump. I have beaten the SP on the 360 version four different times and I've always loved it. I haven't touched the game in well over 2 years now.

I'm about a quarter way through it and for a 5 year old game it still owns! I'd even go so far as to say it's easily better than any Triple A shooter that's come out this generation.

Allow me to explain myself. FEAR isn't a wide open sprawling game. It's not a shooter of epic proportions with you pitted against the world or an alien invasion. It doesn't even have a huge orchestral score. What it does have is phenomenal gun play, the best AI I've ever seen, excellent maps, amazingly paced tension, exploration and unnerving terror!

The game pits you with finding and killing a mind psychic named Paxton Fettel. Fettel has gained control of a psychic army and it's up to you to stop him. Along the way you keep running into a little girl that's always watching and haunting you. And the flashbacks....or are they visions??? "What's the first thing you remember? (cue creepy scream thing)"

My wife was taking a bath the other day when I came upon a vision/flashback. You're at the end of a long dark hallway that is tiled in dark blue. There's a hospital gurney with blood on it against the left wall. At the end of the hall is a double door, with windows you can see through, with someone's back to it. They are hunched over and working at something. You hear a woman scream and the sound of....something....human??? Lori yelled to me if my son was crying, he was asleep upstairs, to which I replied that it was just my "creepy ass game" and she said "yeah....that's messed up."

The game is truly astonishing as an entire package. What could've easily been a cliched story turns into a sordid nightmare that actually manages to be both immensely sad and revolting at the same time.

While I know the game has a large following I'm pretty sure that none of you have played it and it's a disservice to yourself if you don't. If you're tired of the same old thing all the time give this game a rental or purchase or goozex trade.

I must sadly admit that the PS3 version is not as good as the 360 with inferior graphics and longer load times, but it's still amazing on the PS3 nonetheless.

If you don't take my word for it read this amazing article by one of my favorite Gamesradar editors, David Houghton. He basically says everything I say, but with pretty screenshots and the stellar opening cinematic.

And this is why I don't play Pokemon

The demographic just isn't there.

Also, nice splurging on prizes for the champions, Nintendo! A cheap medal and a 3DS!!!!

Hollow and Empty...

This guy at gizmodo nails how I feel about controllers these days. (Also, not too bad a deal...)


EDIT: The link was dead, and I couldn't get it to direct correctly.  Here is the chunk of text I was trying to highlight, written by Chris Biedelman of Gizmodo.


"...I think the PS3 controller sucks. It's a terribly skinny girl with no curves or life to it. When I hold it, it feels hollow and empty. I feel hollow and empty.  


On the other hand, I think the Xbox 360 controller is the best controller that has ever graced the hands of man. Solid weight, perfect cushion and curves to grip on to and a delicious button layout. We came a long way! The original NES controller had corners that were borderline weapons. The SNES though? Oh, boy. Them curves? The shape? The perfect hand cuppage? It was the best controller of its era. "


Anyone else concur? I do.

Earth Defense Force

You guys ever heard of these games? I remember reading about the last one, EDF 2017, and that it was a massively underrated amazingly fun B Rated good time and this one appears to do the exact same thing, but with a stronger release in the US.

The reviewer is hilarious in breaking down that the game basically boils down shooters to all that makes them fun without all the needless pretentious bullshit like story and graphical fidelity.

Just endless waves of hundreds of bugs in a city. $40 bucks brand new so I'm game if anyone else is!!!!

Pooping on Crysis 2 Supersoldier Difficulty

So I recently sat down to fully finish Crysis 2 on the hardest setting and, after finishing, found myself questioning the game and my tactics within it. Figured I'd bounce it off you guys.

I know I did a review on the game a while back, but to sum it up, I like the game a lot. It's not a perfect game, but it's a lot of sandbox goodness and the suit works well in making you actually feel like a badass. Sorry Chief, but no dice to the Mark suits of old. The Nano Suit is the shit.

On to my observation.

The game on Supersoldier doesn't screw around. If you aren't careful with balancing suit powers and using cover you'll be mowed down incredibly fast. You also have to understand how the suit works on a deeper level like knowing how many shots you can get away with while invisible before you quickly kill the suit power. When the switch powers to optimize the life of the suit. And always watching the suit levels to monitor how much farther you can go cloaked or how much more damage you can soak up before dying.

I decided, since the game will let you play however you want, that going stealthy as much as possible would most easily lead to my success. So I set out to beat the game by killing as few enemies as I could. Since death comes so easily if you're clumsy I didn't want the frustration and, in a sense, I wanted to test the game to see just how little killing I could get away with. Turns out you can get away with a lot of "not killing."

Beating the game on Supersoldier was fun and certainly tests patience and timing more than talent in killing, but it wasn't overly hard. Sure there are several battles in the game where you fight Pingers and normal enemies at once and they are very difficult (and again test your knowledge of how the Pingers work, too), but overall the game wasn't too hard because of the suit. My management of the suit allowed ultimate success, but at the same time....I felt like I cheated.

My question to you is does it seem like cheating to use the suit as I did? Avoiding fights and killing stealthily? To take the hardest difficulty and instead of duking it out to turn it into a game of cat and mouse?

Should I commend the developers for allowing me the freedom or scold them for allowing me to take the easy way out? I think I lean towards commending them, but I guess after playing CoD SP so much on Veteran (and cutting myself nightly because of it) that it felt like I cheated.

I applaud my skill of the suit and the developers for giving me the chance to play how I want, but I guess it doesn't feel like a challenge unless I'm about ready to blow a gasket.

Uncharted 3 Beta Impressions

How does everyone else feel about this? I am enjoying the time I've spent, but still don't really feel blown away. I think I like UC2's multi because it was simple and caught me off guard with how fun it was. The powerplays are a fun and interesting addition, but they really hurt the overall balancing by making it too balanced.

The vocal quality sounds better, but so would 2 tin cans held together with string.

Game mods taken to a new level

I've never really given a second thought to all the PC game modding that is done. I'm not talking about modding In the terms of cheating, but more taking the game or game engine and tweaking it into some unique. I know that this type of modding led to games like Portal, which, if I'm not mistaken, came from a fan using Counter Strike and the Source engine. Even still, since I am not a true PC gamer I never have the ability to take advantage of these and so I usually don't care. However, today during my morning breakfast browsing I came across two mods that just blew me away. The one is a complete and massive overhaul of COD: MW. Being a bit of a Star Wars freak I have to admit that I was massively impressed. The second game is a graphical tweak of GTAIV. All I have to say about that one is a simple, WOW.

Anyway, give these a quick look and let me know what you think. Maybe this happens all the time and I just and late to the party. Regardless, call me impressed.

Galactic Warfare

GTAIV