Everything under the Sun is in tune, but the Sun is eclipsed by the Moon.

• 24Jan 10

  Who Knows Where the Time Goes?

  Relax your eyes, for after all,
  We can but share these minutes.

  *Looks at today's date and the date this account was created. Sighs resignedly.*

  Yeah, it's a Happy Anniversary today. Five years, although saying that I can only remember the last two clearly. It is with regret that I am again ensnared by the limitless, unbridled joy of exams at the moment, so I have little time to enjoy or reflect on this achievement. Two down, just one more to go thankfully. But since it is tradition, I've purposefully laid aside some time to bring a brief update of what I've been playing, et cetera. In terms of games, after polishing off the main campaign of GTA IV (the actual ending I got was rather anticlimactic, but the emotional peak at "That Special Someone", is definitely one of the most poignant moral decisions a game has ever presented), I officially liberated Mars in Red Faction: Guerrilla, and very recently made a brief jaunt into the DLC of Mariner Valley. It seems that is very much more of the same, with little or no plot but just wild and chaotic explosive fun. Nothing wrong with that. What is disappointing is that the Red Faction PC DLC doesn't have GFWL achievements (unlike the actual game which does). In fact, I have become rather worried concerning these in-game achievements. Unlike the 360/PS3 crowd, a solid PC gamer such as myself has in the past, never had the thrill of having a record of things they had achieved in a game. When I played through the original BioShock I had to do so without accumulating a numerical score of how well I had done certain things. Now that Games for Windows Live has brought achievements to the PC, the effect is startling. I have become rather obsessed with increasing that Gamerscore. I think I can pinpoint the entire reason behind this yearning in all of us: competitive nature.

  

  We all want to compete to be better than each other. No matter how much we try to deny it, I think the only reason the achievement system persists and thrives is because we want to prove we are better at something than other people. Thus, the achievements act as a bar against which everyone is judged. The more achievements you get in a certain game, the better you believe you are at that game. Further, the higher your overall Gamerscore, the more of a true and accomplished gamer you feel you appear to be. This is all basic psychology, and it works every time. I believe MMO's work on very much the same concept. In an MMORPG such as Star Trek Online (of which I have been playing the beta), everything is geared towards level progression. You want to get to Captain level so you can finally get an Intrepid CIass starship. When you are stuck in a shoddy Miranda CIass and everyone is whizzing around in Constitutions, you know you have to grind upward to be able to fit in. Moving off the Gamerscore topic, to Star Trek Online itself. Frankly, the game is rather bugged, extremely repetitive and not particularly Star Trek-esque, but there is something which has continually kept me coming back. I suspect this is the competitive thing at work once again. I've had some great fun playing a couple of missions alongside 1005 and at one point Caddy06_88, which is probably where the best experiences of the game can be found, because you are doing things as a team. There is no way I would actually pay to play Star Trek Online (you get nothing for your money), but as a free experience, it has certainly been interesting. I'm sticking to my guns by viewing gaming subscriptions for MMO's and for Xbox Live with contempt.

  • Posted Jan 24, 2010 1:58 pm GMT
  • Category: Games
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• 12Jan 10

  Things I Like (and Dislike) in GTA IV

  First off, I am going to skim briefly over the performance and graphical issues which hamper the PC port of GTA IV. Frankly the game requires a veritable computing powerhouse to be able to run at high quality settings, which seems totally bizarre, because the game itself shouldn't need such processing power. It is less detailed that something like Crysis, yet requires far greater, abnormally huge specifications. It is all just down to lousy porting, exactly like Saints Row 2 was. Right, now that is over, lets get on to the actual heart of this posting: picking over the integral parts of the game itself. On the whole, the game is fantastic. This rendition of Liberty City has to be the most realistically detailed and thought-out fictional city in any game to date. The thing about San Andreas was that distances felt unrealistic, yet here the landscape feels much more true to scale. And this brings me to my two lists:

  

  Things I Like

  • Liberty City Subway System: I'm a sucker for a good mass-transit system, and although in truth the lines in Liberty City have a relatively simple layout, the subway system is easily the most detailed ever featured in a computer game. It even has a completely authentic set of individual station PA announcements. If it weren't for the fact that the train somehow takes your money whenever you get off, rather than from a ticketing station, it would be true to life. Plus, the subway acts as a good way to escape Police attention in Algonquin.
  • Phone calls from friends during missions: Occasionally, during several missions, I've had calls from Roman or Little Jacob asking if I want to go bowling or grab a bite to eat. Of course, these calls come when you're in the middle of a mission, and so Niko always invents some amusing excuse for why he can't come. A nice touch.
  • The Serrated Edge: The best TV show you can watch, which is basically an infomercial selling nothing but knives and swords. "That knife, it just screams freedom!" Some other shows are also pretty funny, such as the Venturas Poker Tour, which shows how dull televised poker actually is, as well as I'm Rich! I don't enjoy Republican Space Rangers because it's too obvious and crude, which is a shame because it could have been very funny.
  • Niko Bellic: It has to be said that in the past, GTA has never managed to create main characters that are actually likeable. Claude from GTA III was a totally silent maniac. Tommy Vercetti hated absolutely everyone in Vice City, and whilst Carl Johnson had some sensible emotions, he was too 'gansta' for my liking. In Niko, we have something bizarre: a main character who is actually quite a nice person. This is somewhat at odds with Niko's chosen life of crime, but it nonetheless makes the storyline more engaging, because even though Niko is surrounded by the usual array of 2-bit conmen and drug lords, he is the voice of reason in a sea of madness.
  • GPS: So incredibly useful, to come to rely on it even after you know where you are going. I also like that in some of the more expensive cars; they will have voiced GPS to go alone with the minimap display. An incredibly helpful feature which will no doubt now become standard in all subsequent sandbox games.
  • Certain Radio Stations: Like and listen to: Radio Broker, Jazz Nation Radio, Fusion FM, Integrity 2.0, PLR, WKTT, Liberty Rock Radio, The Journey, ElectroChoc and Independence FM (the unique PC version station where you can add your own music, but the station comes entirely with unique DJ chatter and idents). Never listened to and abhore: Massive B Soundsystem, LCHC, San Juan Sounds. Very impressed by the frequent, non-repetitive news bulletins from Weasel News though.

  

  Things I Dislike

  • Pandering to your friends: Unless you have Sleep Mode on (a very useful tool which can be accessed through the mobile phone), you are constantly bombarded by messages from your various friends, acquaintances and girlfriends, asking to go for a bite to eat, play some darts, or some other activity. Whilst these calls add a degree of realism to proceedings (if you genuinely were friends with someone, it is good to have them call you), it becomes very irritating when they come up out of the blue whilst busy doing something else, and declining an invite lowers your disposition towards them. Not cool.
  • "I'll pick you up in an hour": What Niko actually meant to say was "If I find a taxi, I'll pick you up in an hour, otherwise give me about five hours". The taxi's trip-skip function means that any journey across the city can be done in minimal time, whereas if you actually drove there yourself, it takes much longer. I wish Niko could just swing by their place any time he felt ready. The hour time limit basically means you'll always be running for the nearest taxi.
  • Little Jacob: I cannot understand a damn word he says, and seriously don't understand why Niko is actually friends with him. The cutscene with him and 'Badman' was totally incomprehensible. Still, he is very useful to call and can sell you discounted weapons from the back of his car.
  • Roadworks on Frankfurt and Columbus Avenue: I know they are there purposefully to break up the flow of traffic along the main thoroughfares, but it is still annoying not to be able to traverse the whole length of Algonquin along just one street. It means you have to attempt to navigate the rather confusing one-way system.
  • Split Sides 'Comedy' Club: You know presumably that you can take your friends to watch stand-up from Katt Williams and Ricky Gervais? Well, that would be all well and good, if either of them were actually funny. Save to say I'd choose going to the Cabaret over the comedians any day, because none of their routines are yet to illicit even a brief smile from me. I wanted to go and see a Burlesque (Broadway) theatre, but that is one feature I will have to live without.
  • Police pursuit radius: To me, the change from the old styIe of Police engagement to this new one doesn't really work. It basically means that if you are on foot, you must hop into a vehicle and drive for a certain distance without being spotted to lose the heat. What was good about the old system was that if you just lay low for a while in a back alley, the wanted level would eventually go down by itself. I do like the National Office of Security Enforcement though.

  Overall though, be in no doubt that I am thoroughly enjoying the game, and my listed dislikes here are really just nitpicking.

  P.S. Happy 100th Blog Post! *Hands round tea and cake*

  • Posted Jan 12, 2010 11:21 am GMT
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• 31Dec 09

  I Can't Quit You Baby (Or: 2009 in Review)

  It's the end of another year, and also another decade: The first of the 21st Century. You should hopefully know the drill by now. This is just a relatively brief roundup of the games which I actually purchased or played during this year, not the games which were actually released in the last year. Therefore, you will notice some older titles listed below. In fact, before November this list was looking rather bare, so it is thankful I've played quite a number of games over the past month or so, to bolster the list and the whole roundup. I've arranged the games I've played into some mildly entertaining faux categories, which should adequately sum up explaining why I liked or disliked them. Enjoy!

  Highlights
  Most Impressive Mars-Based Explosions
  Best Use of Destructible Environments
  Red Faction: Guerrilla: There is something about this game which keeps you coming back for more. Maybe it's simply because you can destroy just about every man-made object in the game (from small buildings to giant bridges), in various explosive ways. Perhaps it's simply the idea that the entire game is all set in the Tharsis region of a partially terraformed Mars, which you must slowly liberate from the oppressive Earth Defense Force. Whatever the reason, Guerrilla is great fun, even if the plot is quite 2D, to such a degree that you essentially have to imagine your own guerrilla actions (destroying or sabotaging EDF property) are storyline events.

  Most Impressive Earth-Based Explosions
  Best Multiplayer Experience
  World in Conflict: A beautiful game with magnificent explosions and certainly one of the best RTS's I have played in a long while. Although not a true RTS per se, World in Conflict strips out many of the typical things which have come to define the genre and replaces it all with pure, unadulterated action. The end result is a game which has such great multiplayer, you actually kind of enjoy losing, because it means getting to watch your units fall under a hail of bullets, or be wiped out by the mushroom cloud a tactical nuclear strike. To top it all, the single player campaign is extremely engaging, with several memorable characters. Play it.

  

  Best Use of Nostalgia
  Best Use of Rubber Chicken with a Pulley in the Middle
  The Secret of Monkey Island: Special Edition: To begin with, LucasArts deserve kudos for bringing the series back. I was terrified they were going to focus on Star Wars forever. Furthermore, Monkey Island has always been close to my heart since Monkey Island 2: Le Chuck's Revenge was on of the first games I ever played. Therefore, I was thrilled to see that this rerelease of The Secret of Monkey Island had been approached and handled with such loving care and attention. The new hand-drawn backgrounds are luscious and more detailed that their predecessors, but it is the inclusion of some great voice-acting across the board which makes the experience truly worthwhile, and hilarious to boot.

  Best Puzzle Game
  Most Ingenious Use of Goo
  World of Goo: A great nifty puzzle game. Never has building virtual towers and pillars of goo managed to scratch the same creative and puzzle-solving itch which Lego does. There isn't really much of a coherent storyline, but something like this only really needs the thinnest of plots to keep you playing. The 2D, Worms-esque art design reflects the decidedly upbeat and slightly tongue-in-cheek nature of the gameplay. Missions are extremely varied, and along the way you can also compete with other players in a stylised meta-game to see who can create the tallest goo tower in the whole world. Plus, the genuinely excellent soundtrack compliments it all superbly.

  Most Atmospheric Game
  Hardest Game
  S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl: If you want a game which is going to set your pulse on edge, S.T.A.L.K.E.R. may just be it. Although the game has what we may sometimes define as just average graphics, it is to the developer's credit that they are used so excellently with superb lighting to create such an effective atmosphere. Whenever you are outside, you feel genuinely nervous of what might be over the hill: whether it is another stalker, a radiation anomaly some bizarrely deformed monster. The haunting sound design and ambient soundtrack also combine to present a truly gritty experience. Plus, the difficulty works in the game's favour: It means you're always scared because if you die, that's it: Game over.

  Lifetime Achievement Award for Longest Time to Completion
  Most Creative Art Design
  Myst III: Exile (Summer 2001 – Autumn 2009): See previous blog post for more details.

  

  Most Addictive Game
  Best Use of a Post-Apocalyptic Setting
  Fallout 3 + DLC: Although I got Fallout 3 last year, the various DLC's kept me playing long into this one. As I have said before, some weren't so great (Operation: Anchorage for one) but others (Point Lookout & Broken Steel) definitely made the game more entertaining and worthwhile. Broken Steel raised the level cap to 30, meaning you could continue improving your character substantially longer, and extended the main questline beyond the unsatisfactory finale of the original game. Point Lookout on the other hand offered a whole new wasteland area to roam about, as well as its own dedicated quests and characters. I eagerly look forward to Fallout: New Vegas and Fallout 4, because if they are anywhere near as good as Fallout 3 has been, then it is certainly going to be an entertaining ride.

  gbrading's Game of the Year
  Most Visually Impressive Sky
  The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion: I only wish I had got this sooner. A truly superb game with an incredible array of voice-acting (although all of the characters are voiced by the same small group of actors), some intricate questing and generally many hours of fantastic exploration. Cyrodiil is one of the most interesting and dynamic worlds ever created for a single player game, in which you often genuinely feel like the countryside is teeming with life. Add to that the huge number of uniquely named characters, each with their own personal dialogue, with many hours of rambling quests, and you have a game that is going to eat up an awful amount of your time. Oblivion also receives the award for the best sky in any game I have ever played. During the day, the sun blazes and clouds flutter overhead. There are epic sunsets, and by night, a vast galaxy of stars twinkles serenely. You will never get bored of simply looking at the awesome views, and enjoying the various sites and sounds.

  Lowlights
  Most Downright Awful Game
  Worst Graphics
  Worst Plot
  Red Faction II: In four words: Just don't play it.

  Most Generic Experience
  Red Faction: Perfectly proficient, but also perfectly dull. The original Half-Life did the same thing much better. The plot is utterly 2-dimensional at best, and simply boring at worst. The revolt against the Ultor Corporation by the colonial Martian miners happens no less than five seconds after the start of the game, with no exposition save for a brief cutscene. Luckily the developers knew you were only there to shoot the bad guys, and so in an effort to give you just that, proceed to throw hundreds at you without pause. This makes the game extremely derivative, and not particularly fulfilling.

  Worst PC Port
  Saints Row 2: Lazy porting is always bad, and Saints Row 2 exemplifies the worst bad ports have to offer. Poor performance, low and jerky frame rates, blurry quality graphics and random glitches (including an impossible-to-complete tutorial level) lead Saints Row 2 down a dark alley and leave it there to wallow in self-pity. This is a great shame, because underneath these problems lurks a truly entertaining and remarkably fun game. Stilwater is an interesting city to explore and shooting is very satisfying. It's just very irritating it is hampered by such basic integral issues.

  Last-Minute Runner-Up in this Category: Grand Theft Auto IV. More to come on this subject at a later date.

  

  Most Disappointing Sequel
  The Sims 3: I was disappointed with The Sims 3 because it promised much and delivered relatively little. Sure, the entire neighbourhood is now one seamless streaming environment, meaning that you can actually walk into town to buy groceries or cycle down to the library, but it had a number of crucial flaws. It removed several features which The Sims 2 had used to good effect, such as creating your own towns, placing your own lots and fully customising what the neighbourhood looked like. You can't name the streets, or import your own neighbourhoods from SimCity 4. There is only one town of Sunset Valley out of the box, and another town available for download if you registered the game online, but that's it. The Sims Exchange website, which used to be a place where you could download content for free, has become a fully commercial venture. Overall, it just feels too business-oriented, and purposefully stripped down for the potential of future sequels.

  Any Other Business
  Games on the Wii: Wii Fit/Tiger Woods PGA Tour 09/The Sims 2: Castaway
  The family Wii saw its fair share of play time when I was at home during the holidays, during which I attempted to get fitter with some Wii Fit, improve my golfing technique with Tiger Woods 09, and just generally stay alive in The Sims 2: Castaway. My favourite would be Wii Fit, despite the fact that it isn't really a 'game'. For example, I can now do the Yoga Tree pose very well. Tiger Woods has a ridiculously complicated character creator for the Wii, but the golf itself is quite great if a bit complex, with a good variety of courses. Castaway is about as close to a Sims experience as the Wii allows, which means that it is still a lot more goal-based and less about doing what you want. Nonetheless, it is fun roaming over a tropical island sampling random plants and attempting to catch fish. Also downloaded BBC iPlayer for Wii (unsurprisingly available in Britain only). Very useful to be able to watch or listen in full-screen.

  All that remains for me to say is to wish you a very Happy and prosperous New Year.

  • Posted Dec 31, 2009 6:28 am GMT
  • Category: Games
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