Team Fortress 2, Lost in the Economy....

The creators of the latest update for TF2 no doubt thought it would bring ever-lasting prosperity to not only the players of the game, but also to them. But in giving them soaring profits and giving us access to these items, not only has playing the game itself felt cheapened, the whole concept and reasoning behind items has now completely changed as well. Before items were a status symbol, generally enjoyed only by the tf2 elite, who after many days, months or even years of hard-fought playing, or dirty idling, had miraculously earned the envy of every other player with a virtual hat, indicating little more than luck or perseverance. Whilst for some it was a big deal (those who felt it necessary to idle), the average player just grumbled a little a the sight of these hat adorned gentlemenne, knowing that with only 10 more weapons they could craft a random hat. Now, they are all about showing off how unique and special you are, because you have the wit to call your knife "buttsecks" and to paint your hat yellow, so the whole world can immediately recognise you as you frolic about, trading for more hats. Which brings me to the second failing of this update, who is actually playing the game anymore? In some servers you will be constantly bombarded by people trying to scam poor fools to part with their hats, and often at the expense of having a competent team. Some people spend more time in trade servers, desperate for a hat to show off how special they are, why not just play the game!

Sorry about this poorly written and poorly thought out vent, but TF2 honestly just isn't the same anymore...at least the Halloween Update wasn't too bad...

P.S. I'm just mad I haven't been able to scam a poor sucker into parting with an unusual... :/

Silly Resi-5...

*May contain some spoilers if you really care, but I am pretty vague and I found the plot to be predictably average*

Resident Evil 5 comes across as very awkward really, its entire gameplay is still rooted in archaic practices that have long been left behind by most other games. There is an inventory with only 9 slots, you are unable to shoot and move at the same time and so much of the game is silly quick time events (although a modern phenomenon it is still an ancient concept). But generally, when played co-op these things can be ignored and it is a reasonably satisfactory game. Hell, these "poor" design features actually add to the experience. Having a limited inventory almost suits the survival/horror genre, adding to the stress and giving you another thing to panic over (even if that panic is considerably more mild than say an executioner charging you with his blade of doom), and whilst being able to shoot and move could be quite useful, it gives an actual choice between dodging and shooting, which may actual take some thought, as well as recovery item management considering you may actually get wounded from something that isn't unavoidable, rather than run around this boss avoiding his pattern and you should easily avoid taking any damage at all!

Clearly I actually enjoyed this game, even if it had a strange tendency for every single boss to have exorbitant amounts of tentacles (so many tentacles!...those Japanese...amirite?). And yet the final boss, what should be the pinnacle of the experience, appeared unbeatable. After at least 30 attempts, we were at our wits end. Seemingly to survive this fight one must have the button mashing skills of a caffeine maniac with an artificial wrist. Even GameFaqs was at a loss as to how to defeat this tentacled (of course) menace. Searching for this specific fight in google revealed that other people had had a similar problem in co-op, it simply seemed impossible...

Then we noticed a tenative entry, claiming that apparently, if very early in the fight you can snipe the tiny orange weak spot on his back with a Rocket Launcher you will be granted automatic victory. At this stage we were completely desperate, so the Rocket Launcher was equipped, why not have a quick ping at his back before trying to survive the most lethal quick time event in history. A couple of attempts to no avail, but there was no reason to stop trying, nothing else had worked.

I was in complete awe. Who would have thought it possible, especially from that kind of range...

Achievements/Trophies...

When I first received my Playstation 3, I immediately discovered something new and frightening, almost threatening to tear apart the very fabric upon which I had previously valued my accomplishments within video games. I am of course referring to Trophies (achievements for an XBox).

When the first trophy appeared for simply completing a small collection of levels in LittleBigPlanet I was slightly bemused, why reward me for doing something a 2 year old could reasonably achieve? Why replace the previously meaningful rewards systems already present in many games? Or simply craft a game of such worth that provides such an experience that it is through simply the joy of playing this masterpiece that the gamer is justly rewarded. This trend obviously couldn't continue, as soon as companies realised that our desire for instant gratification and rewards could be targeted and exploited, trophies or achievements of some form have become almost expected of developers for this generation.

In the simple act of beating a game, something you would generally do anyway, you will generally receive (not really earned for me, as when you buy a game you should at the very least feel compelled to finish it, if not also find some replay value) at least 30-40% of all of the achievements there. It is the perfect hook, naturally when you see the pop-up sneaks into the corner of your screen and the satisfying noise indicating that you have achieved something, you will check out what exactly you have done to deserve this. Once on this trophies menu, even though trophies have never been a motivator to buy a game (I hope I never sink to the level of achievement-whoring that requires me to buy terrible games with ridiculously easy trophies, purely for the sake of adding to the horde), upon seeing the trophies available, it will invariably change the way you play, or maybe even how you think about the game. Say for example you avoided using melee attacks because they were slow, left your defense wide open, and there was less satisfaction in it for you than achieving a perfect head shot. But upon seeing this achievement for 20 melee kills, your natural gaming style suddenly changes. Arguably it could be seen as a positive, you see more sides of the game, it will change up the action, and of course you get the feeling that you have actually "achieved" something. But surely this breaks immersion, encouraging people to adopt different methods of gameplay then what their nature dictates could weaken the experience, not to mention the noise and pop-up when the achievement is obtained, as well as the compulsion to find out what has been achieved and what else can be achieved, purely to achieve that slight elevation in pleasure. It simply felt as if it was cheapening the whole experience, and merely providing a form of this across all my games to make me buy even more. Far from older systems of achievements where there are legitimately interesting unlocks and bonuses.

While I do make out for trophies being a negative on gaming, which at times they are, I guess they do have their uses. The perfect example for me is the game Mirror's Edge, which is the first and only game I have a platinum trophy for. After playing through the reasonably short story I was left feeling a little bit flat by ME, sure it contained some sections of free running/parcour bliss, but so much of that was ruined by what pretty much everyone who has played this game invariably brings up, unnecessary combat and jumping "puzzles" in small enclosed spaces. Sadly, it felt like a game I might never really have any other reason to play again. However seeing the achievement for a run through the game without firing at an enemy, for no reason other than there being an achievement for it, I thought why not, I put the difficulty down to easy mode and ran through.

The game had changed now. No longer were the levels confusing labyrinths that required annoyingly precise jumping as well as the need to handle weapons and stop your speed and flow. In this playthrough I could just relax and run, having gained a basic grasp of the controls so that a wallrun, turn, wallclimb was not even a threat anymore to my previously tentative fingers. It almost came naturally. Finally it felt as if the game was being played how it was originally intended and I loved it. It won me over enough that I felt compelled to complete all the speed runs and time trials, in turn resulting in me obtaining all of the trophies; and it felt like an actual accomplishment, considering their difficulty and the feeling of joy I felt whilst playing the game. So maybe they are not really such a bad thing, if they encourage you to go back to a game, or put more time into it, after all, it means we as gamers might get more for our money.

Onto something else, not entirely unrelated, I am about to continue a file in Pokemon Gold, purely for the sake of capturing all 250 Pokemon and having a good nostalgia trip, without even the enticement of an achievement! (sorry but Celebi doesn't count, I can't/don't want to glitch the game and there are never going to be any events for it). Wish me luck!

Super Mario Galaxy 2!

Well I just got my copy of this game two days ago on launch day here in Australia, but at least it was worth the wait. Super Mario Galaxy 2 is amazing and constantly delights and enchants anyone within the vicinity of the warm glow it emits. At this stage (I am about 70 stars into it at them moment) it is at least equal with it's predecessor, if not slightly better, because it has more variation with a LOT more galaxies to explore. The two player co-op mode has also been given an upgrade and they have significantly more influence over the game, now they can pick up coins (even purple coins of which 100 gets you a star) as well as being able to kill some enemies. This is a game that is very easy to get lost in, when I bought it I played it for about 3 hours without even noticing how long I had been playing for, the game just sucks you in with a good balance between challenging and simply satisfying levels. It is so easy to play for hours because Nintendo have somehow squeezed every last bit out of the Wii to make it look really great and certainly good enough for this generation of video games. Writing about it just makes me want to play more, time to go get me some more stars!

Woo! 100% Completed SMG1, Bring on SMG2! Also Peace Walker raving!

Well I 100% completed Super Mario Galaxy 1 and it was an absolute blast to play through the levels again. Even if Luigi and his teflon boots could be a little challenging it was great to relive all of it again (I hadn't really played the game much since it came out) and it is only TWO DAYS until the highly rated sequel arrives here in poor forgotten Australia. At least I have plenty of other games to keep me occupied...

MGS: Peace Walker, 15 hours in, is great. It plays very similar to other games in the series with an emphasis on stealth in conventional and more bizarre ways. Also with the less viable option of charging through guns blazing, but it isn't really suited for it, especially considering the controls can sometimes be difficult to handle (although you do slowly master them). Added to this is the management of your base, involving sending men on missions and choosing what to research and develop, it is a very polished game and is really suited to being on the PSP. Given that most missions aren't too long and there are other even smaller missions that aren't part of the main story. The story is typically pretty good, if you are well acquainted with the universe and enjoy Kojima's style then you will probably enjoy it. Even if you aren't, the voice actors are all of the highest standard (especially for a game) and the graphic novel style looks amazing. Interestingly it has some quick time event's during them which are also alright and just add more variety. Peace Walker is simply one of the best games I have ever played, and clearly the best on the PSP, even with the short amount of time I've played it for it has justified me buying a PSP a couple of months ago which was mainly for this game. If you have a PSP this is the first game you should get, it is so compelling and replayable you won't need another one for a long time.

Now Playing (PEACE WALKER!!!)

Currently playing Super Mario Galaxy 1, in anticipation of the second (curse Australia and it's waiting times), and at 75 stars, it's just about to get to all of the really fun stars. I also weakened and bought MGS: Peace Walker before beating MGS1, and it is pretty amazing. But I am still not really good with the controls and really annoyingly tend to accidentally run too quickly behind guards (the analogue stick is terrible) and constantly getting caught when I try and do CQC (close quarters combat). But it is pretty awesome and has so much content, and I feel compelled to get an S rank in EVERY mission! But I am still trying to get through MGS1 and just got past the battle with the Hind (annoying helicopter) which took at least 6 attempts because I only had 3/4 health and 1 ration, and I was terrible at that boss, but I got past it and it is still pretty awesome, even though it has aged a bit. Of course I am still playing Yakuza 3 and have just arrived in what I think is some part of Tokyo, and it is really cool and much larger than the first city, it's still an awesome game that I am enjoying a lot. I am playing a lot right now because it's holidays, so I can just relax and play video games, hopefully I'll post a bit more too!

Yakuza 3...what, you mean Japanese GTA?

This is the first main assumption that many people have, and admittedly I sort of had about this game. Considering that it is advertised as an open world game about the Yakuza which many people know as essentially a Japanese version of the mafia it isn't surprising. But 10 hours in it is certainly nothing like it at all, it is more a story based beat-em up combined with several minigames which in themselves could eat up hours of your time, all whilst set in a believable modern day Japan which couldn't be mistaken for anywhere else. The large amount of story actually got to me a couple of times, not having played the two previous iterations, or having watched the summaries supplied on the disk, I really just wanted to play, and slowly get to know Kazuma (our protagonist who as I understand it was raised by a member of the Yakuza)and the 30 minute long stretches of dialogue felt like too much, especially early on in a game. While I still haven't completely fallen in love with the story the same cannot be said of the world. Running through this world is great fun and it is very clearly a Japanese game, even with real Japanese cities that constantly delight and surprise you. Then there is the brutal and fairly accessible combat which is always enjoyable, especially the epic boss fights. It is also amazing how many silly little side quests and mini-games there are to play. At this stage 100% completion of this game looks like a ridiculous prospect, but I might just try and do it, considering how fun this amazing game is turning out to be.

Batman: Arkham Asylum Review

Batman: Arkham Asylum (which I played on the PS3) follows on from the success of the Dark Knight and Batman Begins movies to offer a similar dark, brooding world and actually provide a decent franchise game.

Positives:
This game actually makes you feel as if you are the great Caped Crusader, and it is as awesome and most importantly fun, as it should be. The combat is suitably brutal and plays as its name "freeflow" suggests. There's a suitable array of gadgets that all feel great to use and are implemented reasonably well. Whether grappling to save yourself from a missed jump, ziplining across deep abysses, hacking into security systems or wielding the trusty "batarang", it all gels nicely, allowing for backtracking and collecting for the obsessive gamers as well as neat ways to take out enemies if you are more creative. There were also a lot of neat touches that just add to the great feel of the game, the hacking which relied on pointing the analog sticks in the direction that provided the most rumble was one of the better ways that the rumble feature has been implemented in a game. Also after a few hours of playing Batman would have stubble appear and they even made his batsuit (or whatever the hell it's called) get ripped up after particularly scrappy battles. There are also plenty of cameos and references to Batman's arch-enemies including Joker, Riddler, Croc, Poison Ivy and a few others from deep within Batman lore (which I am not really familiar with but it all appears to remain faithful to it). The boss battles are all reasonably neat, but I especially admired the battles against Scarecrow which seem to be a metaphor for the inner turmoil Bruce Wayne suffers, which were pretty neat (even if it was only about dodging his gaze, which meant the gameplay was average, but I appreciated the thought). Another thing that I enjoyed, even if it can piss you off a bit when you die a lot, is the way that Joker, or whichever boss you are fighting at the time, will mercilessly taunt you after every death, again they made sure to get all these little awesome details right showing how much thought and effort was put into developing it. I should probably mention the graphics which were really good and up to current standards and the sound was alright, in a way that it was not really noticeably good or bad.

Negatives:
The combat whilst generally pretty fun, could sometimes just be a case of constantly countering (especially in a room of 20 guys) and then it felt really boring. Also the stealth sections, whilst a nice idea to change up the gameplay a bit, didn't feel too amazing. It was just put on detective mode and slowly take them out one at a time, not getting caught, it was certainly not revolutionary, or allowing for too much creativity (especially given that their guns are really powerful and they have hack-bot aim). Also these two earlier posts (see here and here) mention a couple of minor negatives but they occur in other games as well and don't subtract too much from the overall experience.

Closing Comments:
Overall I just had a lot of fun playing this game and it made me want to keep coming back to it to finish up the story, which although not particularly interesting, led to lots of awesome gameplay moments. Even though I doubted the premise of Batman stuck in a prison complex there were enough different ideas and gameplay that it never feels too small or repetitive. This game is definitely good enough that I can see myself replaying it some time in the future to solve all the riddles and finish all the challenges. It was simply just a lot of fun and anyone who has had even the slightest urge to be a superhero should definitely check it out.

I Want to See the World!

Unfortunately I haven't had enough time to finish Batman: Arkham Asylum and review it, but I have another little gripe I want to point out. Basically in this game, there is a "detective mode" which enables you to see places you need to go, track movements of people to know where next to go and also even the position of the enemy, allowing Batman to stealthily take them out one by one with ease, not allowing the bots with near perfect aim to shoot him down in only 6 seconds. The problem with the system, as the player, is that you never want to leave this mode, meaning you feel stuck with a worse, computer like graphical display rather than the relatively pleasant to look at visuals of the game. The sections where you are forced into stealth are pretty much impossible without detective mode and I would have missed plenty of riddles if I didn't often check the world with this mode. Unfortunately they have made it so there is little solution to this problem, so I will continue to miss out on the bloom filled gritty world and instead feel as if in a VR simulation.


This is what the player sees for too much of this game, whilst it is useful, I want to see the world!.

A Couple of Reviews Coming Up

Luckily I asked one of my good buddies, on here known as TheMasses, if he could contribute a little to this blog. He agreed and he said he might have a review of Alan Wake to put up. So now I will have someone to offer a different perspective, style, and 360 games. Also by tomorrow I will probably have finished the main story of Arkham Asylum and will put up that review as well. Peace Out!

When Sound Becomes Too Realistic

In some games recently, they have tried to make sound too realistic, often at the expense of me actually hearing what is being said. Right now playing through Arkham Asylum, often when Joker is on a screen you will have to be right near a loudspeaker to hear anything at all. When trying to just run around, which seems like the right thing to do considering that the screens are everywhere, I miss little snippets of dialogue because I don't stand still to watch a lame excuse for a cutscene. However if it would simply work while I ran ahead, it would be great, similar to Bioshock, when gameplay continues when story is told only through dialogue.


These audio diaries from Bishock allow gameplay and story to continue seamlessly, one way to not compromise either of them.

Another moment where this bothered me was in Uncharted 2. When your partner would talk to you, you had to be near them and facing them to have any chance at hearing what were often pretty humorous lines. Often when I was right next to them and standing the other way I would miss these exchanges almost entirely, and I only realised this when I turned the subtitles on.

So sound doesn't have to be ultra-realistic, especially when it is dialogue which often provides crucial backstory or is just plain hilarious. I don't care if I am not within 1 meter and perfectly facing the NPC, I just want to hear what they are saying!

Too many games!

As was evident in a previous post, I just got and have barely started playing 3 new games (RDR, Yakuza 3 and Batman: Arkham Asylum) but there are two more that in the next month I will almost definitely have to buy.

Super Mario Galaxy was an awesome game to play through, and continued the tradition of awesome 3D Mario platformers (though some say Sunshine was a disappointment, I thought it was one the best games of that generation). From all the reviews I've seen Galaxy 2 is meant to be god-like and looks near certain to be Game of the Year for a lot of people. It has been thoroughly praised, and somehow has been seen to greatly surpass the original. Which playing through again has made me want the sequel even more. Currently 50 starts into my Luigi play through (you can play through the game again as Luigi after collecting all 120 stars) and it is as fun and amazing as I remember it being the first time around. All of this adds up to making the excruciating wait until July 1st all the more painful. It's surprising that Australia still has to suffer with abysmal waiting periods for top quality games. Considering Nintendo is probably the most successful gaming company right now, and Galaxy 2 their biggest game to date, it is unfortunate they haven't lifted their poor standard. I guess that's just what happens when you are a small, out of the way country like Australia and considering how good their games generally are they can afford to get away with it.


The other game that has been getting rave reviews that I simply must have is Metal Gear Solid:Peace Walker. Having only become acquainted with the wacky and at the same time ultra serious world of MGS this year, any MGS game now for me is a must have. But, going back to the problem of too many games, I still need to finish MGS1, which I was actually really enjoying, until I reached the fatal moment of ridiculous back-tracking. As soon as I realised I would have to go back all that way to get a sniper rifle I knew I needed a break from this game. It is even more ludicrous considering that the boss merely waits for you to get it, even though they have a hostage. Ah well, I'll try and ignore this and finish it, then I can buy Peace Walker and put off playing other games!

THAT HAT IS SO OVERPOWERED!

Gaming sessions with friends, while you are all in the same room are slowly dying, and it just really sucks for me. Yesterday reminded me of the wonders of this type of gaming and why it is far better than single player, and online multiplayer.

With the rise of the internet, especially it being wireless, fast, and relatively cheap, developers are forgetting about people who actually want to play together. For my friends and I,and probably a lot of other people, it is not at all good for us. We have different consoles, not all of us have awesome internet, or xbox live, and we want to play it splitscreen because that is so much more fun anyway. Anyone who has had a split screen sesh knows how much more fun it is, the dirty screen peeking tactics, physical violence, and verbal abuse made possible with close confines and a long history of shenanigans and in-jokes.

Against all the odds we still try and play together, but out options are pretty limited, xbox 360 is the only console we have enough controllers for combined, but the range of games is limited. We all felt relatively unimpressed by COD4, sure it is alright, but it always feels too reliant on who sees who first, favouring camping, which isn't fun. On the other hand Halo 3 allows running around randomly and whoever has the better aim over 5 seconds. They have served us well, but the skill differences between us are also showing and we want a bit of variety, unfortunately there is pretty much nothing out there that supports 4 player gaming.


We were all feeling bored, exams were coming up and even I was thinking of leaving, COD just wasn't really fun anymore. Then my friend suggested playing James Bond Nightfire, a Bond spin off for the original XBox that looked, sounded and played pretty lame. They reminisced about how much better it used to seem, it felt like a dodgy GoldenEye sequel to me. Then a strange thing happened, we got really into this game. The hard to aim guns meant long, trash talk involving, showdowns. The bots gained mutual hatred and led to alliances to take down these all conquering hack machines. It was just hilarious and fun. One moment, highlighting the dodginess of the gameplay, i ran out of pistol ammo and charged my buddy with my nothing but my bare fists and my manhood. Literally five minutes later I was taken down, but despite what appear to be flaws it was much more fun than COD or Halo.

Then came the best moment, and will long remain a group meme for us. On a map suited to snipers Player 3 was playing as Oddjob, and Player 1 was casually strolling at the opposite end of the map. Suddenly, completely out of nowhere, Player 3 realises he possesses a mystical hat, and unleashes with pure optimism. "THAT HAT IS SO OVERPOWERED"


This video demonstrates how much it needs to be nerfed, seriously.

Now James Bond Nightfire has become one of the best games ever. Proving that just about any 4 player multiplayer game can be fun, so why not include it more? I know it would certainly get us very excited and desperately wanting that game. Why are we punished for having friends outside of the internet? Also, the more absurd the better, 4 player games are meant to be great for a laugh, and all about everyone having some legitimate shot at winning, hopefully developers will realize this and make more splitscreen games.

Now Playing

Just yesterday got Batman: Arkham Asylum, and it is pretty awesome! As is anything with the current generation Batman. It captures the dark and moody theme of the two most recent movies and makes a good licensed game. Everything 3 hours in feels great, combat feels as the name suggests (freeflow) and the finishing blows are suitably brutal. He moves with grace (gliding) as well as with gadgetry (grapple). Then there are the riddles which are the collectible goodness that adds more fun to it. I can't wait to play more of it.

At the same time I got Yakuza 3, a pretty good looking open world beat em up, it seems alright after an hour with it. The combat seems pretty neat and the characters and story relatively interesting.

Just a week ago I started playing Red Dead Redemption, which is pretty amazing. And no, it isn't just GTA with horses, it feels like much more than that, at least to me. It is an amazingly well fleshed out world that constantly impresses and sidetracks you, and John Marston as a character has really grown on me. Annoyingly I've gotten a bit sidetracked from it with those 2 other games but I will try and play some of all of them this long weekend!

Hey

Hey, as you can guess this is a blog devoted to the mystical art (yes i called it art) of gaming. It'll just be my thoughts on games I'm playing, probably some proper reviews, previews and all that sort of standard gaming fare. Plenty for you to look forward to if you are at all interested in gaming.

I currently own all major consoles (PS3, Wii, DS, PSP, PC) except for Xbox 360, mainly because I am simply against it for no good reason but remaining faithful to dear old Sony and Nintendo. (Maybe also because there isn't a compelling reason for me to get it rather than a PS3). My first console was the great Nintendo 64 which came with Mario Kart 64 and Super Mario 64, which led me on my path of gaming. Now I mostly enjoy action/adventure/platform games but pretty much every genre has a few decent games that are awesome to play.