What a shame.
There is so much to love about this game but playing it gets so annoying that I'm probably not going to persist.
The characters are brilliantly brought to life and have a lot of personality. They move and interact so amusingly that I really want to like the game.
Sadly the gameplay is poor. Quite often the character you are controlling will pass out of sight. An arrow appears showing where they are but you can't see the area around them properly so cannot tell what they're doing. At one point in the first chapter Indy was walking along a narrow path around the edge of a crocodile infested pool but was out of sight more often than in sight so how could I preventing from falling in and being attacked? So much work and love has obviously gone into this game so it's surprising that anything as poor as this is left in.
The game has two modes; Freeplay Mode and Story Mode. I really want to play through all of the game in Story Mode but there are loads of things that you cannot do and it's frustrating. Freeplay Mode feels a bit like cheat mode, or at least not quite like the game proper. Perhaps this is something I just need to get used to.
One thing I will say in favour of this game is that going through three movies worth of story there is masses of content and loads to explore and lots of characters to unlock.
I still find it hard to recommend, though.
On a different subject, I have acquired a Nintendo DSi this week (I was playing Lego IJ on the PS3). The DSi looks great and I will be playing on that and reporting back shortly.
Saturday, 31 March 2012
Tuesday, 27 March 2012
Fallout 3
I'll trade you a kidney for 10 rounds of ammo!
Fallout 3 is a bullet famine! I seem to have spent half my time skulking around trying to find a lone enemy to kill with the baseball bat so that I can steal a few measly rounds to take out the next one.
The game started a bit slowly. The growing-up parts of the game didn't do much for me. That's leaving aside the fact that at one stage the game got stuck and I had to go back to my last save and do things differently. (I am surprised that problems like this have not been patched considering the age and popularity of the game).
When I eventually got out of the Vault I was unused to the huge amount of freedom that this game gave me (after several days of the very directed journey of Alice). I wandered off in completely the wrong direction and have not yet reached the town where I'm supposed to investigate the whereabouts of my missing dad, despite discovering several locations and being burned and shot to death by numerous types of enemy.
I still feel as if I am missing out on something in the game. I have not used any skills to make anything. At one point I discovered a workbench but was told I need to improve some skill or other to I think it was 100 in order to use it. My score for that skill was about 17 at the time.
Whenever I find a lock to pick or when I wish to repair an item I am told that I need some astronomical score to do that. I have to say though that I do like the mechanic for picking locks (on the few occasions I've been allowed to try it). Instead of having to perform some mini game which is not really anything to do with lock picking an image of an actual lock with a "bobby-pin" and screw driver inserted into it appears on the screen. You first use the left stick to turn the pin then, when it seems to be in the proper position, hold it there and turn the screwdriver with the right stick. How do you know when the pin is in the right place? Well it really seems to be a combination of listening to the sound it makes and just using a bit of intuition. If you turn the screwdriver at the wrong time you can break the pin if you don't relent fast enough.
I reached the wharf by the river where an old woman offered to trade with me. Great! I thought I'll be able to buy some ammo! What did she have on offer? A knife. I sold her a load of the useless things I had collected thinking at the time that they might be useful, but I don't know why as I have nowhere to go to spend my money. By which I mean bottle caps, obviously.
I enjoy exploring the world of Fallout 3 and will spend a lot more time doing it but the next thing I'm going to do is pursue the story as I guess character progression and better skills lie in that direction.
Fallout 3 is a bullet famine! I seem to have spent half my time skulking around trying to find a lone enemy to kill with the baseball bat so that I can steal a few measly rounds to take out the next one.
 |
| A modern nuclear warhead would cause everthing in this picture to evaporate. |
The game started a bit slowly. The growing-up parts of the game didn't do much for me. That's leaving aside the fact that at one stage the game got stuck and I had to go back to my last save and do things differently. (I am surprised that problems like this have not been patched considering the age and popularity of the game).
When I eventually got out of the Vault I was unused to the huge amount of freedom that this game gave me (after several days of the very directed journey of Alice). I wandered off in completely the wrong direction and have not yet reached the town where I'm supposed to investigate the whereabouts of my missing dad, despite discovering several locations and being burned and shot to death by numerous types of enemy.
I still feel as if I am missing out on something in the game. I have not used any skills to make anything. At one point I discovered a workbench but was told I need to improve some skill or other to I think it was 100 in order to use it. My score for that skill was about 17 at the time.
Whenever I find a lock to pick or when I wish to repair an item I am told that I need some astronomical score to do that. I have to say though that I do like the mechanic for picking locks (on the few occasions I've been allowed to try it). Instead of having to perform some mini game which is not really anything to do with lock picking an image of an actual lock with a "bobby-pin" and screw driver inserted into it appears on the screen. You first use the left stick to turn the pin then, when it seems to be in the proper position, hold it there and turn the screwdriver with the right stick. How do you know when the pin is in the right place? Well it really seems to be a combination of listening to the sound it makes and just using a bit of intuition. If you turn the screwdriver at the wrong time you can break the pin if you don't relent fast enough.
I reached the wharf by the river where an old woman offered to trade with me. Great! I thought I'll be able to buy some ammo! What did she have on offer? A knife. I sold her a load of the useless things I had collected thinking at the time that they might be useful, but I don't know why as I have nowhere to go to spend my money. By which I mean bottle caps, obviously.
I enjoy exploring the world of Fallout 3 and will spend a lot more time doing it but the next thing I'm going to do is pursue the story as I guess character progression and better skills lie in that direction.
Friday, 23 March 2012
Wondrous Things
I've enthused excessively about several games in this blog but now I've got to do the same about another.
Alice: Madness Returns is one of the best action adventure games I have played; perhaps the best.
Alice herself is as charming as she is supposed to be. She is a goth / emo type down to the black and white striped stockings, black hair and completely white complexion. Most of the time she is either sensible or whimsical, perhaps to the point where it is hard to believe in the violence of the game or the possibly criminally insane past that is sometimes referred to. (This is not a spoiler as I don't yet know how Alice's history is resolved).
The game has faults which only serve to draw the players attention to the fact that some things which games can be criticised for are not important. What am I talking about? The fact is that the edges of the world around Alice are only very roughly defined and there are many places where it looks as if she should be able to go but she cannot. The fact is you soon get used to it as the game is consistent.
Playability is the games primary strength. I do not think I have got stuck anywhere or got bored at any point. The play flows smoothly. It only frustrates me enough to give me a sense of achievement when I do get through.
There are difficult fights and sequences of jumping between sometimes moving sometimes invisible platforms.. Death in a fight means death but there is never too much to replay to get back to the same point. When Alice misses a platform when jumping she disperses as a crowd of butterflies and reconstitutes back at the start of the sequence, with time continuing to move forward as this happens.
There is a great variety of enemies; something with American McGee's Alice seemed to lack, though I confess I did not finish it. They all have there own strengths and weaknesses and modes of attack and Alice needs to use all of her curious weapons to overcome them. All weapons can be upgraded and are fun to use.
The primary impression I would want to leave you with is that none of this games faults matter as it is great. Please play it.
Alice: Madness Returns is one of the best action adventure games I have played; perhaps the best.
 |
| Alice - Pale and Interesting |
Alice herself is as charming as she is supposed to be. She is a goth / emo type down to the black and white striped stockings, black hair and completely white complexion. Most of the time she is either sensible or whimsical, perhaps to the point where it is hard to believe in the violence of the game or the possibly criminally insane past that is sometimes referred to. (This is not a spoiler as I don't yet know how Alice's history is resolved).
The game has faults which only serve to draw the players attention to the fact that some things which games can be criticised for are not important. What am I talking about? The fact is that the edges of the world around Alice are only very roughly defined and there are many places where it looks as if she should be able to go but she cannot. The fact is you soon get used to it as the game is consistent.
Playability is the games primary strength. I do not think I have got stuck anywhere or got bored at any point. The play flows smoothly. It only frustrates me enough to give me a sense of achievement when I do get through.
 |
| The distorted Wonderland floats in the background. |
There are difficult fights and sequences of jumping between sometimes moving sometimes invisible platforms.. Death in a fight means death but there is never too much to replay to get back to the same point. When Alice misses a platform when jumping she disperses as a crowd of butterflies and reconstitutes back at the start of the sequence, with time continuing to move forward as this happens.
There is a great variety of enemies; something with American McGee's Alice seemed to lack, though I confess I did not finish it. They all have there own strengths and weaknesses and modes of attack and Alice needs to use all of her curious weapons to overcome them. All weapons can be upgraded and are fun to use.
The primary impression I would want to leave you with is that none of this games faults matter as it is great. Please play it.
Monday, 19 March 2012
My Name is Called Disturbance!
Street Fighter IV is hard.
I've been playing the game on Easy difficulty and sometimes struggling. (For those who don't know, there are 8 difficulty levels and 2 are easier that Easy, so I'm completely chickening out.)
I have mostly played as Chun-Li up to now and even some of her basic special moves I find hard to execute. The one which involves kicking repeatedly is easy and Kikoken which involves charging away from the opponent then moving towards followed by a punch I've pretty much got down, too.
Hazanshu, which in pushing the stick towards the opponent then rolling underneath until it is pointing away then kicking, and results in Chun-Li doing an extravagant flip through the air and kicking down on her enemy, took a lot of practise in the training room but I get it most times now. It took me ages to work out that the kick comes after the stick movement.
The Spinning bird kick looks like an easy move but I tried for ages to do it yesterday and it only happened about one time in a hundred so I'm obviously doing something wrong.
Unfortunately, the moves I have about got right are not very damaging and Chun-Li is constantly being the victim of outrageous Super and Ultra Combos and I have no reply. Often I can be winning a fight comfortably and suddenly the opponent will launch into something spectacular and the fight is turned around. This has happened so many times in Arcade mode when fighting Chun-Li's rival Crimson Viper that it makes me depressed to think about it. Ms Viper's favourite is Burst Time - her ultra combo. I can be winning a bout and fancying my chances when suddenly I hear "now watch this" and it's curtains for Chun-Li again. I have got out of this combo on a couple of occasions but I've no idea how.
Despite my disasters I have enjoyed this introduction to fighting games (I don't really count a couple of hours of WWE Wrestlemania X8 on the GBA SP) and I'm looking forwarding to learning more and improving.
However, I've started Alice: Madness Returns and I think that will be occupying me for now.
I've been playing the game on Easy difficulty and sometimes struggling. (For those who don't know, there are 8 difficulty levels and 2 are easier that Easy, so I'm completely chickening out.)
I have mostly played as Chun-Li up to now and even some of her basic special moves I find hard to execute. The one which involves kicking repeatedly is easy and Kikoken which involves charging away from the opponent then moving towards followed by a punch I've pretty much got down, too.
Hazanshu, which in pushing the stick towards the opponent then rolling underneath until it is pointing away then kicking, and results in Chun-Li doing an extravagant flip through the air and kicking down on her enemy, took a lot of practise in the training room but I get it most times now. It took me ages to work out that the kick comes after the stick movement.
The Spinning bird kick looks like an easy move but I tried for ages to do it yesterday and it only happened about one time in a hundred so I'm obviously doing something wrong.
Unfortunately, the moves I have about got right are not very damaging and Chun-Li is constantly being the victim of outrageous Super and Ultra Combos and I have no reply. Often I can be winning a fight comfortably and suddenly the opponent will launch into something spectacular and the fight is turned around. This has happened so many times in Arcade mode when fighting Chun-Li's rival Crimson Viper that it makes me depressed to think about it. Ms Viper's favourite is Burst Time - her ultra combo. I can be winning a bout and fancying my chances when suddenly I hear "now watch this" and it's curtains for Chun-Li again. I have got out of this combo on a couple of occasions but I've no idea how.
Despite my disasters I have enjoyed this introduction to fighting games (I don't really count a couple of hours of WWE Wrestlemania X8 on the GBA SP) and I'm looking forwarding to learning more and improving.
However, I've started Alice: Madness Returns and I think that will be occupying me for now.
Thursday, 15 March 2012
I'm Madder Than Alice!
What is the point in this?
This manual is absolutely generic. The only way in which it is at all unique to the game it came with is that it has the name on the cover, as shown here. I imagine most people reading this have encountered such booklets.
I know for sure that a similar manual comes with Tiger Woods PGA Tour 12 and with Sims 3 Pets for the PS3 and I assume there are others. I don't know if the XBOX 360 versions of these games are similarly afflicted but in the case of Sims 3 Pets I strongly suspect so (I have some new and sealed versions which I'm selling on ebay and they feel very lightweight).
It is worth noting that all the games named here are EA productions. Perhaps they have done the maths and decided to try to phase out boxed games by making them less desirable. Let's face it, they are not as profitable and EA cannot control pricing so rigidly when there is a physical product being sold by numerous retailers.
If there was just a game available for a set price from PSN or XBOX Live then EA could keep the price above £20 indefinitely and if we wanted to play we would cough-up. Let's face it, EA have the widest range of quality games and are in the best position to dictate like this.
But I like boxed games! It's not just that I try to make a living from selling them. They are desirable and collectible and I covet them but I've got to admit that I covet Alice: Madness Returns slightly less because of it's shoddy manual.
Let's be honest. My speculations about EA are unfounded. They are not a struggling company and don't need to change the playing field one bit. But the reason they are not struggling is that gamers have made them very wealthy. Couldn't they throw us a bone by including a decent manual with our games?
 |
| A Useless Article. |
This manual is absolutely generic. The only way in which it is at all unique to the game it came with is that it has the name on the cover, as shown here. I imagine most people reading this have encountered such booklets.
I know for sure that a similar manual comes with Tiger Woods PGA Tour 12 and with Sims 3 Pets for the PS3 and I assume there are others. I don't know if the XBOX 360 versions of these games are similarly afflicted but in the case of Sims 3 Pets I strongly suspect so (I have some new and sealed versions which I'm selling on ebay and they feel very lightweight).
It is worth noting that all the games named here are EA productions. Perhaps they have done the maths and decided to try to phase out boxed games by making them less desirable. Let's face it, they are not as profitable and EA cannot control pricing so rigidly when there is a physical product being sold by numerous retailers.
If there was just a game available for a set price from PSN or XBOX Live then EA could keep the price above £20 indefinitely and if we wanted to play we would cough-up. Let's face it, EA have the widest range of quality games and are in the best position to dictate like this.
But I like boxed games! It's not just that I try to make a living from selling them. They are desirable and collectible and I covet them but I've got to admit that I covet Alice: Madness Returns slightly less because of it's shoddy manual.
Let's be honest. My speculations about EA are unfounded. They are not a struggling company and don't need to change the playing field one bit. But the reason they are not struggling is that gamers have made them very wealthy. Couldn't they throw us a bone by including a decent manual with our games?
Monday, 12 March 2012
Am I Weird?
I'm scared of games.
Not new games that I've never played before; they are exciting.
I am scared of games which I have played part of the way through but not completed. I am afraid to pick them up again and carry on.
I am partly worried that I won't be able to remember how to play them. I think that this is partly because I remember their frustrations better than their joys.
I am suffering this phenomenon with Arkham Asylum and Mirror's Edge in particular, though there are others I could name. With Batman it's partly down to the fighting which I find tricky, but I think I was having some problems with getting through the story, too.
Mirror's Edge I find to be just a difficult game and the memory of it's white cityscapes and pleasing anime cut-scenes has not yet been enough to draw me back to face it's well armed police and repeated deaths from falling. That changes tonight!
To change the subject completely, I have bought Street Fighter IV second hand on ebay and should get it soon. I hardly ever play fighting games so I will report back on my disasters with this one once I've given it a good try.
Not new games that I've never played before; they are exciting.
I am scared of games which I have played part of the way through but not completed. I am afraid to pick them up again and carry on.
I am partly worried that I won't be able to remember how to play them. I think that this is partly because I remember their frustrations better than their joys.
I am suffering this phenomenon with Arkham Asylum and Mirror's Edge in particular, though there are others I could name. With Batman it's partly down to the fighting which I find tricky, but I think I was having some problems with getting through the story, too.
Mirror's Edge I find to be just a difficult game and the memory of it's white cityscapes and pleasing anime cut-scenes has not yet been enough to draw me back to face it's well armed police and repeated deaths from falling. That changes tonight!
To change the subject completely, I have bought Street Fighter IV second hand on ebay and should get it soon. I hardly ever play fighting games so I will report back on my disasters with this one once I've given it a good try.
Thursday, 8 March 2012
Answer the Call
I played Call of Duty 4 for the first time this Week!
Okay, I'm the last person in the world to play it, or at least the last gamer, but although it was a great game I don't think I've been missing out on the best thing ever.
Please don't misinterpret the emphasis of that last paragraph - the game was great and of the games I've played there have been more worse ones than better, I just don't know what about this game makes it thought of as so special.
One serious criticism I have as far as the singleplayer campaign is concerned is the speed with which it's over. I played with my usual level of incompetence and died many times but still imagined I was in the first half of the game when I realised that it was finishing!
Nevertheless, I found it totally playable and my inability to put it down might explain in part why I got to the end so fast. The mechanic whereby aiming down the sites lines up the gun on the enemy as long as you are nearly aiming at him was very useful.
At the start of the game I failed to get through the short assault cause within the allotted minute first time and was only fast enough to be considered a rookie second time, but I played at "regular" level anyway: how would I ever improve playing on the easiest difficulty?
Regular is the second easiest of 4 levels (for those who don't know). I cannot imagine what some parts of the game must be like on the highest level. The section where you have to storm a TV station was total chaos and I'm surprised such a hard section was so close to the start of the game. I died many times there, of course.
To summarise, it is excellent, don't miss it, but don't expect it to change your life either.
Now I'm going back to Racedriver: Grid.
Okay, I'm the last person in the world to play it, or at least the last gamer, but although it was a great game I don't think I've been missing out on the best thing ever.
Please don't misinterpret the emphasis of that last paragraph - the game was great and of the games I've played there have been more worse ones than better, I just don't know what about this game makes it thought of as so special.
One serious criticism I have as far as the singleplayer campaign is concerned is the speed with which it's over. I played with my usual level of incompetence and died many times but still imagined I was in the first half of the game when I realised that it was finishing!
Nevertheless, I found it totally playable and my inability to put it down might explain in part why I got to the end so fast. The mechanic whereby aiming down the sites lines up the gun on the enemy as long as you are nearly aiming at him was very useful.
At the start of the game I failed to get through the short assault cause within the allotted minute first time and was only fast enough to be considered a rookie second time, but I played at "regular" level anyway: how would I ever improve playing on the easiest difficulty?
Regular is the second easiest of 4 levels (for those who don't know). I cannot imagine what some parts of the game must be like on the highest level. The section where you have to storm a TV station was total chaos and I'm surprised such a hard section was so close to the start of the game. I died many times there, of course.
To summarise, it is excellent, don't miss it, but don't expect it to change your life either.
Now I'm going back to Racedriver: Grid.
Friday, 2 March 2012
Racedriver Grid
I have been sickened constantly by this game in the last week and I love it!
There is no more disgusting feeling than the soul crushing sensation I get when I crash into a barrier at 45 degrees and the screen turns red, telling me that I've smashed up my car and it's race over. When it happens my head goes slowly down and to the left (without fail) as I look away from the evidence of my own pathetic incompetence displayed on the screen. I hate myself!
But this is more that counteracted by the pleasure this game doles out. Sometimes just getting a corner right is enough. Driving nimbly round a pile up to go up four places in the running order is also great. Winning a race or event is indescribable - I know it was worth the pain.
The variety of events is one of this game's strengths. From demolition derbys to precision Touge battles almost all disciplines are well done. The possible exception is the drift events. In NFS Shift I complained that they were too hard but in this game, once you get the hang of it it's pretty easy to rack up the points and win.
My only other complaint is the shortness of seasons. I have never actually counted but it seems season is ending after ever 4 or 5 events. At the end of each season you're offered the chance to enter the le Mans 24 hour race. It's very long and you could spend a third of your driving time competing in it if you always excepted the challenge.
These negatives are trivial. This game is of similar quality to NFS Hot Pursuit and is definitely the best of pure racing simulators I have written about.
There is no more disgusting feeling than the soul crushing sensation I get when I crash into a barrier at 45 degrees and the screen turns red, telling me that I've smashed up my car and it's race over. When it happens my head goes slowly down and to the left (without fail) as I look away from the evidence of my own pathetic incompetence displayed on the screen. I hate myself!
But this is more that counteracted by the pleasure this game doles out. Sometimes just getting a corner right is enough. Driving nimbly round a pile up to go up four places in the running order is also great. Winning a race or event is indescribable - I know it was worth the pain.
The variety of events is one of this game's strengths. From demolition derbys to precision Touge battles almost all disciplines are well done. The possible exception is the drift events. In NFS Shift I complained that they were too hard but in this game, once you get the hang of it it's pretty easy to rack up the points and win.
My only other complaint is the shortness of seasons. I have never actually counted but it seems season is ending after ever 4 or 5 events. At the end of each season you're offered the chance to enter the le Mans 24 hour race. It's very long and you could spend a third of your driving time competing in it if you always excepted the challenge.
These negatives are trivial. This game is of similar quality to NFS Hot Pursuit and is definitely the best of pure racing simulators I have written about.
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