S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Clear Sky on PC and Saints Row The Third for PS3

I first played Shadow of Chernobyl ages ago and have more recently played quite a bit of Call of Pripyat but never previously got round to Clear Sky, which was a semi prequel to the first STALKER game.

Most of the action takes place on the map of the original game - though the graphics have been improved.  There is one additional area of swampland where the game starts and where it becomes clear that combat is going to be the focus.  Each area is fairly quickly worked through by taking down enemy groups such as renegades, bandits (these two are pretty similar) and the military.  There are also some fetch quests given out by stalkers you meet at camps.  The rewards for doing these have so far been pretty poor; generally you are told of the location of a stash which often has pretty mundane contents - perhaps just some ammo and bandages.

I'm only into the second area so far but I am yet to find a single artifact.  They are much harder to track down than in the first game and perhaps even harder than in Call of Pripyat; though I cannot say that for sure until I have played more.

I am looking forward to getting on with the game despite the one or two negatives mentioned here.

I recently dug out Saints Row The Third after a long time on the shelf.  I had remembered it as being a bit obvious but when I started playing I found it to be great fun.

After a couple of days back playing it I am at the stage of thinking it is obvious but fun.

Most of the challenging sections of play involve taking down large groups of rival gang members while more enemies pile in from all sides.  You can call homies (I hate that word but it is used in the game so I am using it here) to come and help you out.  They can be very helpful but if they get put down you have to revive them or you fail the task and you are vulnerable while helping them.

So far it seems that apart clearing out rival gang areas, as described above, and performing missions, which often involve fights like the one described above, what you mainly have to do is buy properties and businesses around the city.  There is no actual challenge to this, you just have to have enough money and you accumulate money more rapidly by owning more properties and businesses, as in Assassins Creed Brotherhood.

I was using both hands on the controller and taking this picture at the same time so I reckon it's not too bad.

Money is also used to buy upgrades for many things including health and weapons.

Despite all that, the city is full of things to do which you discover by driving around.  Some of those things are pretty insane and I can only approve of that.  They can also be quite challenging, as with a task set by Prof. Ghenki (is that how you spell it?) which I performed last night.  It took the form of a game show in which you had to kill or be killed.  The enemies were mascots and there were fire and electrical traps which you had to pass through but the timing had to be just right.  This was one area where health did not recharge, though there were a few targets which could be shot to improve it.  There were other targets to win more time or more cash and others called "Unethical" and I have no idea what they were for.

I usually failed this challenge by running out of time, though that might say more about my abilities and style as a player than about the game.  I got it after about six or seven attempts and felt that I richly deserved the financial reward I was given.

I think I would recommend this game but could not feel emotionally involved in it as I might with some games.

Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic - PC

I bought KOTOR on Steam recently (for less than £3 during the sale) and it did not appear in my library at first.

It turned out that I was in offline mode.  I don't really get this as the Store was appearing and I managed to go through the buying process.

When that was sorted out I downloaded the game but when I tried to play it only the initial LucasArts logo came up and then disappeared again.  I tried this several times with the same result then tried a generic fix suggested on the Steam help page with no joy.

I uninstalled AVG since it is one of the most emphasized programs on Steam's list of things that cause problems and tried again but still got no further.

When changing the compatibility mode a couple of times didn't work I messed around with the graphics options and at last I got a result.

This description makes it sound pretty simply but it took a while.

My character (Petracina) looking at a protocol droid.

Is it any wonder that I usually play on the PS3 these days.  This game is ten years old and my PC is easily powerful enough to run it but for some glitchy and annoying reason of its own it chose not too.

Still , first impressions suggest that it is an excellent game so I'm going to stop typing and go back to playing it...if it starts.

Dead Space - PS3

This is my first entry for about a million years and I am making no promises about writing more in the future but it entered my head to say a bit about boss fights.

What I have been attempting to get through in Dead Space recently is not a boss fight in the conventional sense.  I am not fighting a single huge monster.

However, it is a section of the game which takes place in a different type of environment to most of the gameplay and the technique required is different to most of the game and, most significantly, it is clearly designed to be harder than most of the rest of the game.  There is a save station just beside the point where is takes place.

I am now fed up with materialising next to that save station and getting into the seat of the gun from which I have to shoot down asteroids to prevent the USG Ishimura's hull integrity from falling bellow 0%, while my colleague issue's unrealistic radio update's about how long I've got to keep it up for and a female automated voice reminds me how slim my chance's are by commenting on the state of the hull.

It puzzles me why it should be necessary to make one section of the game so much more difficult than the rest.  I love Dead Space but Visceral would do well not to test my devotion by frustrating me in this way.  There are a lot of games out there.

Still, since most of those other games also have irritating boss fights I might as well stick it out and try to get through it.

It occurred to me last night that if there was a more skillful gamer in the room I could hand the controller over to them and let them play through it for me with a clear conscience as it is clearly a stupid, annoying and pointless part of the game (I wasn't getting frustrated), but I new as soon as I'd thought it that I would not do this.  If I did it would not be me who had played through the whole game.  I suspect that this is the mentality of a lot of gamers and so cannot help thinking that developers put boss fights in because they hate us and like to imagine our impotent little tantrums.

Or perhaps that's just me...