The big rumor circling around the internet is that Lucasarts (the software developer for Star Wars games) is going to announce a reboot of the X-wing/TIE Fighter space sim series. Anyone who has dabbled in the space sim genre knows that TIE Fighter is one of the best, if not THE best space sim ever made.
I was searching for some more info on the rumors this afternoon, when I found this fantastic op-ed piece. As the author notes, there is no shortage of cultural metaphors and analogies referring to the American Empire past and present. However, the similarities between the TIE Fighter world and the post-9/11 world are uncanny. Media, even emergent media like video games, has a stunning ability to alter perspectives in truly brutal fashion. Blasting the good guys in X-wings out of the sky feels like the right thing to do at every turn.
As a just a game, TIE Fighter is immensely fun. As a specimen of how media can drastically affect the way we think and act, it is a powerful, if not slightly disturbing, experience.
Showing posts with label Video games. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Video games. Show all posts
Saturday, August 15, 2009
Sunday, July 5, 2009
Things that Go "..." in the Night
This morning I was visiting the Dragon Age: Origins website for the first time in a few weeks to see if they updated any of their content. Naturally, they have a few new things, yet I find myself woefully unfulfilled. Whenever I visit websites dedicated to Starcraft 2 or Star Wars The Old Republic or even Star Trek Online, I leave the site more excited about the game than when I arrived. Dragon Age, of late, has had the direct opposite effect.
The website itself is downright garish in appearance. I wish the internet archive website had some records of the site from earlier this year, because it wasn't always this way. It used to have a black background and was a more traditional RPG website. Visiting the website 6 months ago, it was unmistakeably a classic RPG game. Today, I would be interested to see a poll of people visiting the website for the first time with no knowledge of the game asking what genre Dragon Age: Origins belongs to. When I look at the site, I see a game pandering to the great unwashed masses that hold up Halo, Gears of War, Killzone and Mortal Kombat as the great masterpieces of gaming*. It's bloody, violent, and features a loading bar consisting of an orc head slowly sliding down the sword upon which it is impaled. Classy.
Even the trailers and teaser videos that have been released lately are of dubious quality. From the beginning of the development, Bioware has said that they are purposefully aiming for a mature-themed game and would not hold back on the blood, sex, and language. Of course, I have no problem with this as long as the game delivers on its other promise: a spiritual successor to Baldur's Gate. Prior to the recent batch of content, all the trailers focused on the qualities I would look for in an RPG. Then, around the time of E3, the new wave of Dragon Age marketing began. Blood and sex were the featured attractions and cool things like believable/lovable/hateable characters, intriguing stories and epic setting turned into a bloody action slasher (a "blasher", if you will). Furthermore, the appropriate and exciting fantasy RPG soundtrack has been replaced with heavy metal rock music.
I realize that I can't put the game devs and game marketers into the same mental equation, but it's hard not to. When I'm excited about an RPG game and the studio releases new information, I want relevant RPG material that will get me excited (supposedly, that's what a marketing team should want too). Instead, I get "blasher" promos serenaded by Marilyn Manson. It feels like a betrayal of the community that will ultimately support and play the game for the months and years after the release date (while the ham-headed marketing target audience throws the game out because they don't know what an ability or dialogue tree is).
In reality, all this garbage marketing will do little to effect my purchasing decision. Several months ago, Bioware released a number of impressive developer walkthrough videos that demoed the gameplay and game editor. I was sold.
At the end of the day, Electronic Arts is to blame for the atrocious change in Bioware's game advertising. When EA bought Bioware over a year ago, I expected that something like this would happen. I continue to fear that development decisions will also be affected. The recent change in the Dragon Age marketing direction stinks of EA's baleful influence. Fortunately, Star Wars The Old Republic has the protection of the Star Wars franchise to block the EA marketing monster. Therefore, the SWTOR website and marketing is excellent.
On a Star Wars sidenote: Lucasarts will be announcing a "new, old game" on Monday. Granted, it won't necessarily be a Star Wars game, but I can hope for a new X-wing/TIE Fighter game.
My final hope is that the guys who design the box art work a long way from the guys who design the website and trailers. I really don't want to get a stark white box with a blood splatter dragon adorning the cover. I want a subdued and attractive box like the Neverwinter Nights 2 or Witcher Enhanced Edition (in my opinion, the best looking game box on store shelves) boxes.
*I can't deny that I enjoy games like Halo, Gears of War and Killzone. They are the summer movies of the video game industry. They are fun and occasionally thoughtful, but they cannot hold a candle to games like Half-Life, Starcraft, or Knights of the Old Republic.
UPDATE:
Well, looks like all hope is lost...
By the way, the file name for this image is "BloodDragonBox.jpg"...
The website itself is downright garish in appearance. I wish the internet archive website had some records of the site from earlier this year, because it wasn't always this way. It used to have a black background and was a more traditional RPG website. Visiting the website 6 months ago, it was unmistakeably a classic RPG game. Today, I would be interested to see a poll of people visiting the website for the first time with no knowledge of the game asking what genre Dragon Age: Origins belongs to. When I look at the site, I see a game pandering to the great unwashed masses that hold up Halo, Gears of War, Killzone and Mortal Kombat as the great masterpieces of gaming*. It's bloody, violent, and features a loading bar consisting of an orc head slowly sliding down the sword upon which it is impaled. Classy.
Even the trailers and teaser videos that have been released lately are of dubious quality. From the beginning of the development, Bioware has said that they are purposefully aiming for a mature-themed game and would not hold back on the blood, sex, and language. Of course, I have no problem with this as long as the game delivers on its other promise: a spiritual successor to Baldur's Gate. Prior to the recent batch of content, all the trailers focused on the qualities I would look for in an RPG. Then, around the time of E3, the new wave of Dragon Age marketing began. Blood and sex were the featured attractions and cool things like believable/lovable/hateable characters, intriguing stories and epic setting turned into a bloody action slasher (a "blasher", if you will). Furthermore, the appropriate and exciting fantasy RPG soundtrack has been replaced with heavy metal rock music.
I realize that I can't put the game devs and game marketers into the same mental equation, but it's hard not to. When I'm excited about an RPG game and the studio releases new information, I want relevant RPG material that will get me excited (supposedly, that's what a marketing team should want too). Instead, I get "blasher" promos serenaded by Marilyn Manson. It feels like a betrayal of the community that will ultimately support and play the game for the months and years after the release date (while the ham-headed marketing target audience throws the game out because they don't know what an ability or dialogue tree is).
In reality, all this garbage marketing will do little to effect my purchasing decision. Several months ago, Bioware released a number of impressive developer walkthrough videos that demoed the gameplay and game editor. I was sold.
At the end of the day, Electronic Arts is to blame for the atrocious change in Bioware's game advertising. When EA bought Bioware over a year ago, I expected that something like this would happen. I continue to fear that development decisions will also be affected. The recent change in the Dragon Age marketing direction stinks of EA's baleful influence. Fortunately, Star Wars The Old Republic has the protection of the Star Wars franchise to block the EA marketing monster. Therefore, the SWTOR website and marketing is excellent.
On a Star Wars sidenote: Lucasarts will be announcing a "new, old game" on Monday. Granted, it won't necessarily be a Star Wars game, but I can hope for a new X-wing/TIE Fighter game.
My final hope is that the guys who design the box art work a long way from the guys who design the website and trailers. I really don't want to get a stark white box with a blood splatter dragon adorning the cover. I want a subdued and attractive box like the Neverwinter Nights 2 or Witcher Enhanced Edition (in my opinion, the best looking game box on store shelves) boxes.
*I can't deny that I enjoy games like Halo, Gears of War and Killzone. They are the summer movies of the video game industry. They are fun and occasionally thoughtful, but they cannot hold a candle to games like Half-Life, Starcraft, or Knights of the Old Republic.
UPDATE:
Well, looks like all hope is lost...
By the way, the file name for this image is "BloodDragonBox.jpg"...
Monday, January 5, 2009
Lists
I'm not one of those people who likes to concern himself with making, keeping, or peddling lists. However, I can't come up with a good idea for a blog post and it has been a while since I made a post. During the many hours that I spent perusing the internet over the holidays, I came across The Nielsen Company's top 10 lists for the U.S. Needless to say, I had some thoughts...
Trivia: The actor who plays "Terrible" Terry Tate, Lester Speight, also provides the voice for Augustus "Cole Train" Cole in the Gears of War video games. Clearly not much diversity in his roles, but he definitely does good work in his niche.
The video games section contains lots of juicy stuff, too:
- Americans, like Romans, are sustained, uplifted and defined by their bread and games (circuses for you historical purists).
- I had not previously realized the degree of box office dominance delivered by The Dark Knight. It's like watching the last three Rose Bowls...
- I'm going to avoid commenting on the music categories so I don't end up insulting someone. Honestly, if the Starcraft Terran theme can't crack the top 10 music ringtones, why even bother.
- Barack Obama's Audacity of Hope ranked higher in audio format than book format. I'm not sure what to make of that.
- Best-liked TV commercials is a great category, kudos to the Nielsen Company. The Bridgestone one is my favorite on the list, but it can't hope to surpass Terry Tate: Office Linebacker.
Trivia: The actor who plays "Terrible" Terry Tate, Lester Speight, also provides the voice for Augustus "Cole Train" Cole in the Gears of War video games. Clearly not much diversity in his roles, but he definitely does good work in his niche.
The video games section contains lots of juicy stuff, too:
- World of Warcraft dominates the PC game market, which should not come as a surprise to anyone with even a passing knowledge of PC gaming. What is surprising is the popularity of the first Halo game. I spent countless hours playing the original Halo in high school and I've been consistently tempted by the bargain bin PC version with free online matchmaking (unfortunately, this kind of matchmaking does not get me a hot date).
- Finally, Sony cannot be pleased with the console usage stats. They are in bad shape if the original Xbox gets more play time than their vaunted Playstation 3. Fanboys (a.k.a. fanbois) will contest the reliability of these numbers, but I don't have any reason to believe that the results are inaccurate short of gross incompetence or vast conspiracy. The other lists seem fairly reasonable and I have no legitimate reason to doubt those results (the contact numbers listed on the final page would be the place to go if I did).
Friday, December 19, 2008
Twice in one week?!
That's what she said...
Anyway, of late I have rarely taken the time to post on my blog twice in one week, but I came across something on the interwebs that I had to mention.
For about six months now I have been visiting Tom's Games, the gaming and movie portion of the Tom's Hardware site. On Wednesday, they announced that they will stop doing video game and movie commentary. In its place, they will have a "cutting edge site designed to deliver the latest in online games." What a shame.
Now, I occasionally play online flash games like almost everyone, but this is a shameful step. Tom's Games offered interesting and insightful commentary, opinions and reviews. However, their greatest asset was the distinct lack of fanboy-ism that permeates that particular sector of the internet. They had an deep appreciation for the PC game platform, but did not let that cloud their judgement of console games. Lastly, the discussion forums are usually civil, another rare thing for this neighborhood of the internet.
Now Tom's Games is going concern itself with the lowest common denominator of the gaming world. These are cheap, simple, mindless games that are trumped by only the great World of Warcraft in amount of lost productivity.
The two editors-in-chief of Tom's Games, Rob Wright and Travis Meacham, wrote a letter to their readers which can be read here. If you are so inclined, take a look at their weekly video series, Second Take; it was one of my favorite internet video series.
A dark day for quality gaming journalism, indeed.
On a brighter note, the Red Wings completely annihilated the San Jose Sharks tonight! For those that haven't been following hockey as closely as I, San Jose has a very good team this year. A little over 30 games into the season, San Jose had lost only 3 games in regulation and were among the top 10 teams in nearly all the major statistical categories. They are on pace to break league records for number of wins and points in a single season. The Wings are hardly having a bad season, but the sheer brilliance of the San Jose squad makes the great Wings team look a bit tarnished. This was definitely a big statement game for the Wings.
Anyway, of late I have rarely taken the time to post on my blog twice in one week, but I came across something on the interwebs that I had to mention.
For about six months now I have been visiting Tom's Games, the gaming and movie portion of the Tom's Hardware site. On Wednesday, they announced that they will stop doing video game and movie commentary. In its place, they will have a "cutting edge site designed to deliver the latest in online games." What a shame.
Now, I occasionally play online flash games like almost everyone, but this is a shameful step. Tom's Games offered interesting and insightful commentary, opinions and reviews. However, their greatest asset was the distinct lack of fanboy-ism that permeates that particular sector of the internet. They had an deep appreciation for the PC game platform, but did not let that cloud their judgement of console games. Lastly, the discussion forums are usually civil, another rare thing for this neighborhood of the internet.
Now Tom's Games is going concern itself with the lowest common denominator of the gaming world. These are cheap, simple, mindless games that are trumped by only the great World of Warcraft in amount of lost productivity.
The two editors-in-chief of Tom's Games, Rob Wright and Travis Meacham, wrote a letter to their readers which can be read here. If you are so inclined, take a look at their weekly video series, Second Take; it was one of my favorite internet video series.
A dark day for quality gaming journalism, indeed.
On a brighter note, the Red Wings completely annihilated the San Jose Sharks tonight! For those that haven't been following hockey as closely as I, San Jose has a very good team this year. A little over 30 games into the season, San Jose had lost only 3 games in regulation and were among the top 10 teams in nearly all the major statistical categories. They are on pace to break league records for number of wins and points in a single season. The Wings are hardly having a bad season, but the sheer brilliance of the San Jose squad makes the great Wings team look a bit tarnished. This was definitely a big statement game for the Wings.
Monday, December 1, 2008
Still Alive
As the title of this post would have you believe, I am still alive. I had a bunch of family over for the holiday weekend and between the food and Rock Band (one of my guitars partially broke) I had little time to blog. For those who are concerned, I think one of my brothers-in-law was a bit over-zealous with his strumming and the down-strum detector died. However, this brought upon a fascinating new discovery! I was playing the bass part of a song with up-strumming only on Hard (yeah, I am a badass) and when the song was over, I received the "Authentic Strummer" tag under my completion percentage. One of my brothers-in-law, who is actually a guitarist in a band, informed me that the game wasn't lying, then I recalled watching jazz bassists and rock bass players plucking the strings when they played. Rock Band: Fun and Educational as long as you don't play alone or "sing" a Beastie Boys song.
I don't have anything in particular to talk about, so I'll just point out some great stuff on the internet that everyone should look at this week.
The first is for fans of Valve's Half-life games. The official trailer for Black Mesa was released over the weekend! Black Mesa is a top-to-bottom remake of the first Half-life game using the Source engine that powered Half-life 2, Portal and Left 4 Dead. What makes this all the more interesting is that Valve has nothing to do with this game (except for the inspiration and developer tools). You can visit the developers here and view the trailer below!
Once again, the BCS is at the center of a season tainting controversy. Oddly enough, I can't actually blame the BCS for the mess, but the mess definitely exposes the weaknesses of the BCS system. Anyone who follows college football on the internet (save Okla-homers, haha) has undoubtedly read a number of articles condemning the Big 12 tiebreaker methodology. Long story short, Texas, Oklahoma and Texas Tech were tied for first place in the Big 12 South with a spot in the Big 12 Championship game on the line. The Big 12 rulebook dictates that BCS ranking breaks the tie in the current circumstances. Going into Thursday, Texas was #2 and Oklahoma was #3. On Monday, Oklahoma was #2 and Texas was #3 with both teams winning big. This is where things get bad. Earlier this season, Texas beat Oklahoma, on a neutral site, 45-35.
The claim made by BCS defenders that the regular season serves as a playoff is truly foolish now. The winner of the Big 12 South is a virtual shoe-in for the BCS Championship game. Missouri, the Big 12 North champ, is a mediocre team with little chance of success against Texas, Oklahoma or Texas Tech. Texas beat Oklahoma head-to-head at a neutral site, end of story. If there is any justice in college football, then the regular season playoff victory of Texas over Oklahoma is all that should matter here. However the current state of college football is a greed-driven, farcical fraud perpetrated by the BCS and its delusional advocates in collusion with ruling bodies of the Big 12 and other BCS conferences. If you want to read more, I suggest checking this and this out.
Only one thing will make this more amusing, a Missouri victory on Saturday. Here's a list of potential opponents for the Alabama-Florida victor should this happen:
Dear Santa,
I will sacrifice all of my Christmas gifts for the next five years if you will get FBS college football a playoff system this year. I really want an epic 16-team tournament, but I will settle for an 8-team playoff. If you give FBS college football a "plus one" system, a.k.a. bandaid over the chainsaw laceration, then you only get one year of sacrifice.
However, I know that bargaining with you is like bargaining with God, it doesn't work like it does in the movies. I expect to see Prince of Persia for my Xbox under the tree this year. Failure to comply will result in more meaningless letters in the future.
Yours truly,
Dan
I don't have anything in particular to talk about, so I'll just point out some great stuff on the internet that everyone should look at this week.
The first is for fans of Valve's Half-life games. The official trailer for Black Mesa was released over the weekend! Black Mesa is a top-to-bottom remake of the first Half-life game using the Source engine that powered Half-life 2, Portal and Left 4 Dead. What makes this all the more interesting is that Valve has nothing to do with this game (except for the inspiration and developer tools). You can visit the developers here and view the trailer below!
Once again, the BCS is at the center of a season tainting controversy. Oddly enough, I can't actually blame the BCS for the mess, but the mess definitely exposes the weaknesses of the BCS system. Anyone who follows college football on the internet (save Okla-homers, haha) has undoubtedly read a number of articles condemning the Big 12 tiebreaker methodology. Long story short, Texas, Oklahoma and Texas Tech were tied for first place in the Big 12 South with a spot in the Big 12 Championship game on the line. The Big 12 rulebook dictates that BCS ranking breaks the tie in the current circumstances. Going into Thursday, Texas was #2 and Oklahoma was #3. On Monday, Oklahoma was #2 and Texas was #3 with both teams winning big. This is where things get bad. Earlier this season, Texas beat Oklahoma, on a neutral site, 45-35.
The claim made by BCS defenders that the regular season serves as a playoff is truly foolish now. The winner of the Big 12 South is a virtual shoe-in for the BCS Championship game. Missouri, the Big 12 North champ, is a mediocre team with little chance of success against Texas, Oklahoma or Texas Tech. Texas beat Oklahoma head-to-head at a neutral site, end of story. If there is any justice in college football, then the regular season playoff victory of Texas over Oklahoma is all that should matter here. However the current state of college football is a greed-driven, farcical fraud perpetrated by the BCS and its delusional advocates in collusion with ruling bodies of the Big 12 and other BCS conferences. If you want to read more, I suggest checking this and this out.
Only one thing will make this more amusing, a Missouri victory on Saturday. Here's a list of potential opponents for the Alabama-Florida victor should this happen:
- Texas: failed to win it conference or division, but the most deserving*
- USC: lost to Oregon State and plays in the relatively weak Pac 10
- Utah: highly questionable strength of schedule
- Texas Tech: see Texas, maybe more deserving* than everyone except Oklahoma
- Penn State: lost to Iowa and plays in the relatively weak Big 10
- Boise State: see Utah
- Teams ranked 10-119: unprecedented, dream on
Dear Santa,
I will sacrifice all of my Christmas gifts for the next five years if you will get FBS college football a playoff system this year. I really want an epic 16-team tournament, but I will settle for an 8-team playoff. If you give FBS college football a "plus one" system, a.k.a. bandaid over the chainsaw laceration, then you only get one year of sacrifice.
However, I know that bargaining with you is like bargaining with God, it doesn't work like it does in the movies. I expect to see Prince of Persia for my Xbox under the tree this year. Failure to comply will result in more meaningless letters in the future.
Yours truly,
Dan
Sunday, November 2, 2008
A Confession
I bought Fallout 3 on launch day. You may ask, "Big deal..." Here’s why…
First of all, I absolutely hated Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion. I played its predecessor, Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind, to death. Morrowind was a wonderful open-world, fantasy RPG from Bethesda Softworks. The story was engaging and epic, and the world was brilliantly crafted with unique regions that had distinctive plant, animal and humanoid life (along with different styles of architecture). I will admit that the visuals have not aged well (plus the game was poorly optimized at launch) and the combat system was a bit wonky.
In the lead-up to Oblivion, I was really excited. I even pre-ordered the collector’s edition for PC and bought a DVD drive for my computer (undoubtedly the best thing to come out of that debacle). Then, I played it. It was terrible. Everything that I loved in Morrowind was not present in Oblivion; furthermore, Bethesda managed to carpet bomb this game so bad that collateral damage was inflicted across the game. The world was expansive, but bland. Every area was essentially the same view with the same creatures. Even though the world was big, Morrowind felt bigger (the benefits of reduced render distance, no mounts and no fast travel). The graphics were pretty (save character models, especially the faces), but it was a system hog. The combat and magic system was improved, but the scope was reduced. The most damning indictment of Oblivion was a gross “dumbing down” of the RPG elements. NPCs were lifeless, dialogue trees were sparse, and every enemy in the game leveled with you. This produced the ridiculous phenomenon of bandits and highwaymen clad in ebony armor and brandishing glass weaponry. I’m sorry, but why do they need to prey on travelers when they can afford to acquire and maintain some of the most expensive equipment in the world?
Guess which map comes with the quality game...
In defense of Oblivion, the complaints raised against it are similar to the ones raised against Morrowind by devotees of its predecessor, Daggerfall. I never played Daggerfall, so I clearly lack some perspective. However, if Daggerfall fans disliked Morrowind, then they probably felt the same about Oblivion.
So now Bethesda has got its greedy little fingers on the Fallout franchise. Needless to say, I have been a bit worried. Fallout 1 & 2 were deep, post-apocalyptic, isometric-view, turn-based RPGs. Fallout 3 is a first/third-person shooter with RPG elements (“Oblivion with guns” is the flame-bait). This worry was exacerbated by the last two years when I lived with a roommate who vehemently criticized Fallout 3 (if you are reading this, Hi Jackson). I sympathized with his views entirely, and, after the Oblivion disaster, my reservations were inflamed into true concerns. Yeah, it looked damned cool, but it clearly isn’t even close to the Fallout RPG standard.
A few weeks ago, I decided to take matters into my own hands. I bought a copy of Fallout 2 so I could decide for myself if Fallout 3 was truly an Oblivion treatment for the Fallout franchise. Unfortunately, Fallout 2 came up short of my high expectations. Fallout 2 did have some impressive open-world RPG elements and the dated graphics weren’t terrible. However, Fallout 2’s game design has aged terribly and I do not doubt that if Fallout 2 were released today, ignoring the visuals, it would probably not be reviewed very well. This game is hard as hell. I frequently died in the early areas and the combat system seemed cumbersome and unreasonable. The game manual suggests to save often (after and before battles) and in as many save slots as possible. Not only is this immensely frustrating, but it is bad game design. In an RPG, I want to focus on managing my character and immersing myself in the game world. Having to save every few minutes prohibits the suspension of disbelief and indicates that the combat system has not been properly balanced. Fighting a level 1 ant should not be a battle of attrition that, 50% of the time, leaves me unable to kill a second one without using a very finite supply of healing abilities. Adding auto-save functionality would not fix this game, but it would solve some of the tedium of saving.
Ok, so I didn’t enjoy the five hours I spent in Fallout 2. This assuaged many of my doubts about Fallout 3. The arguments of the Fallout purists began to convince me less. I think that Bethesda’s re-imagining of the Fallout world is a welcome one, but they should strike the “3” from the title because I don’t think that it is a true sequel. I would suggest: Fallout: Road to the White House, Fallout: Washington, etc.
Sweet, sweet irradiated brains.
Delay induced update: Fallout 3 is great. I'm only a few hours in since I have to split time with Fable 2 and taking care of dogs (*sigh*). So far, I am impressed. Running and gunning, like in a shooter, is a surefire way to get killed. Using the RPG-esque V.A.T.S. system is the way to go and the slo-mo kills are cool. The most impressive feature so far: beard selection for male character. The number of facial hair styles available is mind-boggling and truly unprecedented (no "five-o'clock shadow" option, but the "Honest Abe" makes up for it). Unfortunately, you can definitely tell that Fallout 3 runs on a modified Oblivion engine. The animations are, at times, very poor, especially if you play from the third-person perspective.
In other news…
Fable 2 is also awesome. I have been slashing, sniping, blasting, price controlling and farting my way into the hearts and minds of the people of Albion. I am on an open-world game overload with GTA IV and Fable 2. Fallout 3 is really piling on the gaming hours (plus Gears of War 2 coming next week). Once again, this is the most wonderful time of the year for lovers of the video game.
Bioware and Lucasarts made the rumors official and announced the continuation of the Knights of the Old Republic series with Star Wars: The Old Republic. They are hoping to craft a truly story-driven MMORPG. The interviews that have been given so far have gotten me excited, but I still have reservations. First and foremost, I really wanted KotOR III and not an MMO sell-out game. It’s no use getting all worked up now though. “SWTOR” is 2-4 years from release and probably closer to 4.
First of all, I absolutely hated Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion. I played its predecessor, Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind, to death. Morrowind was a wonderful open-world, fantasy RPG from Bethesda Softworks. The story was engaging and epic, and the world was brilliantly crafted with unique regions that had distinctive plant, animal and humanoid life (along with different styles of architecture). I will admit that the visuals have not aged well (plus the game was poorly optimized at launch) and the combat system was a bit wonky.
In the lead-up to Oblivion, I was really excited. I even pre-ordered the collector’s edition for PC and bought a DVD drive for my computer (undoubtedly the best thing to come out of that debacle). Then, I played it. It was terrible. Everything that I loved in Morrowind was not present in Oblivion; furthermore, Bethesda managed to carpet bomb this game so bad that collateral damage was inflicted across the game. The world was expansive, but bland. Every area was essentially the same view with the same creatures. Even though the world was big, Morrowind felt bigger (the benefits of reduced render distance, no mounts and no fast travel). The graphics were pretty (save character models, especially the faces), but it was a system hog. The combat and magic system was improved, but the scope was reduced. The most damning indictment of Oblivion was a gross “dumbing down” of the RPG elements. NPCs were lifeless, dialogue trees were sparse, and every enemy in the game leveled with you. This produced the ridiculous phenomenon of bandits and highwaymen clad in ebony armor and brandishing glass weaponry. I’m sorry, but why do they need to prey on travelers when they can afford to acquire and maintain some of the most expensive equipment in the world?
Guess which map comes with the quality game...
In defense of Oblivion, the complaints raised against it are similar to the ones raised against Morrowind by devotees of its predecessor, Daggerfall. I never played Daggerfall, so I clearly lack some perspective. However, if Daggerfall fans disliked Morrowind, then they probably felt the same about Oblivion.
So now Bethesda has got its greedy little fingers on the Fallout franchise. Needless to say, I have been a bit worried. Fallout 1 & 2 were deep, post-apocalyptic, isometric-view, turn-based RPGs. Fallout 3 is a first/third-person shooter with RPG elements (“Oblivion with guns” is the flame-bait). This worry was exacerbated by the last two years when I lived with a roommate who vehemently criticized Fallout 3 (if you are reading this, Hi Jackson). I sympathized with his views entirely, and, after the Oblivion disaster, my reservations were inflamed into true concerns. Yeah, it looked damned cool, but it clearly isn’t even close to the Fallout RPG standard.
A few weeks ago, I decided to take matters into my own hands. I bought a copy of Fallout 2 so I could decide for myself if Fallout 3 was truly an Oblivion treatment for the Fallout franchise. Unfortunately, Fallout 2 came up short of my high expectations. Fallout 2 did have some impressive open-world RPG elements and the dated graphics weren’t terrible. However, Fallout 2’s game design has aged terribly and I do not doubt that if Fallout 2 were released today, ignoring the visuals, it would probably not be reviewed very well. This game is hard as hell. I frequently died in the early areas and the combat system seemed cumbersome and unreasonable. The game manual suggests to save often (after and before battles) and in as many save slots as possible. Not only is this immensely frustrating, but it is bad game design. In an RPG, I want to focus on managing my character and immersing myself in the game world. Having to save every few minutes prohibits the suspension of disbelief and indicates that the combat system has not been properly balanced. Fighting a level 1 ant should not be a battle of attrition that, 50% of the time, leaves me unable to kill a second one without using a very finite supply of healing abilities. Adding auto-save functionality would not fix this game, but it would solve some of the tedium of saving.
Ok, so I didn’t enjoy the five hours I spent in Fallout 2. This assuaged many of my doubts about Fallout 3. The arguments of the Fallout purists began to convince me less. I think that Bethesda’s re-imagining of the Fallout world is a welcome one, but they should strike the “3” from the title because I don’t think that it is a true sequel. I would suggest: Fallout: Road to the White House, Fallout: Washington, etc.
Sweet, sweet irradiated brains.
Delay induced update: Fallout 3 is great. I'm only a few hours in since I have to split time with Fable 2 and taking care of dogs (*sigh*). So far, I am impressed. Running and gunning, like in a shooter, is a surefire way to get killed. Using the RPG-esque V.A.T.S. system is the way to go and the slo-mo kills are cool. The most impressive feature so far: beard selection for male character. The number of facial hair styles available is mind-boggling and truly unprecedented (no "five-o'clock shadow" option, but the "Honest Abe" makes up for it). Unfortunately, you can definitely tell that Fallout 3 runs on a modified Oblivion engine. The animations are, at times, very poor, especially if you play from the third-person perspective.
In other news…
Fable 2 is also awesome. I have been slashing, sniping, blasting, price controlling and farting my way into the hearts and minds of the people of Albion. I am on an open-world game overload with GTA IV and Fable 2. Fallout 3 is really piling on the gaming hours (plus Gears of War 2 coming next week). Once again, this is the most wonderful time of the year for lovers of the video game.
Bioware and Lucasarts made the rumors official and announced the continuation of the Knights of the Old Republic series with Star Wars: The Old Republic. They are hoping to craft a truly story-driven MMORPG. The interviews that have been given so far have gotten me excited, but I still have reservations. First and foremost, I really wanted KotOR III and not an MMO sell-out game. It’s no use getting all worked up now though. “SWTOR” is 2-4 years from release and probably closer to 4.
Sunday, September 21, 2008
The Force Unhinged
The Force Unleashed is the latest Star Wars video game released by Lucasarts. The intention of the developers was to create a Star Wars action game which revolved around the concept of "kicking ass with the Force." Without a doubt, the game delivers on this promise, and more. However, this game suffers from a number of shortcomings that prevent it from being the next Knights of the Old Republic, Dark Forces: Jedi Knight, or TIE Fighter. I played the Xbox 360 version on the intermediate "Sith Warrior" difficulty level.
This friendly-looking fellow is the protagonist of the game. The only name provided for him is "Starkiller." Joining Starkiller is a cast of interesting characters from the movies and some new ones. Starkiller's droid partner PROXY, pilot Juno Eclipse, and evil master Darth Vader are the major characters. All the characters are strong, and, most importantly, compelling. Sadly, the characters lack some development and I got the feeling that a lot of interaction between the characters was left unexplored. Perhaps this is a reaction to the infamous half-hour cinematics of the Metal Gear Solid series. If so, then the cinematics of The Force Unleashed are a woeful over-reaction. These minor shortcomings aside, the story of the game is its strongest asset. Those familiar with the story of Star Wars can easily predict the ending for the game, but that doesn't make the experience any less enjoyable. Perhaps the greatest praise I could give this game is that it reminded me of the original trilogy, not the prequel trilogy.
Action games live and die with gameplay. Unfortunately, the gameplay in this title could be equated to the Ottoman Empire in the early 20th century.
As I said before, the game does deliver on the promise of "kicking ass with the Force." The Force powers are indeed over-the-top and made me feel like a genuine bad-ass. The leveling system is unremarkable. A similar system was used for Dark Forces: Jedi Knight II and that worked well enough. There are a number of unlockable items that encourage exploration and experimentation (costumes, lightsaber crystals and accomplishments). The combo system is surprisingly deep and lacks a steep learning curve (note: the aerial combos are awesome).
This is where the 20th century Ottoman Empire reference comes in. From what I wrote just now, you would think that this game is the great, but this game is the sick man of Star Wars games. The targeting system in this game is maddening. One can never be sure who or what they are targeting without stopping and delicately rotating Starkiller into position. This is anathema to action games. Aside from the targeting system, the toughest bosses and enemy encounter feel like they are tough because they are cheap. More than once, I found myself skulking like a thief behind barriers, popping out occasionally to attack before retreating once more. Many reviews of this game revile the inclusion of Quick-time Events (timed pressing of buttons as instructed on the screen), but I have no problem with them whatsoever (label me as "out of touch" or "old-fashioned" if you want). However, one encounter involving a Quick-time Event was egregiously bad. I don't want to spoil too much, but this should have been one of the most awesome parts of the game. Instead, this encounter qualifies as one of the most frustrating gaming moments of my life; which is saying a lot, I played (and raided) World of Warcraft.
The presentation of this game is, mercifully, a strong point. The art is stunningly beautiful, haunting, gritty, etc. The graphics are also very nice with some minor framerate slowdowns. I did encounter a few bugs where I got stuck in some terrain, but I was lucky enough to avoid some of the more serious bugs reported by others. The sound and music are top-notch as with nearly every Star Wars game, good or bad. Some of the voices are poorly casted (Darth Vader and Palpatine), but there are no weak performances. The voice acting of Starkiller and Juno Eclipse is particularly strong.
Overall, this game doesn't deserve some of the dismal reviews it has received. On the other hand, this game was heavily hyped and failed to live up to expectations. I had a lot of fun playing The Force Unleashed, but I would not recommend purchasing it right now unless you really liked the demo and you are a Star Wars fan. Wait for a price cut, borrow it from a friend or rent it.
Shameless plug: If you want to experience the story, but don't want to buy/rent the game, I would recommend going to your local purveyor of books and purchasing the graphic novel. The illustrations are fantastic and you'll pay less than half of what you would for the game.
Image sources:
http://s3.gadgetreview.com.s3.amazonaws.com/Stars_Wars_Force_Unleashed_3.jpg
http://www.xboxfocus.com/uploads/image/Crash_ForceUnleashed.jpg
Video source:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7YpuIsSdcFs
This friendly-looking fellow is the protagonist of the game. The only name provided for him is "Starkiller." Joining Starkiller is a cast of interesting characters from the movies and some new ones. Starkiller's droid partner PROXY, pilot Juno Eclipse, and evil master Darth Vader are the major characters. All the characters are strong, and, most importantly, compelling. Sadly, the characters lack some development and I got the feeling that a lot of interaction between the characters was left unexplored. Perhaps this is a reaction to the infamous half-hour cinematics of the Metal Gear Solid series. If so, then the cinematics of The Force Unleashed are a woeful over-reaction. These minor shortcomings aside, the story of the game is its strongest asset. Those familiar with the story of Star Wars can easily predict the ending for the game, but that doesn't make the experience any less enjoyable. Perhaps the greatest praise I could give this game is that it reminded me of the original trilogy, not the prequel trilogy.
Action games live and die with gameplay. Unfortunately, the gameplay in this title could be equated to the Ottoman Empire in the early 20th century.
As I said before, the game does deliver on the promise of "kicking ass with the Force." The Force powers are indeed over-the-top and made me feel like a genuine bad-ass. The leveling system is unremarkable. A similar system was used for Dark Forces: Jedi Knight II and that worked well enough. There are a number of unlockable items that encourage exploration and experimentation (costumes, lightsaber crystals and accomplishments). The combo system is surprisingly deep and lacks a steep learning curve (note: the aerial combos are awesome).
This is where the 20th century Ottoman Empire reference comes in. From what I wrote just now, you would think that this game is the great, but this game is the sick man of Star Wars games. The targeting system in this game is maddening. One can never be sure who or what they are targeting without stopping and delicately rotating Starkiller into position. This is anathema to action games. Aside from the targeting system, the toughest bosses and enemy encounter feel like they are tough because they are cheap. More than once, I found myself skulking like a thief behind barriers, popping out occasionally to attack before retreating once more. Many reviews of this game revile the inclusion of Quick-time Events (timed pressing of buttons as instructed on the screen), but I have no problem with them whatsoever (label me as "out of touch" or "old-fashioned" if you want). However, one encounter involving a Quick-time Event was egregiously bad. I don't want to spoil too much, but this should have been one of the most awesome parts of the game. Instead, this encounter qualifies as one of the most frustrating gaming moments of my life; which is saying a lot, I played (and raided) World of Warcraft.
The presentation of this game is, mercifully, a strong point. The art is stunningly beautiful, haunting, gritty, etc. The graphics are also very nice with some minor framerate slowdowns. I did encounter a few bugs where I got stuck in some terrain, but I was lucky enough to avoid some of the more serious bugs reported by others. The sound and music are top-notch as with nearly every Star Wars game, good or bad. Some of the voices are poorly casted (Darth Vader and Palpatine), but there are no weak performances. The voice acting of Starkiller and Juno Eclipse is particularly strong.
Overall, this game doesn't deserve some of the dismal reviews it has received. On the other hand, this game was heavily hyped and failed to live up to expectations. I had a lot of fun playing The Force Unleashed, but I would not recommend purchasing it right now unless you really liked the demo and you are a Star Wars fan. Wait for a price cut, borrow it from a friend or rent it.
Shameless plug: If you want to experience the story, but don't want to buy/rent the game, I would recommend going to your local purveyor of books and purchasing the graphic novel. The illustrations are fantastic and you'll pay less than half of what you would for the game.
Image sources:
http://s3.gadgetreview.com.s3.amazonaws.com/Stars_Wars_Force_Unleashed_3.jpg
http://www.xboxfocus.com/uploads/image/Crash_ForceUnleashed.jpg
Video source:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7YpuIsSdcFs
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