Intellectual Gamer

Hey everyone! Big news!
I have decided to move my blogging to blogspot. My new blog is entitled ‘The Happy Colour’ and can be found here. I have moved sites for various reasons all derived from the hope to be more than simply a means to another’s end. My new blog will continue to contain writing of a similar topic as contained is this blog. Whats good about the move however, is I will be able to branch to more varied topics without being concerned of focusing every post strictly on philosophy.

Thank you for all your loyal reading, come visit me at ‘The Happy Colour ‘ sometime!

I’d like to get every ones attention I have a very important announcement to make. It is official EA has made a good game!!!! This is big news people, and should be especially significant as EA has only been successful with sport games in the past! Usually when I saw a good game idea I figured the best way to screw it up would be to give it to EA. I mean its EA….. EA made a good game that wasn’t sports based…. it’s madness!! However, perhaps this madness was an attempt to go with the theme of Dead Space itself.

Dead Space is a third person survival horror game in which crazyness seems to be the norm. If you are a fan of John Carpenters ‘The Thing’ Dead Space is a must play, as you can tell it must have had a lot of inspiration from the movie. The story follows a group of people sent to assist the USG Ishimura, a giant mining ship known as a planet cracker. You play as an Engineer named Issac Clark which is tested beyond his limits on the ship. The game for me was very story driven and as so I don’t feel it would be wise to disclose anymore specifics.

The game itself was a stressful playing experience for me in a good way. Although the game is not constantly throwing enemies at you it has balanced it well enough to keep you highly paranoid throughout the duration of it. Suspense, in my opinion, is the most nerve racking horror as Alfred Hitchcock would agree. Dead Space has applied this better than any other game I have ever played (although Call Of Cthullu for Xbox comes in a close second). The combat is really fun and never gets boring as there are a great variety of enemies and situations you’re placed in requiring different strategies (be it using the Mine Cutter to take out an individual enemy’s legs before removing an arm to finish the job, or freezing multiple enemies in stasis and then laying a timed mine at their feet with the Line Gun before turning your attention on a different horde). You will find that it is necessary to apply different solutions to different situations.

The game sits at a length of around 12 hours when you take your time, and is enjoyable enough to replay on a harder difficulty for a different type of experience. Because it is a story based game, however, your replays will be focused on killing in different ways rather than more insight into the story. Fortunately the games combat is good enough to make this an enjoyable experience.

Dead Space does everything well and has a ton of strengths, they follow.

Strengths:

• Sound: Great use of sound (when there is sound you’re scared when there isn’t you’re paranoid)
• Flow: The game moves with a purpose; you’ll never feel weighed down or burdened by pointless tasks and/or long loading screens.
• Combat: Varied amount of weapons with different specialties and purposes; fundamentally this makes every weapon a different experience.
• Scare: Good use of horror tactics, perhaps the best game ever at utilizing suspense.
• Customization: Fun customization system in which you need to allocate points strategically in order to upgrade equipments and weapons speed, capacity, width, damage, reload, and duration (to name a few).
• Story: Engrossing story makes you crave more information in the form of audio and text logs, as well keeps you focused on all the in game plot twists.

I have very few complaints about the game.
Weaknesses:

• Combat Discrepancies: Occasionally if an enemy is right up close to you you will shoot through them (I noticed this happen alot with the bigger guns and stasis).

Dead Space is simply a great game which really showcases the next generation of horror based games. If you are interested in a great survival horror action game make sure to pick it up!
My rating: Buy this game.

Love: The Plasma Rifle….. oh yes!! Finally a game that makes an assault rifle a precision weapon rather then a spray and pray type.

Detest: I disliked one part of the story, I choose not to disclose it for spoilers sake.

Bonus: There is a 6 part animated comic book for free on Xbox Live; download it and watch it after you beat the game. It is a very interesting prequel to it.

There is a conflict when reviewing Armoured Core games that must be acknowledged at the immediacy. Armoured Core has been around since the days of ‘Playstation One’ as so if you are new to the series, as I imagine many players are, you must plan on not being as connected to the franchise as many of its fans, such as myself, are. If you are a new player the game will be the equivalent in emotional content to entering the LOTR series on the final book; sure it’s cool but without your impressions and memories from the past its hardly engaging. With this in mind to be fair this review needs to take two perspectives; the perspective of the Armoured Core initiate, and the perspective of the Armoured Core elder.

Armoured Core: For Answer is a third person action game in which you play as a NEXT (mecha) mercenary that adopts various contracts from different companies in order to earn credits ($). The setting is a post apocalyptic world in which giant corporations call the shots. You, being a mercenary, are just trying to earn a buck while becoming a more recognized and thereby desired mercenary. If you acknowledge the premise that making money is good and there is no fundamental moral black and white you’ll fit right into this universe.

Throughout the game you will have various mission choices that will effect the availability of certain other missions in the future and in finality the end outcome of the game. As you progress through missions you will have the ability to replay them at any moment for extra money and to attempt to boost your overall rank. Beside the main flow of story you will as well be able to participate in arena matches in which you earn money for one on one NEXT combat.

This game truly is about the NEXT’s however. With all the nonsensical storylines and plot twists aside if you are playing Armoured Core you are playing because you want to make badass Mechas. Armoured Core: For Answer does not dissapoint in this regard. Not only can you customize the appearance and ability of your NEXT but you are also able to tune it which adds alot of depth to the game. This was feautured in the last appearance of the game as well, however seems to be much more flushed out in this version. In the last reiterment you’d be tuning to add 10 extra kilometers now you’ll be tuning to add 100! On top of this the game added alot of new parts that make it more playable for different playing styles. For example, in the last game equiping your NEXT with blades and flying around trying to chop people was nigh improbable, however in For Answer the addition of side equpiment which ups your boosting ability makes the improbable more probable. This was an addition that was greatly appreciated by myself.

Strengths:

• Great Customisation: Not so much the quantity of parts that is important but more so the type of parts and the abilities they gave them equates to lots of freedom and loads of fun.
• Replayability: Hard Mode literally changes elements of the missions rather than just adjust difficulty, and the multiple story branches ensures alot of replayability in this game.
• New Additions to the Universe: Alot of very cool new ideas such as a VTOL booster (a giant rocket strapped to your NEXT that allows you to infilitrate battles at rapid speeds), a Super Saiyan ‘esk power up that causes a gigantic explosion around you, and Battle Fortresses (gigantic bosses that you need to fight strategically with akill and purpose).
• Holy Crazyness Batman: AC4 was fast, this is much faster. More weapons, More life, More Damage, and More Speed equate to much more crazyness.

Weaknesses:

• More of a Tweak: Similar to old AC progress of evolution this version feels like more of an expansion pack then a new game.
• Short Missions: The missions are ridiculously short (I’ve finished many in less than a minute)
• Conduluted Storyline: Whats going on??? What’d he say??? Who was that??? equates to ‘Who cares?!?’

Overall Armoured Core: For Answer is a good step in the right direction; it takes AC4 puts it on speed and lets it go crazy! However it still feels like an expansion pack rather than a new game. If you are an Armoured Core fanatic and for some reason didn’t purchase AC4 this game is worth purchasing, however if you did buy the previous installment it will seem like to much of the same game to warrant a full purchase. If you are new to the franchise and are curious about the game there is a good chance you will not find as much value in it, as so its a rental for you to test the water, if you like this one the next game will more then likely be worth purchasing. There are alot of new additions but the similarity is still shocking

My ratings: Armoured Core Elder: If you own AC4 rent AC: For Answer, however if you haven’t purchased an AC for a next gen yet make sure to buy Armoured Core: For Answer. Armoured Core Initiate: Rent this game; test the water.

Loved: Alot of new cool parts which allow for more flexibility in playing style and creativity.

Detest: The missions are way to short!

Bonus: My ultimate AC4 control scheme (not for the faint of heart): LS-Quickboost, LT-Boost, LB-Overboost, RS-Fire Right Weapon, RT-Fire Left Weapon, RB-Fire Shoulder Weapon, X-Change Left Weapon, A-Change Right Weapon, Y-Lock-On, B-Reset View.

In my last post, which was a review of ‘SW: The Force Unleashed’, I alluded that the game made a huge blunder in my statement “There is one huge blunder however I believe this game has made. Although because it is strictly personal preference (and perhaps philosophically) based I will not include it in this review” Actually this is much more a statement than an allusion, regardless it is something that I feel needs to be addressed.

I believe it is important to ask ourselves when we play games that our story driven why we play them. It is an important consideration to address and evaluate. Myself, I feel the objective of a story driven game is to simply experience a good story. This is an element SW:TFU truly had, a true reason to experience the game. But unfortunately it made, in my eyes, a fatal blunder by, in essence, corrupting its strong story element with a multiple ending.

This may seem silly to more then a few, however allow me to explain my objection before you blanket your mind with disagreement.

My argument is simple. If you play a game that is story driven, and in my opinion that is truly the only element SW:TFU has, it is only sensible to expect a sense of closure as you would find in a good story. Think about it, what differentiates a good story from a bad story? There are many factors of course but one of the main ones is closure. Yet what happens when you play a story driven game with multiple endings; do you think you get double the closure or none? In my belief you get none.

Let’s ask ourselves what SW:TFU really has accomplished for its universe by choosing to provide multiple endings. Is it more story? Perhaps more content? Maybe it adds inventiveness? None of this seems sensible, the simple reality is all it accomplished was adding more speculation to the universe.

Think about it: Which ending was real? Which ending was false? Depending on how you answer this question, you have the possibility of completely squandering the amazing story content that the game attempted to accomplish. Not only are the multiple endings of SW:TFU a huge blunder in my eyes but as well a cop-out. The last thing that the Star Wars universe needs is more speculation! Fill the gaps between the movies already, give the fans something with substance so they can reach true satisfaction with the story. As it now stands such an ending is similar to providing crack to an addict, after the addiction is fed it will soon once again return to overtake the addict. Lack of clear truth and substance simply leads to unfullfilled desires, and thus lack of closure.

But why did this happen? More then likely this happened as the franchise is afraid to commit to an ending that would construe such meaningful events to the series. As this substance would provide closure, as such limiting possible other story lines in the future. Anyone who has played an MMORPG knows that closure isn’t looked upon as a good thing by sources interested in milking you. And frankly I feel like thats all their trying to do! From my own experience all the multiple endings did for me was disrupt my emotional connection to the characters, while at the same time leave me with nothing but doubt.

As I see it, their attempted side step truly resulted in the game SW:TFU discarding its most valuable asset. Simply, if your game is story driven tell a story free from the speculation caused by possible endings. Not only will this make your franchise move forward by adding substance and depth to it, but as well will ensure that the player has the truly emotionally engaging experience you have been striving to achieve through your story.

Without a confirmed ending, a story is incomplete; and thus, any story driven game that does such fails in its apparent task.

I finished Star Wars the Force Unleashed, and much to my discontent my early impression was correct. The force unleashed is in no way a good game, although it has lovable elements they are quickly buried by a vast amount of game faults. Before I get into the nitty-gritty however, let me explain a little bit about the game.

Star Wars the Force Unleashed is a 3d third person action game in which you play Darth Vader’s secret apprentice. The game takes place on a variety of planets set in the Star Wars universe. If you’re a Star Wars fan this game will be sure to please you at least with the amount of genuine Star Wars characters they included in it (Leia, Vader, The Emperour etc…). Through out the game you will find yourself slicing and ‘forcing‘ your way through hordes of enemies as you progress through 10 levels (the game will take from 6-10 hours to beat).

As you progress through the levels your character will gain experience causing him to level up. The leveling up process allows you to allocate points to three different categories of stats; Powers (teaches and strengthens your characters force abilities), Combos (teaches your character new combos), and Talents (various stat effects such as defense, health, force recharge, etc).  Although leveling is required to make a playable character as you play through the game you needn’t be concerned with grinding. In my own experience I created the type of character I wanted with ease, such ease that by the end of the game I had started allocating points to things that I didn’t want just to use my extra points up.

The game is most comparable, in my own recollection, to Devil May Cry in terms of play style (you go around and kill things, get abilities, go kill more things, rinse and repeat…).

Okay now on to the veggies and dip of the review.

“I am digging the story so far. Too bad about the game though.” Jwac

This sentiment mirrors mine exactly. This is exactly what I was thinking when I was playing through the game. “I’m interested in the story but man this game is bad”, and although the story is good one of the reasons it is so good is because its Star Wars and I’m honestly bias towards it. By acknowledging this right off the bat, if you’re not interested in the Star Wars universe this game will lose its most appealing aspect.

I’m just going to come straight out and explain the weaknesses of the game first (end with positive :D)! As there are so many, in order to save reading time, I’m just going to list them with a brief description.

Weaknesses:

• Camera: Its simply nonsense, it moves too slow and has a limited range of motion, making it very difficult to look around in tight corridors and during heated combat. Often when you’re fighting you’ll find it focusing on completely irrelevant things for the duration of the battle. When you need it to be far away its often close, and when you need it close its often far away. Overall the feeling you’ll get is that you are constantly trying to pry the camera to observe your surroundings.
• Combat Problems:
  • Lock on problems: Lock on simply doesn’t function. Sometimes your lock on will just cancel for no reason, as well it constantly misbehaves locking onto the most irrelevant objects. It is very common that even on a one on one battle when there is nothing else to lock on, you’ll attempt it and it will lock onto nothing rather then the enemy.
  • Lagged input: The game feels slow and delayed. Often you’ll input a command and find yourself double inputting because you didn’t think the move registered just to do the full input a moment later.
  • Slow speed: You’ll find that there is frequent stopping in combat, often certain moves will cause you to stop unable to move, block, or attack for a second. The lightsaber combos as well move at a snails pace. If the game was played at 1.5 speed it would be much more exhilarating.
  • Knockdown: Certain attacks will stun or knock you down. Often you’ll get knocked down and stunned into a series of attacks in which your entire life bar will be depleted. This is as your character can take a full 3 seconds to get up.
  • Attack Guidance: Your attacks are crazy, as they seem to have a mind of their own (a mind heavily under the influence at that). I have experienced many moments when all a sudden my character decided to strike in a different direction to either who I was locking on to or who I was charging at out of lock on.
  • Delayed Damage Response: Sometimes it will take a second or two for your damage to register. What this means is you’ll land a combo that should have killed the enemy you are attacking, rather then die immediately they will go on as if nothing has happened before momentarily dropping dead.
• Finisher Sequences: The sequences feel surreal and out of place, this is as other enemies will not appear in the foreground or background when you’re attempting them. As so you’ll be surrounded by enemies in an intense battle, however once you initiate the finisher all of a sudden the battlefield is tranquil as you destroy your one enemy (don’t worry the enemies are still there, they’ll magically pop right back in after the finisher)!
• Graphical Hitches: There are various graphical problems such as texture pop in, as well as light and sound effects getting stuck (your lightsaber glows like its being thrown while it rests in your hand, as the sound effect continues on until your next use).
• Get Stuck: Quite often you’ll find that your character will get stuck on small ridges and sometimes ‘invisible’ objects. This makes the combat more frustrating, as you will often get stuck interrupting the forward movement of your combos and or dashes.
• Cinematics:
  • All Your Customization For Naught: Your chosen costume and lightsaber colour do not appear in cinematics.
  • Am I Having A Seizure?: Often the cuts to the cinematics are abrupt pulling you away from the gaming experience and reality (you’ll be sliding down something jedi/sith style when all of a sudden a loading screen flashes abruptly in front of you. A moment later it flashes back to your stunt double and onward to the cinematic).
  • Did I Just See That?: You will often be flashed a quick image of your character standing in the same spot they were before the cinematic, before a loading screen quickly covers the obvious blunder.
• Presentation & Organization: The menus are horrible. Although the game has a reasonable amount of content it doesn’t present it in a suitable manner making even the menu navigation experience awkward.
• Loading:
  • Slow Down: In game slow down is relatively common.
  • Too Much For Too Little: The loading within the menus is ridiculous, especially in light of what the game is loading (this is most noticeable when customizing your character as well as when doing training simulations).
• Little Sense of Exploration: You’re guided. Constantly when you attempt to peek around a corner or jump around what looks like a hidden edge you’ll die, and are left frustrated and unrewarded.
• Limited Lightsaber Customization: There are only eight crystals that modify its abilities/stats, and only seven different colour variations. In comparison to games like KOTOR this is a joke.
• Randomness:
  • Stuff Blows Up: Sometimes stuff just blows up and breaks for no apparent reason.
  • People Die: Stress seemingly is a leading killer of storm troopers, people will just drop over dead for no reason.

Despite all these weaknesses, it didn’t do all bad though.

Strengths:

• Story: This is a great addition to the Star Wars universe.
• Good Checkpoints: The game is glitchy and you’re bound to die a lot, but be happy knowing that there is always a nearby checkpoint to respawn at. As well you keep your experience from your failed attempt. This makes the bad game play seem slightly more bearable (I sense an MMORPG element).
• Broken Glass: The glass just looks so pretty to me!
• Costumes: There is a new costume for every level, as well as various costumes you can unlock depending on how you complete the game.

Overall, if you can tell, the game wasn’t the best experience. As a matter of fact the game really was, to me at least, a waste of time. However saying this, it would truly be a lie to say that this game had no good experiences. There are definitely some cool elements that a Star Wars fan would enjoy (such as the story), and a layperson could appreciate (pretty broken glass and chaotic explosions). I think in general this game will truly be enjoyed by hardcore Star Wars fans, but this says little about the game and more about the fans. I myself love star wars, but find this game only worth owning out of a misplaced desire of needing to complete the universe. The developers really failed in making what they promised and what I believe they initially intended to.

There is one huge blunder however I believe this game has made. Although because it is strictly personal preference (and perhaps philosophically) based I will not include it in this review, and rather include it in a separate post tomorrow. Remember to come back and check it out!

Rating: Play at a friends house.

Star Wars Fanperson Rating: Rent it (or ideally watch the cutscenes on youtube).

Love: I really did enjoy skewering people with my lightsaber and then chucking them away. You can throw them sooo sooooo far!

Detest: Getting hitched on things, it happens too often. Very frustrating!

Bonus: Do you hate Jar Jar Binks? That’s a crazy question who doesn’t really! Anyhow in the game you eventually enter a room in which there are a variety of animal trophies displayed, in one of the corners you can find a Gungan frozen in carbonite (sweet sweet silence).