Game On

Classic Game of The Week - Jedi Knight 2: Jedi Outcast

2007-11-05T20:11:00.000-06:00

If you haven't played Dark Forces 2: Jedi Knight, you don't deserve to call yourself a gamer in any regard. But, this is a review of the sequel to that game, Jedi Knight 2. Players once again take on the role of Kyle Katarn as he has to slice and dice his way through many missions, utilizing not only force powers but also his trusty light saber and other weapons to defeat the forces of evil, save his woman, and pretty much bring the Force into balance throughout the Galaxy. So, the plot is pretty straight forward Star Wars fare. Just like in Jedi Knight 1, you start off with your guns and you face the good old fashioned stormtroopers in a few levels. All the regular Star Wars weapons are there, Pistol Blaster, Imperial Blaster, and later on the Wookie Bowcaster, Imperial shotgun flachette type weapon, sniper rifle, etc. All standard for first person shooters since Doom. A few levels into the game you become equiped with the light saber, and if you're anything like me, you stick to that weapon for the rest of the game. Along with the saber, you also get a myriad of force powers. And the game starts becoming more interesting, both in story and the challenges presented to you as Kyle Katarn.

I'm not gonna spoil the story for you guys here, but lets just say it boils down to this. Stormtroopers are acting weird, you gotta become a Jedi again, though you swore it off forever, you get tricked! and then you fight a bunch of evil Jedi until you win. Thats the gist of it, but its much more complicated and involved than that.

So what weapons (figuratively) do you have at your disposal as a Jedi, since thats basically the meat of the game. Well, unlike the first Jedi Knight game, which had a pretty linear progression of Force Powers, here the progression is much more up to you, allowing you to take a dark side, light side, or more of a mixed approach. This is because there are 11 or so powers available to you as a player, of which 4 are neutral, 2 good, 2 evil, and 3 "powers" that are just fancy names for things you can do with a light saber. So lets go over them from the start:

The 4 neutral powers; Push, Pull, Speed and Jump progress as the game sees fit throughout the length of your adventure. Though its kinda sad you are unable to max out your jumping ability right at the start, it makes sense. The game would be ruined if you could use the top level of Force Jump and jump 12 times your normal jump and get to places the game didn't want you.

Unlike the neutral powers, the good and evil powers do not progress linearly, and instead, after every mission or so, you get a point which you can spend to "buff up" one of these powers. They consist of the Force Heal and the Jedi Mind Trick. For the record, invest in the healing. It will help you more than you can imagine. Alternatively, the evil powers are Force Grip (aka choke) and Force Lightening. Pretty self explanitory.

Each of the different Force Powers has 3 levels, and you only get a certain number of points to power up the different abilities, so spend them wisely. The LightSaber skills also come in up to 3 strength, but since you're just using it and the game unlocks it for you, its not that big of a deal. Standard stuff here. Deflection, Saber Throwing, and 3 different stances for your combat.

Thats enough of the mechanics of the game, lets review it. Its excellent. The force powers make you feel like an uber bad-ass Jedi, and the light saber helps. You don't often slice off limbs, but when you do, its always satisfying. Especially further in the game once you're facing against "evil sith" Jedi, and they die in slow motion. There is nothing quite as satisfying as having an enemy jump at you, his lightsaber igniting, only to block his strike and attack back and have him flip over, clutching his arm as a hand with a half lit saber goes flying off. Truly amazing. The level design is good, with lots of opportunities to use the force powers you just learned as well as older ones from previous levels. Lots of clever little puzzles. Nothing too spectacular, since it is an FPS, but enough to break up the monotony of slicing open stormtroopers. Though in my opinion the game has a bit too many jumping puzzles, I can understand why they are there. I mean, you jump, you can jump really high, it makes sense to include a few jumping puzzles into the mix. Alas, its really not that great of an idea.

The boss fights are excellent due to the great light saber fighting mechanics that are a combination of the mouse and arrow keys, and with 3 different styles to choose from in the game, you gotta switch it up in order to be truly effective. Some strategies seem to work too well, like the fact that backward attacks are unblockable, but if you're not gonna be cheap about it, its a blast.

Speaking of being cheap, the game has a full on multiplayer mode that includes all of the weapons, force powers, and light sabers of varying colors. All good here. You got your standard death match, team death match, capture the flag modes, along with a very cool "Duel" mode where two players fight to the death in a small arena with light sabers, and the other players watch. Then, the winner stays and a new challenger is brought in. So on and so forth.

So finally, I say give this game a go. Its a bit old now, but its based on the Quake 3 engine, so it looks damn good and its a blast to play. You can get it at bargain bin prices easily if not cheaper used. so don't let it slip you by.

Graphics 4.5/5
Gameplay 5/5
Sound 4/5
Overall 5/5

Game Idea of the week - Exalted - Part 1

2007-11-03T01:02:00.000-05:00

Its that time of the week again. Thats right, me talking about a game idea thats been floating around in my mind. I dunno if there will be a part 2 for this. It depends on what I feel like come next Friday, but until then, lets assume there will be.

So whats the topic for this week? Exalted. I dunno how many of you kids are dice-rolling roleplayer gaming geeks. When it comes to roleplaying games, they mostly come in two varieties. The D20 systems and the D10 systems. They mostly differ based on what you roll for most of the game, and how the rolls are decided. In D20 systems, you roll a twenty sided die and then you add your modifier. Examples include Dungeons and Dragons and the Star Wars Roleplaying Game. D10 games are different in that you roll a certain number of ten sided dice, as many as your skill allows, and then take "successes" as your result. A success is usually a roll of 7 or higher.

So what does this have to do with Exalted? Well, Exalted is a White Wolf game based on a d10 system. Since most of you most likely have no idea what Exalted is, I'm going to explain the basic idea behind the story so you have a frame of reference for this game I am envisioning. Basically, the story goes down like this: There once existed an endless field of Chaos. No Earth, no soil, no nothin, just Chaos. And in this Chaos reigned the Primordials. They got sick of there being nothing, so they created what in game is called "creation" aka land. A big square of it, like a map. And its not a globe like Earth, so its just big, flat (well, with features) land. This means you can theoretically see forever. But anyway, the Primordials didn't want to deal with all the people and stuff that they created, so they made Gods, with the specific caveat that the Gods could not destroy the Primordials. You know, covering their own asses in case a revolt happened. And then the Gods created the Exalted to rule over their lands in Creation, since the Gods didn't want to deal with it either. Different gods created different exalted. Solar exalted by the Sun god, Lunar exalted by the Moon god, and the 5 elemental exalted by the 5 elemental dragons. There are some others, but its not too important to the back history. Anyway, long story short, the Gods revolted, using the Exalted as their mortal weapons to destroy the Primordials and force them into the Chaos and non existence once more. The Solar Exalted reigned, but due to a curse set upon them by the Primordials, became hungry with power and eventually they were killed off. And now, they are coming back, by coming back think of it as a spark of divinity moving into a mortal being, and hope to reclaim their seats of power. And thats when the game takes place, as you being one of these Exalted, most commonly a Solar Exalt.

But you may ask, what makes these Exalted so special, besides the fact that they're touched by Gods. Well, let me tell you. An Exalted is the best one can be. A Solar exalt that specializes in backward dealing and manipulation, for instance, can sway entire nations to do his bidding, or slow down business to a crawl so nothing gets done. A Solar Exalt that specializes in combat is powerful enough not only to shrug off blows that could cripple a regular mortal, but is powerful enough to take out whole armies by himself.

So, how do I envision these concepts working into a game? Well, the most obvious is an RPG type setting, or more aptly an Action RPG, with character development resembling the tabletop game as you power up your characters. But, this sort of game has its flaws for this system. First of all, you can only create one of the 5 different archetypes of Solar Exalted, and with the huge variety of characters that can be made, the game would have to be diverse enough to offer each type of player a different experience. Be it a Ninja character or a straight up fighter, approaches are going to be different. And once you figure in manipulative bastards, the different types of gameplay skyrockets. Besides, its unusual for a Solar Exalt to work by himself. Usually, since its a group game, there are 5 or so, each of a different caste, creating a Solar Circle, with each member specializing in a different aspect of the game. Therefore, all your bases are covered and you can kick ass while a teammate sneaks around, etc. So, instead of an RPG setting, I am imaging more of a Real Time Strategy game style for this, especially once mass combat gets involved. Based on the same ideas as the Warhammer 40k Dawn of War game, with individualized animations for combat. As well as the Freedom Force "Hero" game setting for controlling multiple characters in completely destructible environments.

So how does this work as a Real Time Strategy game setting? Well, first of all, you get 5 "heroes" for the game, each one being a Solar exalt. They don't really die, just kinda respawn after a time if they do, but each one is customizable within the game. You want 5 fighters? Do it. A fighter and a ninja? Make it happen. Using the different abilities and such available from the tabletop game, you use your Solar Circle to move forward in the game in a series of missions, given by NPCs during conversation trees, choices depending on your own talking skills of the more crafty Exalts. Usually using your 5 characters, or more specifically giving orders to one while the others are AI controlled. As your influence in game grows, you gradually develop a following and have access to an army, and the game opens into a much more open RTS environment where you lead your troops as well as the 5 heroes, each of which knows their own abilities that they can act independently in large battles. Large battles on the scale of games such as the Total War series, except with high-powered heroes thrown in.

Thats enough for tonight. More info to follow next week in another exciting installment of Game Idea of the week!

Portal and other news

2007-11-01T01:16:00.000-05:00

Here we are again. Wednesday night / Thursday morning. Seems I am making posts at this time of night more often than not. I assure you its not due to any fault of my own. I personally blame the economy. Right.

Anyway, onto the news. First up..

PORTAL! Its still sweet. After another 3 or so runs, one with the commenentary, I decided to give custom maps a shot. So, here are 3 or so that I have done, along with links and brief reviews of each.

1. Lost Chamber Zero - This map was alright, though quite silly in design. Made with weird angles that forced me to shoot through not small gaps, but rather odd 89 degree inclines to maybe catch a portal on a wall that I could see a few pixels of. I didn't like that much. Then again, I did like the puzzle of having to put a box onto a box to move a platform, which returned to its useless position if the box was removed. Instead of an on-off switch, like the big buttons were within the game. Though a clever idea, I found that the concept of dropping the box and getting on the platform tedius. It wasn't able to be done without standing as close to the platform as possible then throwing the box. Also, though a clever idea in theory, putting a High Energy Pellet launcher behind a closed door behind an Object Emancipation Grid made the puzzle of getting the ball to the receiver terrible, as the High Energy Pellet seemed to run out of energy within a few bounces, forcing me to put it into a portal loop as I tried to get to the reciever, also hidden behind an Object Emancipation Grid. Overall a good level, and shows lots of promise, but I will wait until the author creates some others. 3.5/5

2. Portal : Facility - My favorite of the maps I tried out. Lots of puzzles with a few pitfalls that required restarts. Included were not only box moving / button puzzles, but also corridors that required me to use portals to move down them. Very clever. Additionally, the idea of putting turrets so they are unreachable without clever tricks was excellent. Since they only appeared on the return route, I found that the same room had another puzzle on the way back, which was genius. Also, the map had about 5 or so different puzzles varying from button pushing to turret dodging to clever rocket use. Very nice. I especially liked the flinging involved in the level because it forced me to use the highest places available, rather than something nearly as high. Very good map. 5/5

So where do you, my readers, get such sweet maps? Well, I recommend you check out Thinking With Portals to get your map fix. Unlike the previous links, this includes about a dozen or two already made map, with many more works in progress.

In other news, Guitar Hero 3 came out recently. As in, a few days ago. I want to get it, not gonna lie. I loved the first 2, as I mentioned in a previous article, and this one should be no different. Alas, I have heard grim news that the wireless guitar included with this installment does NOT work with Guitar Hero 1 or 2. That is a shame, since though I don't mind the songs on 3, I really want to go through 1 and 2. So therefore, I am holding off on picking it up until I can find a way to play the original titles as well. Perhaps a future patch will allow me to do so, but until then I can't get too excited.

Also, I am picking up The Witcher in a few days and gonna give that a run through. I like adventure click combat games like Diablo 2 and Dungeon Siege, so we'll see if this one is as fun as it has been made out to be. I am intrigued about the combat system as it uses some sort of timing based clicking mechanism. The story is written by the same guy who wrote the comics its based on, and since hes Polish just as I am, I'm already biased toward liking it.

So thats it people. Go forth and spread the news.

Marcin

Crysis Demo Review

2007-10-29T22:30:00.000-05:00

Having stumbled upon (haha, get it?) the tech demos for the Crysis game, or more specifically, the Crysis engine, I was excited. Everything is meant to be physics driven and blow-up-able, technical term, with cool things like tires being blown out and shockwaves from explosions. I watch the videos and all I can think of is that my computer is hopelessly out of date. So when the demo dropped and I did the "optimal" settings, all on low, I wasn't surprised. But, the game looked like crap compared to what I was expecting. So i fiddle with the graphics options, getting mostly "high" graphics with few glitches. Whatever my computer can't do it makes up with RAM. Its genius, really. So, about the game.

First person shooter, and like the previous games made by the same people, its set on a jungle-ish island. You act as a member of an "elite" special ops unit with these sweet suits, where one of the innovations of the game lies. The suit has multiple modes, with which you can solve puzzles and kill Koreans. These modes include a strength mode, where you can jump higher and in theory throw further and punch harder. A speed mode where you can run quickly, avoiding enemy fire or closing the distance between you and an enemy at a quick pace. A default Armor mode where your suit absorbs enemy fire, which is quite useful since being shot lowers your health quite quickly. Finally, a stealth mode where you cloak and are effectively invisible, but as you move energy is depleted. In addition to this, you can alter your weapon to include silencers, sights, flashlights and even tactical attachments for putting enemies to sleep. So what does all of this mean for gameplay?

Well, first of all, enemies shooting at you kill you very quickly, and I'll admit I'm no slouch when it comes to FPS games. I can aim, I mean, I played Counter-Strike for many years. But, sadly, it appears to take FOREVER to fucking kill anyone. Its like all your enemies are Koreans hopped up on so many steroids that 3 clips later you're still trying to kill them. So this, coupled with the fact that if you engage an enemy in combat like 5 more come out of the woodwork, means a straight foreward fighting approach doesn't really seem to work in the game. And so, the only way I have found to truly assault a position is to stay within the jungle, stay stealthed, and hope for headshots from afar. Sadly, when looking through the sight, all enemies look like pixel-ridden rejects from Nintendo Entertainment System, so getting a headshot is hard. And once you miss, they move around in such an erratic method it's almost impossible to hit them again. I don't mean erratic like they're dodging your bullets or your sight, I mean like they're retarded ninjas that failed "Ninja 101 - hiding." They'll move over like 3 spots, look around, crouch, move back 3 steps, and maybe run away or toward you. There doesn't appear to be any method to what they're doing, but maybe I've played with actual people too often.

So, for me, the gameplay devolved into hiding and sniping. Its not really a problem, since I enjoy that type of gameplay, but I wish I had more of a chance to run and gun. Whenever I tried, I just get killed. To make the game more "realistic" I presume, the whole screen goes mostly red as you're shot. That's great, and coupled with the fact that if a grenade goes off near you your "visor" gets covered in dirt and mud, the game manages to push the immersion factor of being in an actual gun fight to great heights. But is that really good for a game? I mean, it looks wonderful, but I can't see shit. And seeing as I die pretty quickly, I'd much rather not be as immersed as I would like to fucking shoot my enemies. But, they're crafty Koreans, hiding until the opportune moment to kill me.

So that's basically the gameplay. Is it the revolution the First person shooter community needs? I don't think so, based on the demo. The immersion and graphics in this game do push the envelope, and I'm sure I'll enjoy it more once my computer is up to snuff, but when the gameplay is mediocre, what do I care how nice it looks?

So what else is there? Whats cool in the game? Well there is a physics engine, which allows cool things like toppling trees with gunfire (like an axe!) and shooting out tires in cars. Explosions look nice and you can throw things around in the environment. The physics engine doesn't seem as well developed as the one in Half Life 2, with collision detection seeming kinda wonky. Then again, no collision detection is that good and no physics are completely life-like, so I will let it go. Also included are vehicles, with the demo including 2 different types of off-road trucks and a boat. Riding around is a good time, with multiple view angles as well as positions, from gunner to just riding shotgun. I can see great possibilities with this for when the multiplayer comes in, but so far in game it hasn't been much use. I mean, roads are there but patrolled heavily, and you die just as quickly being shot while inside the vehicle, so I don't see much of a point to it. Especially if you don't want to be swarmed by enemies.

And so, in conclusion, the game is cool, I guess. I know its not really a positive or a negative, but thats how I feel about the game. It looks damn good, but I keep finding flaws within its execution of simple gameplay mechanics. Try the demo out at Crysis game demo and see how you like it. Its cool and sweet looking and a fun time, and I will probably buy the game when the time comes, but its not the revolution I was hoping for. Stand by for my full game review when the time comes!

Disagree? Agree? Confused? Comment!

Graphics 5/5
Gameplay 4/5
Sound 4/5
Overall 4/5

Game Idea Of The Week - Batman - Part 3

2007-10-27T01:43:00.000-05:00

So the past few weeks, I've written articles describing the idea I had for a Batman game. First up was the way the game controller was created. Check out that article! Shameless plug for my own writeup, sweet. The second article I wrote was the mission structure for the game. I'm not quite sure it made sense, so now, I am writing the third article in this series to clarify some things. Since the concepts of the gameplay and controls should be quite in your minds at this point, this post will be an elongated explanation of how the game is structured, from the most basic points to the complex mission / gameplay interactions. So, without further...um...adoo, here we go:

First, the overall game structure. Its a free-form unscripted action adventure game with a Batman theme. What time line? Well, one of two options. The first is when the Batman first starts his crusade to rid the world of evil, and the second being after the 1st Robin leaves but before the 2nd Robin appears. The thing you'll notice with both of these options is that they leave Batman without a sidekick, and that is a conscious decision. A Batman with an added figure such as Robin makes the game overly complicated, and therefore that is a bonus for the idea of basing it at the start of his career. On the other hand, using the later continuity with a Nightwing and Batgirl characters on the side adds many more things for Batman to interact with. I am imagining fun chase scenes with side characters, but this would be reserved for special occasions. Anyway. Free Form game, large open ended Gotham, and you're Batman.

The BatCave is where you'd spend little of your time, though if you "died" in game you'd end up there. Alfred stitches up your wounds and you're back out onto the playing field, doing what Batman does best. What is that? Well, being fucking awesome, thats what. You basically do what Batman does all the time, which is patrol the city looking for crimes and answer the occasional Bat-Signal from the commissioner. But, looking for crimes isn't all that Batman does. He also follows up on leads as well as checks out different parts of the city for activity. Lets get back to my original idea of gameplay, the random encounter that leads to a storyline. You're Batman, patrolling the area, and you see police sirens blazing down the street. Follow them, and a warehouse is being robbed. Do your Batman thing, go in stealthily, take out enemies, and interrogate one of them. He tells you a shipment of DRUGS is coming onto Gotham Pier 57 that night! As you leave, a cut scene / dialogue happens with Gordon and you run into your Batmobile and speed off toward the Pier. As you get there, a DRUG shipment comes in and you take it out, spotting a clue, aka, shiny thing, and interact with it, picking it up. You return to the Batcave and analyze the clue, and discover that it has some sort of fibers or whatever on it. You follow up on the clue and another small mission takes place. So on and So forth and you find out the drugs are in fact able to make plants grow at super speeds. You answer a Bat-signal, find out Poison Ivy has escaped, and things fall into place. You foil her plans after a climactic battle and get on with your life. Or Batmans life, whatever.

Thats a basic idea for a mission / day in the life for the game, but with only that the game gets kinda boring, no? Well, thats why just like all open ended freeform games have extras, so will this one. First will be a "clue" system. Because Batman is a detective, you gotta make sure you analyze all the clues you find in order to solve the missions, which are set up like puzzles. In the Batcave, many scientific instruments, including the wonderful Bat-Computer, lie at your disposal. Match the clue with the right instrument to find out more about it, then follow up on your findings. The Computer can fill in information about characters, what to expect, and how to deal with enemies and will be updated with more information as the game progresses. Once missions are done, tokens of them appear within the Batcave. Its kinda like Bully, except less chemistry set and more deadly neurotoxin you saved from Ra's attempt at taking over the world.

So you got missions, tokens from missions, clue collecting, vehicles (and simple vehicle combat), bat signals, puzzle elements, and a combat system. What more is needed? How bout additional Bat-Caves scattered around Gotham? And cameo appearances from other DC universe characters like Superman and Green Arrow? What about chase / be chased / race missions with those characters as well as enemies? All aspects that could easily be included within the game. Collection missions such as "bat thingies" scattered around the whole of Gotham, lets say 250 of em, gives something for the collectors to do. Crime levels in different parts of the city go down as you do missions, and all kinds of cool items / events happen throughout the game. Chase a missile down on the Bat-Wing, then jump out and defuse it with simple puzzles. Some timing based puzzle solving along with simple box puzzles break up the tedium of combat.

Basically, its a game where people want to finish it 100%. So that's it. Thats my vision for a great Batman game. If you want to post your views, feel free to comment. Don't like my idea? Comment. Send me an email. Just get the word out there. If people like the idea, perhaps it will be made? We'll see.

Conan Demo Game Review

2007-10-24T15:50:00.000-05:00

So they are making a Conan game, and seeing as I love the idea of a dude beating the crap out of everyone around him, I decided to give it a shot. Also, it comes out right around my birthday, so I figured why not. But, alas, no job means no money, so no game, but I was able to come across a copy of the demo on the PlayStation Network Store of doom. I downloaded it and was surprised to find a decent but repetitive game, with another short 15 minute demo.

Unlike the Heavenly Sword demo, also about 15 minutes, this one seemed a bit more coherent in terms of what I was to do. Release the prisoners, kill some enemies, easy enough. The game play is basically God of War but with a barbarian instead of a Greek. You got the basic attacks with a counter button and some dodging capability. The combat system seemed to worked pretty well, with nice button reflex counter moves. You get hit and block the attack, and you manage to do a cool little cinematic death animation toward the enemy. Unlike the Heavenly Sword demo, there seems to be a much better connection to what I pressed and what Conan did, but I must say the game was cheap at times. When facing 3 of the "uber" enemies, aka the ones that block all of your attacks and you can't block their moves, the fact there are 3 of them made it so Conan died pretty quickly. I mean, I understand that you're getting beat the fuck up by some hard core enemies, but you're a barbarian, you should have more health than that!

Aside from that, the combat seemed pretty well thought out. You can pick up 2 enemy weapons and use them to kill people, as well as throw them at far away enemies. Being able to pick up to allows you to dual-wield them along with your regular weapon or two of them at once. You can even pick up the big slow swords from the big unbeatable enemies. I assume in the full game there will be axes and stuff as well :x

Some puzzles in the game, but not enough to write about. Simple bash O until the crate opens kinda deals. The graphics were good, though there appears to be more and more shadow and face errors in games that makes them look weird, and I dunno if I'm the only person who actually notices these things. But, it looks alright. Sound is quite good, surprisingly. The voice acting is not overdone and the voices seem to match the characters, at least in the demo.

Finally, I have hopes for this game because there are hot bitches and lots of slaughter. I don't think there will be much more to the game than the combat, but, God of War lived on its great combat system and so can Conan. An average game with a good amount of blood.

Graphics 4/5
Gameplay 4/5
Sound 4.5/5
Overall 3.5/5

Classic Game Of The Weel : Super Mario Kart review

2007-10-22T14:45:00.000-05:00

This is of course, Super Mario Kart for the SNES. The first Mario Kart game, and in my opinion the best. There are many aspects I will talk about this game, in addition to explaining why I like it more than any of the other ones. Keep in mind that while I am biased toward the original Mario Kart, I don't think anything ill of the other versions. To the contrary, I play the DS version of Mario Kart quite often, but, I don't believe it is quite the same as the thrill of the original Mario Kart.

So what makes Mario Kart such a great game? First of all, its the variety. Four different cups, each with 4 different races means a lot of levels, especially for an SNES game. And once you put in the fact that there are level continuations as well many original levels, you have a good amount of variety within the game proper. If not that, then keep in mind you can race in 50, 100, or 150 CC races, each one changing the speed of the level and therefore how its played. Long corners that were boring at 50cc turn out to be quite quick and deadly on 150 cc. In addition, you have the versus mode where two people can race. Pretty simple feature, but its good to mention in case you have friends. But, if you do have friends, there is only one way to play this game. This is the Battle Mode. 4 courses, out of which only 2 are worth anything sadly, where two players use items to try to knock the balloons off the enemies.

The weapons in the game are simple, consisting of green shells as straight missiles, red shells as seeking missiles, bananas, mushrooms, lightnings, ghosts and feathers. It doesn't have as big of a weapon selection as any other Mario Kart game, and it doesn't have packs of 3 turtle shells. The weapons all have a purpose, especially in battle mode. Red shells can seek, but one needs to know how they work in order to actually do some damage to an opponent. Too often are red turtle shells ruined by firing too early or too late. Other Mario Kart games had this, but the shells were overpowered and too easy to aim, even being heat-seeking. In this game, the shells are not only hard to aim with, especially once you start doing trick shots where they bank around corners over large distances, but also because their easily defeated. Against a red shell, you can shoot it with a green shell, lay a green shell for the red one to run into, lay a banana, jump over it, use a mushroom to sprint around a corner, or even if you're a good player and are driving past, you can outrun them and dodge around a corner. Because of this, the battle mode matches can take up to 10 and 20 minutes as two worthy opponents square off using all the weapons at their disposal. This would not be possible with the weapons of later Mario Kart games. The skill needed to aim / shoot a green shell is high, but to shoot 3 in a row and hope to kill the enemy is easy.

Level design in the game is classic Mario / Nintendo fare. Ghost building levels, outdoor racing levels, even a race atop a flying rainbow road. But all of these areas have personality, are filled with shortcuts and cutoffs, and most are named after a Mario character, and they're like his "domain." The levels in the new game are interesting I admit, and some are as good as the classics, but..Nintendo released Mario Kart for the DS with 4 cups based on the original levels. That has to tell you that even now this level design matches if not beats new age Mario Kart. With no gimmicks like multiple drivers and carts, character selection was also a blase.

Character lineup includes Mario, Luigi, Bowser, Donkey Kong Jr, Princess Peach, Yoshi, Toad-guy and Turtle guy. Each set of two (Mario Luigi, Bowser Donkey Kong...etc) are the same, so two players can play the "same" character, but each category is different. Mario is well balanced, while Bowser is slow but can get great speed on a straight away. I play as Yoshi or Princess, but since they're the same, gameplay wise, my friend can play as the other during our battles.

And this brings me back to the final point of this review. Longevity. Mario Kart came out in...well, I dunno when, but it was over 13 years ago. I remember playing this game for hours when it came out on my inherited SNES. And to this day, I still get to school and play Mario Kart with my good friend Jay. Battle mode usually, but its not the same as when we were kids. As kids, it was fun to shoot and run and do long seeking shots, but it wasn't complex. Now, the battles are fierce, with trick shots, powerslide shots and amazing escapes. Try to pick it up and go a few rounds with friends, you'll be surprised what you can do.

If you have any memories of good ole Mario Kart, or even if you wanna share other classic games, do leave a comment! I love to read them and would love to respond to you. Perhaps give me a suggestion for next week's Classic Game of the Week. Until tomorrow.

Graphics 3/5
Gameplay 5/5
Sound 4.5/5
Overall 4.5/5

Game Idea of the week : Batman : Part 2

2007-10-20T02:14:00.000-05:00

Hey kids. As you know, its Saturday morning, though only 2 am, so its kinda like Friday. And since this is a Friday entry, lets pretend it IS Friday. So, last week I told you about the Ideas I had about the controls for my Batman Game, and today I promised you a mission structure.

So, a mission structure I will deliver. Now, imagine a game such as Grand Theft Auto 3. Its got a lot of open-ended gameplay, and it has a lot of missions to go along with the open ended gameplay. But, since for this Batman game I am imagining an open ended world, how do I make the mission structure work? Well, its simple. Lets get back to the Grand Theft Auto San Andreas style. Lots of missions, good storyline, but how varied are the missions. Really? Answer : Not very. You got your basic escort missions, and your basic shoot everyone the fuck up missions. Thats it. And any combination in the middle. Drive to here, shoot this dude, drive there, shoot that dude. Thats not very complex, is it? Of course its not, but it works, doesn't it? Yes, the GTA3 gameplay works for many people.

So, there is a formula for a successful game in this genre, and that is just do 3-4 mission elements over and over and there you go, a mission. How do I want to apply this to my Batman game, you're wondering. Its actually very simple. Its the same fucking thing, over and over, except without the repetitive nature. How? Let me explain...

Lets look at what Batman does from a realistic standpoint. He goes on patrol. Every night, its the same thing. One place, the another, then another. He breaks up some gang-bangers, he breaks up a heist, and he continues doing it. Every once in a while, a villain comes along, and he has to deal with it. And that is basically the mission structure I am looking for in this Batman game i am designing. Lets look at an example, to get a better idea of what I mean.

So, you're playing as Batman, running / Jumping / swinging around rooftops, and you see a woman getting raped or something in an alley. You drop in, and you take out the baddies. There you go, one RANDOM encounter with enemies. Could have been a guy getting robbed, or a woman, or whatever. Its cool. You go around and you see a werehouse being broken into. You stop it. Beat up a few guys, throw some batarangs, and you're golden. But, one enemy remains alive, sorta like a "finish him" situation. You hit the "context sensitive" button, O, and you interrogate him. Turns out there is a shipment of arms coming in on Dock 34 that night. You move over there, and just as the man predicted, a shipment of arms is coming in. Arms = guns, by the way. Break it up, and everything is cool. You continue playing, and you see the Bat-Signal in the sky. Go to the police headquarters, and Gordon tells you of a breaking at the local museum, something about a cat exhibit. You get there, and there is Catwoman stealing a priceless emerald or something. You stop her, she gets away after a long chase across rooftops.

At this point, it seems like what you're doing is random missions, but infact, it is a whole game, right there. How? Its simple, and I will explain, but let me finish my scenario. Batman (You) continues doing these seemingly unrelated things when you realize that a major villain, lets say The Penguin, is behind all of these random arms and drugs shipments. You bring the fight to him, have a little boss battle, and you continue with the game. Meanwhile, you've had to deal with the Catwoman as well as Mr. Freeze all in a lot of small missions.

So, there you go, a simple mission structure for this game. But let me explain how I envision it working. Take any villain, activity, whatever, with Batman. Now, split it up into 4-5 or even 10 parts. There are things you do, over and over. Arms deals, busts, chases, etc. All are different yet the concept is the same. In this game I am invisioning, you have a villain, with 4-5 different aspects of gameplay to catch him/her, and 3-4 different variations on the different aspects. Randomize them. You can chase one way or another, or do a series of missions that are connected by theme and idea, but different aspects of apprehending the crook. What happens, is that after a while missions repeat, but before that, it seems to be MANY different ways to fight many villains. And while fighting / catching minor villains, you do many missions that tie into a major villain showdown.

All this means is that while a major storyline is appropriate for this game, the replay value would be increased by the random factor. Lots of short, random missions, would go together into a big finale. And if there exists one of, say, 5 or so different endings for each villain, the randomness makes up for the lack of a coherent storyline.

That is the mission structure I am envisioning for the Batman game. Tune in next week when I discuss many small tidbits of gameplay that I find interesting for this game. Think this is a good idea? Think its a bad idea? Think I am off my rocker? Leave a comment. I promise to write back.

Thursday Tidbits of Nothing In Particular

2007-10-18T14:33:00.000-05:00

Well its Thursday. That day of the week when we're all recovering from all the drinking that goes on Wednesday nights. Or maybe thats just me :/ I dunno. But, I figured since I have no real review for today, and tomorrow is the continuation of my game idea of the Batman, so I figured I'd give you a state of the game life update.

First, games that I keep hearing about but want to stop hearing about. Halo 3. Fuck that. I've been unimpressed with the Halo series from the beginning, ever since Halo 1. Its a mediocre shooter who's only redeeming value is the fact that its on a console. Halo 1 for the PC sucked balls, not to mention the fact that everything looked like it was polished with Crisco. So yeah. Get over it Halo players, the massiah is not coming. Its just another lame shooter. If you want to know more about how lame it is, check out this review : Halo 3 Zero Punctuation

Speaking of Zero Punctuation, his reviews are hilarious and very insightful. They're updated every Wednesday, will full video and incredibly fast sound. yes, incredibly fast sound. Quite a good time. Check it out. Hes usually spot on with his reviews, and I'm not saying that only because he made fun of Halo 3 like I do. I'm saying it because hes just a well educated and clever man. With a foreign accent, no less. Get going, check that out. I'll wait here.

Next, what am I excited for in the future? Well, Guitar Hero 3 is coming out at the end of this month, and I'm quite excited. Its not only because I got the first Guitar Hero the day it came out and loved it. And tis not because I played Guitar Hero 2 and loved it. Its because, sad to say, I cannot play Any guitar hero until it comes out. Since I only have a GH1 Guitar, its incompatible with my Playstation 3, and therefore, I have to wait until the third installment before I get a wireless guitar, with which I will rock the pants off...um... me.

Another game I am quite excited for that is coming out soon... Assassin's Creed! Yes, its going to be awesome. Made by the people who did Prince Of Persia (Do I see another classic game of the week...) and set during the crusades, you take on the role of an assassin where you basically fuck people up. While this sounds tired, keep in mind that the biggest aspect of this game that I am excited for is the, how they say, free form climbing. Every structure in the game that looks like it has a two inch (game world) ledge can be grabbed on to. That means no more pre-made lines to run along as in Prince of Persia. Think of the possibilities as this is an open game world where one can climb basically anything. And since its part of a trilogy, with at least one of the installments being set in the future, think of the FUTURE possibilities as well. Needless to say, I'm looking forward to this game come November 13th.

And so, my install of Hellgate London Demo is done, and I'm going to retire to try that baby out. I might write a review of it later on this evening, we'll see. Until then, leave a comment or two with the games you're most looking forward to in the near future.

-Marcin

Team Fortress 2

2007-10-17T16:45:00.000-05:00

The original Team Fortress that I played came out in 96, as a mod for the game Quake. I was newly online, and my seamless gameplay on the 56k was amazing. Being one of the first games I truly played online, beside the usual turn based email games like Metal Knights 96, I thought I was in heaven. When the mod came out for Half Life under the name of Team Fortress Classic, with many of the same maps, but minus the grapple hook, I was elated. Anyone else remember the grapple hook?

I played that game and played it, before I got into Counter Strike, but thats another story. So when Valve originally talked about plans for a Team Fortress 2, I looked over the information and screenshots with much anticipation. Realisitic voice chat that goes off what you type, with automatic lip syncing. Man, that sounded awesome. Snipers that blended in to their surroundings like Solid Snake when they don't move. Yeah, sign me up. But, slowly the little tidbits of information about the game came to a crawl, and I rarely heard anything new about Team Fortress 2. In my heart, however, I knew they were making it. Team fortress was just too amazing of a franchise to give up on.

Then the reports started flowing in. Team Fortress 2 was to be included within the Orange Box. New art style. Cartoon. Classic Gameplay!

I was thrilled. And now that I have the orange box, I can tell you the game is not a disappointment. It is not a cheap cop-out on the great game that Team Fortress 2 should have been, it is the great game Team Fortress 2 should have been. Let me explain.

First the graphics. If you've ever played Evil Genius, and you should (coming up on classic game of the week next week!), then you know the style. Hell, if you've been keeping up with the gaming community at all, you'll know the style. Exaggerated, big, blocky but stylistic, basically caricatures of the different classes. The spy is thin and sleek looking, the Heavy Weapons Guy is big and bulky. In addition to the physical attributes of the classes, Valve has been slowly releasing "meet the..." vidoes for each class, allowing a little bit of insight into their personalities. And when it comes to personality, the game is bursting at the seams with it. Everywhere you look, something exists just for the sole purpose of being there and making the game world look more believable. Its an amazing sight. So therefore, I am sad there is less of a realistic approach for the game, but, don't mess with what was good. The classes are still well defined, and the different looks make it such that you can see what class is which, even from a distance.

Second, the gameplay. If you played Team Fortress, or Team Fortress Classic, you know the gameplay here. Maps range from Capture The Flag missions on 2fort (still around!) to point capture missions. Each class has a part to play, whether it be the Engineer that makes a sentry gun to protect the flag, or the rocket launcher wielding soldier that shoots the crap out of everything. Each class is nicely balanced, and though its been becoming more and more balanced between the same 9 classes for the last 11 years, its still great to see that new abilities have been added to make each class better. The Engineer can now build teleporters, and the scout has a double jump. Little things that help make the game unique and a blast to play.

In addition, just like Portal, Valve has included an "achievements" screen to the game. Not only does it list things like awards you get for winning a game with each class, or by killing certain amount of people with each class, there are other statistics. How long you've played with each class, most points with each class, in addition to highest kills, most dominations, most revenge. And these stats are tracked real time, so if you're just shooting away at some fool and he gibs you, the screen zooms in on him, maybe some parts are lying around with little signs a saying "your foot >" and "Other Part ^" and a little window that says, "You were once again killed by Commodore Relish. On the bright side, you beat your previous record of kills for a round!"

Its little things like that the make the game truly a unique game play experience. The game is filled with great music, very appropriate for the game and the sound effects are spot on. From the voices of each character reflecting a different accent to the screams of medic, now easily automated by the E key.

I can't recommend Team Fortress 2 enough, for anyone. Its a great game, and its basically the game that Team Fortress has been hoping to be for the past 11 years. You'll be sad if you miss out on this one. Find me anytime. Name is Commodore Relish. We'll play a round.

Graphics 5/5
Gameplay 5/5
Sound 5/5
Overall 5/5

Portal Follow Up 2. Bonus Import Maps

2007-10-16T17:39:00.000-05:00

Hello my loyal (?) readers. I've noticed that many of you have found your way to my Portal review by searching Google with different aspects such as "Portal Game Review" and "Portal Valve Bonus Maps" and have been disappointed to find that my review... Is only a review.

Luckily, I have come back to cater to your needs, and present you with many links to get you started on finding true extra maps for Portal.

The first of these links is Here. This is the wikipedia entry for Valve's Hammer program. That is the program one uses to create mods and such for any Valve game that is based on the Source engine, including Half Life 2, Portal, Counterstrike and even Team Fortress 2.

The second place everyone should visit is Here. Another great website, filled with tutorials on how to create maps for various games.

Finally, the creme de la creme of this post, everyone interested in Portal maps and bonus stuff should make their way over HERE CLICK ME!. This is another blog, but from someone who has already started making his own maps for Portal. There are some samples to download as well as information about how to do it yourself.

So there you have it folks. All the info you could ever want on the mapping aspects of Portal. But if you're too lazy to make your own totally uber maps, and want to download them on your own, I suggest you head on over to http://www.portal-mods.com/ and check them out. I believe they have links for downloads!

That is all. Please let me know what you think.

-Marcin

Classic Game Of The Week - SubSpace

2007-10-15T12:52:00.000-05:00

SubSpace is a game close to my heart, because to this date I believe it is the MMO game I've been playing the longest. I started in Spring of 96, and though there have been hiatuses from the game, I have mostly stuck to it. That tells you something, because I easily get bored with MMORPGs, staying with em during the 15 day trial and getting bored by day 10. So what is it that makes SubSpace, or as its called now Continuum, so exciting? Well, let me explain what the game is and then I'll tell you.

SubSpace is a top down 2d space shooter. Basically. At its core is all it is. Its like asteroids only online and multiplayer. There are rocks to be sure, but you bounce off them. The way to die is to get shot by one of the many enemies. Since I am most intimately familiar with the Trench Wars "Zone," that is the one I will be talking about. But, keep in mind there are however many other zones due to the games open ended programming structure. I'll explain that and some other zones later.
Basically during game play, one has a ship they fly around with a top down angle, shooting at the various enemies around him. There are teams to be sure, and good guys have Yellow names next to them while bad guys are Blue. The distinction is easy to see in game, making killing the other team so much easier. You have a set amount of energy, and taking damage or firing shots. So, you get shot by a low energy hit, you can't fire a high energy bullet. Weapons are simple, with bullets and bombs of varying strength and power. Some ships move slow and can kill a whole screen full of enemies with powerful bombs. Some ships are fast and menuverable, with one hit kill bullets.

The differences in these ships aren't arbitrary, they're carefully set by the Zone owners. But, because they are merely set variables, there many types of ships one can make. And there are 8 different ones in the game, and each one can be as different or alike as the Zone owner decides. But not only are the ships completely changable, their abilities are as well, including devices such as cloaking devices, x-radar (To uncloak enemies), stealth, and even multi-fire. Each one easily toggled on and off by various keys on the number pad. Not enough that the ship statistics are changable, what about the enviornment? Wormholes with varying strength, safe zones, game play types. Everything is set by the owner, and it is not Zone specific. A room within the Zone may have once setting, while others have different settings. One room, Arena as they are called, may be a mortar style game, or a zombies chase after others game. Each one is adaptable, and potentially completely different from any others. Not enough that the settings change? So does scenery. Each "level" is based on a tileset made in photoshop or Paint. Each ship is a sprite, completely changable by any artist. A level may have a World War II theme, with soldiers not ships, and rifles not "bullets." Another level may be set over water, with naval ships instead of space ships.

So what does all this adaptability mean for the game? Well, it is the reason that I have been playing so long. Sure, I may only play Trench Wars, but if I want I can play a game of Zombies, or a game of Pictionary, or a game of Fishies (Where one team runs from one corner to another while the others, the sharks, try to kill them and change them into sharks!). That is why I love this game so much. It can be almost anything you want it to be, provided you can deal with it in a top down angle. Other Zones are different, some play hockey while others have RPG elements, allowing you to customize your ship and abilities.

Why, this sure sounds great, but what else is there? There is a whole social aspect to the game, as it is an MMO. The tagline for the game is "Meet people from around the world. Then Kill them." And its true. Not only is there a chat system for within the Arena, on the same team, there is also messaging across arenas as well as leaving messages for afk users. Included also is a Squad feature, which is somewhat like a guild. The Squads can face eachother in about 4 different leagues, all with playoffs and regular seasons. People are free to play with whatever squad they choose, and there are even command structures.

Alright, since by now you are all quite exited to play SubSpace, you're wondering how to do it. Alright, check, its this simple :

1. Go to http://www.getcontinuum.com/ and download the client.
2. Install the client.
3. Play the game.

Its that easy. I play on http://www.trenchwars.org/ and would love to play with you guys. My name is Voltaire, look me up. Good Hunting.

Graphics 3/5
Sound 4/5
Gameplay 5/5
Overall 4/5

Portal Follow Up

2007-10-14T15:49:00.000-05:00

As I said, I beat Portal within a few hours of playing it. Just last night, I played through it again. Game is still excellent. This post is just to inform you that there is a 2d flash version of Portal available to play at http://www.mofunzone.com/online_games/portal_the_flash_version.shtml#. Check it out, its a good time, and pretty faithful to the original.

-Marcin

Game Idea Of The Week : Batman - Part 1

2007-10-12T17:15:00.000-05:00

This is the first installment of a new series in my Blog I like to call Game Idea Of The Week. Basically, every Friday, I'm gonna give a spiel about a game idea I have. This will include things like mission structure, story line, controls, etc and because I tend to ramble when I have ideas, I'm gonna split it up into many parts. Therefore, this weeks game idea is a game about Batman. Cause Batman fucking rocks. In this part 1 of this Game Idea, I'm gonna talk about the controls for Batman game, and since I am most familiar with Playstation, its gonna be using the Dual Shock controller. But all game controllers are the same these days, so it doesn't really matter.

Alright, check it out. Left analogue stick will control the movement of Batman. As in, you press left and he goes left, you press right and he goes right. None of this press left and he turns left bullcrap. Thats just how I like it. The right analogue stick will be the camera control. And I know it would probably be quite terrible in game, but since this is just an idea I'm gonna assume it will be perfect. Grand Theft Auto style movement and camera, nothing too fancy. L3 button will crouch, R3 button will center camera. Nothing too special.

The face buttons, for which I will use D for the Square button and..um...lets say /\ for the triangle button, will be mapped as such. X will be jump. Not a double jump, cause thats not what Batman does, but a good high jump, nothing too special. Hold it once you jump, and you got a glide thing going on, Batman style. This will be part of the "Fear" system I have thought of for this game, but that will be explained in next weeks Installment. D and /\ will be used as the two attack buttons. Light attack and Heavy attack, respectively. Think of pretty easy combo system, with like DDD/\ attacks and stuff. Pretty standard fare, but include smaller combo-enhancers like holding D in the middle of an attack, to charge up or to change to a different combo. The combat system, since Batman is primarily a hand to hand combat guy, will have to be quite advanced to make sure people enjoy the fighting. I'll talk about ranged combat in a moment. O is the only button left on the face, and I imagine it to be a context sensitive "do crap" button. Like if you have an enemy by a ledge, O will be used to push him off and hang him. Or if you use it on the last enemy, you can use it to interrogate him to find out more information for missions. Again, next installment.

And now the shoulder buttons. L1 is a "ranged Combat modifier" button. This means that pressing and holding L1 will target onto an enemy. If he is right next to you, then you just lock onto him and can fight him as normal, but if the enemy is far away, the L1 button would alter the face buttons for different actions. Like L1 + D would throw a batarang, allowing you to disarm an opponent from far away. L1 + /\ would throw a ball on rope thing with which you will tie up an enemy, or stop him if hes running away. Of course, these are thrown lightning quick Batman style. L1 and O and X can both be used for other ranged weapons, smaller things such as smoke bombs or mission sensitive items, such as weed-killer packed tranquilizers if you're fighting Poison Ivy. Or maybe even just grenades. I imagine the up and down arrow buttons on the D-Pad would be used to change them, so they're kinda open to whatever the player wants.
The R1 button would be the universal dodge button. Pressing it and a direction does a quick Batman style dodge, and because there has to be a possibility of failure, I imagine it working as such: If a thug is winding up with a right hook, you press R1+Left and batman does a dodge to the left, allowing you to counter attack. If you accidentally try to dodge to the right, Batman gets decked. It would also be the button you hold to make a run for it and not get hit by bullets if you're being shot at from across the room.
R2 would be the grapple hook, and working somewhat like the Web in the Spider-Man games, it would be sweet. Stand still and fire it, and it goes straight up, or if you go forward and press it, you can go flying through the air. Of course, pressing /\ while on the grapple hook allows you to reel in, pulling yourself up and away from danger. If you're flying through the air and your grapple gets dislodged and you're flying, press O by a wall and Batman will grab on. You'll take some damage, but you'll live. I dunno what L2 is gonna be used for. Maybe I'll add it in later. Start would be the pause / city map / objectives / whatever button.
Select would call your chosen Bat-Vehicle, which you can choose using Left and Right on the D-Pad. Choose the Batmobile, and press Select and it will come to your location if you're standing on the street, tearing up pavement and coming to a screeching halt in front of you. Or, if you're flying over rooftops, running and jumping and call the Batmobile, it would stay on the street next to you, flashing on the mini map. Easily enough you can jump off the roof and land in the Batmobile, driving off. Similar entry-ways would be included for the other vehicles, of which I assume there to be a Bat-Wing, a Bat-Cycle, A Bat-Mobile, A Bat-Boat and quite possibly an unlockable high speed jet pack.

That is all for the first post in this topic. Tune in next week for Part 2, where I will further outline how the game is played and talk about the mission structure.

Portal

2007-10-11T14:26:00.000-05:00

If you haven't heard about Portal and what the game is all about, let me enlighten you. You're a person stuck in a government funded research base tasked with the use of a "portal generator" device. And its hand held. You solve puzzles based on the use of these portals, wherein you can stick one portal on one wall, and another portal on a different wall, and walk between the two portals at will. The possibilities of this in game are abundant and since the portals maintain momentum between entry and exit, you can do all kinds of high flying maneuvers. Sound confusing? It isn't, but I can't convince you of that, so you play it. Portal is based on the independent game Narbacular Drop. Its small, but also uses the two portal technology. Give that game a go then imagine it with bigger, better puzzles running on the Source engine with a great voiceover, and you have Portal. If you like it, buy it. Link for the lazy :P

I completed Portal at some point in the night. I'm not quite sure when, but I do remember the sun rise and greet me as I begrudgingly crawled into bed. Lets get my major gripe about the game out of the way before I talk about its awesomeness, and that is its length. It's a short game. I know, it retails by itself for 20 dollars and I can't complain. But it was short. I started it tuesday night the moment it was unlocked on my Steam account, played for a few hours, then a few more hours yesterday and then it was over. Done.

But enough sadness about its length, lets talk about how it makes up for its length. First, replay value. I know I will replay the single-player campaign mostly for the voiceover, of which I will speak in a moment, and in addition there are numerous "challenge maps" with objectives like fewest portals and fastest time. I'll probably get to those sometime today after writing this review. In addition, there is a little "import map" feature in the game which I am sure I will be using a lot once the content is out there. And that brings us to the biggest part of the replayability in this game, which is the mod possibilities. Both Half Life and Half Life 2 thrived off the mod communities, and Team Fortress and Counter Strike stand like obelisks to the mod community gods.
The graphics of Portal are of course wonderful, based on the source engine. The game has a Half Life feel to it, but maybe its because you're back being stuck in a government funded facility underground. The portals work and look excellent, and though they are limited slightly by the surfaces you can put them on, it doesn't do much but add to the puzzles of the game.
The sound work is also excellent, and though the music is minimalist if existent (I didn't notice :/), the voice over provided by the computer / robot / person throughout the game is genius. It is funny, from little quips about how there will be cake once the test is over, to the longer more deliberate speeches of "Uh oh... Someone is cutting the cake! I told them to wait for you, but they didn't listen." I said I would be replaying this game, even though I know the plot and puzzles already, and it is mostly because I long to hear the voiceover once again. Very few phrases are repeated and the voice comes in at just the right moments.

Finally, Portal is a great game, and one you can't go wrong with if you're buying it by itself for 20 dollars at the Steam store, or if you're buying the Orange Box. The game is short, but the possibilities of mods makes up for it, in addition to the different challenges and bonus maps that are included with the game itself. It takes a hint from Team Fortress 2 and also includes an "achievements" section where it logs certain things you do to add to a little database. Not very useful, but a nice touch non-the-less.

Graphics 4.5/5
Sound 5/5
Gameplay 5/5
Overall 5/5

The Simpsons Game Demo

2007-10-10T00:20:00.000-05:00

My PlayStation 3 has been getting little to no use as of late. With the pending release of The Orange Box, I have put down the controller from War Hawk and have been engrossed in Episode One in anticipation. But, alas, I turned it on today in order to see new stuff on the PlayStation Network, and lo and behold I found The Simpsons Game demo. I immediately downloaded it and gave it a spin.

Now, I'll tell you that I am no stranger to the Simpsons, nor am I a raving fanboy, getting my knickers in a bunch whenever a new episode comes out. In my opinion, the hey-day of the Simpsons was something like season 8, and if they had made no more episodes from then on I would have been perfectly content. Then again, this was when I was a wee lad in puberty, so sitting around watching Simpsons wasn't as much of a priority as the newly discovered porn of the Internet. I saw the movie, which as far as I can understand is the reason this game is coming out. But, the movie was still funny, as I'm sure the show is, so I had high hopes for this game. And judging on the demo, they will deliver.

The game itself is a mix of Grand Theft Auto (aka freeform) and a mission based system. The demo lets you play as Homer and Bart as they try to destroy a giant donut wielding laz0r firing robot. In theory, the full game will let you play as any of the major Simpsons characters, but this doesn't matter much to me as I spent the majority of the game playing as Bart. Armed with my trusty slingshot, I explored the cel-shaded environment, using the special skills of Homer when needed. This brings me to one of the best parts of the demo, and in theory the game, as each character has "special moves" that one uses to beat the game. Bart can glide, Homer can turn into a giant ball of fat. In order to move Bart into higher parts of the map, I was forced to use Homer's "be fat and crush things" power. Pure genius if you ask me. I wasn't forced to use Homer constantly, but I still had to use him to solve the simple puzzles the game put in front of me. Hopefully, with more characters the puzzles will be more complex, using the special skills of all the family members to achieve mission objectives.

And so, the gameplay is quite simple yet enticing, the enemies are easy to defeat and though they appear to be constantly spawned and attacking my band of rebels, they aren't really a threat. More like a nuisance as I solve puzzles and complete objectives. The camera work within the game hasn't caused me problems except the occasional turn around, but since it is a 3rd person "adventure" game I can definitely say it has less problems than many games I've played.
The sound is excellent, with full voice done by the cast, or at least people who sounds exactly like them. Throughout the mission, Kent Brockman gives commentary about what is going on, and not only is the dialogue creative and funny, its also useful as he tells me what happens to Homer as I run around as Bart and shoot things mindlessly with my slingshot.

And so, finally, the main question about the game, is it funny? Being a Simpsons game, I presume thats the main intent. And I am glad to report that it is in fact funny. The commentary on the side is hilarious, and the first time I rolled fat Homer into the river and got the message of "Havn't you learned by now that you only learn to swim in the sequel?" from Comic Book Guy I couldn't help but laugh aloud. When I realized this was one of the three "Video Game Cliches" that one could run across and be awarded for, I knew the developers had an idea of what was going on. There are powerups in the game, and like everything else, they fit perfectly with the Simpsons theme and don't seem tacked on as just powerups. Homer can eat a hot pepper and turn into a fat ball of Lava, you can't go wrong with that.

In conclusion, I give this demo two thumbs up, and though I don't know how the final game will be in terms of replay value, I do know that even within the demo there were many collectable items. If this continues for the full game, I expect it will take a while for anyone to finish the game 100%, just as I expect true fans of the show will put in the effort to do it.

Graphics 4/5
Sound 5/5
Gameplay 5/5
Overall 4.5/5

Welcome!

2007-10-09T14:05:00.000-05:00

Hello everyone.

This is my first post for this blog, but let me tell you a bit about what I plan to do with it, as well as a bit about myself.

First me. I know, its selfish, but because I do not yet have a reader base, it doesn't matter. I'm a recent graduate of Lawrence University. Well, as recent as June 2007. An economics and english major, with a minor in government. Obviously this blog is not related to any of those things really, except for the fact that I will my skills of...umm...writing lots of bullshit in order to bring this blog into fruition.
I don't have a job, and though I've been applying for jobs almost non-stop since my graduation, I don't appear to be any closer to my ultimate goal of having more money then anyone else in the world. And so, my days have become quite lonely, as I have no school to go back to nor do I have any work to do. So, obviously, the perfect solution is to start a blog. Which brings me onto the next point of this terribly winded first post, the point of my blog.

As anyone can see, the name of the blog is Game On. A joke between me and friends, and one I'm sure many others around the world will get as a phrase meaning to just fucking do it. And, since my blog will be about gaming, I find it terribly clever. I must have chuckled for a good 20-25 seconds before stopping in a very cliche set-in-stone face.
But you may be wondering, what will I be "blogging" about. I obviously don't make games (Job less, remember?) and my education is not exactly in this area. But do believe me, my blog of games will be quite full of nice tidbits. First, it will include reviews of your favorite games! And my favorite games. Well, mostly my favorite games, or any game I happen to play. Most likely this will be demos, betas (once the NDA is lifted, of course) and any game I happen to actually purchase and play. Mostly PS2, PS3, PC games will be included, as well as my perfectly uninformed opinions about games on others systems that I have never played.
In addition to reviews and previews and opinions on games, I will also be posting my own ideas for games. I get them once in a while, usually before I fall asleep. It keeps me up awake, because I have a habit of not only thinking about story for a new game, I also figure out game play elements, down to how I would arrange the controls on a Dual Shock controller. It's lame, I know, but nevertheless, now I have a place to express my ideas.

And so, thats the basic info. I will try to update everyday with something new, and most likely with my frustration as I get owned in games. Please stay tuned!.

-Marcin