CALIBRATIONS
When it comes to playing MP, I actually avoided the Vanguard since everyone else I consistently play with is a Vanguard. Having more than one weakens the group. However, when I do play as a Vanguard I dominate, even on Gold. The only downside is that when you play as. Vanguard, you should be the host. There is a nasty glitch involving dying and charging at the same time. You'll glitch off the map.
Vanguards are great for offensive, but Infiltrators, Engineers, Adepts, and Sentinels are awesome. Soldiers are lame all around. Screw you, Battlefield 3.
Il Commandante
With any luck I'll be playing Mass Effect 3 in early April. As a writer, this will be an interesting experience, I'm sure, especially in light of the current reception for the game.
11. SSX, PS3
Another franchise getting a revival after a long hiatus. The original SSX got some notice back in 2000 because of its flashy visuals, but it was also a solid game. This game, which feels a bit like Dirt snowboarding-style, gets some points for not babying the gamer around. Once you get through the tutorial you're on your own and it can be a bit dispiriting for gamers not used to this type of game. The course design is fairly bland and there aren't nearly as many bells and whistles as I was hoping to help enhance the game's depth, but it does nothing to dishonor or discredit past SSX games (unlike you, Twisted Metal). Fans of the past games will be intrigued and satisfied, I think.
Good:
-Solid mechanics and controls.
-Very good soundtrack.
-The visuals are exceptional with very little slow-down or tearing.
Bad:
-Not enough depth.
-Why is DJ Atomica back? That asshole nearly derailed Burnout Paradise with his bullshit.
"A-I-D-A. Attention, Interest, Decision, Action. Attention - Do I have your attention? Interest - Are you interested? I know you are, because it's fuck or walk. You close or you hit the bricks. Decision - Have you made your decision for Christ? And Action." (Alec Baldwin in Glengarry Glen Ross)
My stories, Coercion, and Avarice, and Conduit available for the Kindle.
Whaaa ha!
Eugh, DJ Atomica should be banned under the nuclear proliferation treaty.
6 - Batman Arkman Asylum - Windows/Steam
Second time through, last time on PS3, so this is like playing the HD Remix. Saddled with AMD Graphics hardware so I'm missing the PhysX particle effects though, so maybe a third time when I get a better rig.
Probably the best single player game of this generation I think, but I haven't played Arkham City. Not Uncharted 2, it's an original idea free zone, that's just the most slick exclusive of this generation.
Arkham says "this is how you do stealth, this is how you do in game combat, this is how you do story" and wastes all before it. Wonderful. The best way to enjoy Batman.
Best game of the year so far: Batman Arkham City - Windows
Worst game of the year so far: N.O.V.A.: Near Orbit Vanguard Alliance - PSP/PS Vita
Last edited by BahnNZ; 03-25-2012 at 08:20 AM.
Currently playing: Everything God of War
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The Next BIG Thing
Time took to complete: 6.3 hours (I left it open for a while when I was away from laptop once though....so maybe around 5.5?)
What a great adventure this was. Pendulo Studios are really great at creating these PnC games, so much so I went to their website to look for jobs (only colouring artists needed atm though).
Very funny, great graphics and environments, great story and good design , although maybe it felt a bit too easy in a couple of places. They also really cleaned up their design that you rarely fall into typical PnC traps, you know where you know exactly what to do, but the game has such a stupid way to get to it that you don't know how to get there and when you do you shout "That's what I was trying to do!". Yeah, this doesn't have any of that.
So overall, a superbly enjoyable adventure.
8/10.
TOTAL GAMES COMPLETED: 12
List of games completed with links:
1) Gears Of War 3 - RAAMs Shadow (6/10)
2) Dead Rising 2: Case Zero (6/10)
3) Halo: Reach (8/10)
4) The Simpsons Arcade Game (5/10)
5) Sly 2: Band Of Thieves (6/10)
6) Alan Wake (8/10)
7) MotorStorm: RC (7/10)
8) Super Stardust Delta (9/10)
9) Journey (9/10)
10) Mass Effect 3 (7/10)
11) Tales from Space: Mutant Blobs Attack (8/10)
My 2011 Completed Games List (39 games)
Il Commandante
You finish Sly 3 yet? Interested to hear your thoughts on that.
"A-I-D-A. Attention, Interest, Decision, Action. Attention - Do I have your attention? Interest - Are you interested? I know you are, because it's fuck or walk. You close or you hit the bricks. Decision - Have you made your decision for Christ? And Action." (Alec Baldwin in Glengarry Glen Ross)
My stories, Coercion, and Avarice, and Conduit available for the Kindle.
-
Nah. Some people here know of my ADHD when it comes to gamingI've been jumping around a few games.
I did write of my initial thoughts which were in line with what you said (more diverse missions/ characters). I don't forget about this thread anymore so you'll read my thoughts when I'm done with it (might be a surprisingly short or long time from now lol).
Last edited by masteratt; 03-25-2012 at 03:59 PM.
Il Commandante
Fair enough. My plans for the near future are Journey, ME3, maybe the new Kid Icarus, and perhaps even the original if they release it for the 3DS VC.
"A-I-D-A. Attention, Interest, Decision, Action. Attention - Do I have your attention? Interest - Are you interested? I know you are, because it's fuck or walk. You close or you hit the bricks. Decision - Have you made your decision for Christ? And Action." (Alec Baldwin in Glengarry Glen Ross)
My stories, Coercion, and Avarice, and Conduit available for the Kindle.
-
Rayman Origins
What a wonderful little game this is. Great vibrant graphics, super fun (and later on, challenging) platformer epicness and if you want to go for perfect medals each level (finding all secret areas and collecting all required points), it will be a very addictive one too.
It was a joy to play and is my favourite Ubisoft game for a long while.
9/10.
TOTAL GAMES COMPLETED: 13
List of games completed with links:
1) Gears Of War 3 - RAAMs Shadow (6/10)
2) Dead Rising 2: Case Zero (6/10)
3) Halo: Reach (8/10)
4) The Simpsons Arcade Game (5/10)
5) Sly 2: Band Of Thieves (6/10)
6) Alan Wake (8/10)
7) MotorStorm: RC (7/10)
8) Super Stardust Delta (9/10)
9) Journey (9/10)
10) Mass Effect 3 (7/10)
11) Tales from Space: Mutant Blobs Attack (8/10)
12) The Next BIG Thing (8/10)
My 2011 Completed Games List (39 games)
Senior Citizen
(11) Journey in two hours and a 10/10.
What a beautiful game. I absolutely adored the musical score and this is probably the best looking game ive played this gen. The art direction is fantastic and the way they used the lighting engine to capture different colours ranging from browns, blues, greens and oranges on the sand is really beautiful to behold. Sony really did make amazing middlware for devs and im sad that more devs dont use this Phyre engine. I also loved the emotional connections you form with total strangers. Theres no one talking smack on the other side just mystery, imagination and believe it or not kindness. Maybe theres still something in that good samaritan parable even in todays shitty world we live in. This game surely makes you believe that for the two hours you play it. Also yet again i love the freedom this game gives you to soar up high like flower did or flow through the sand so perfectly. They really do capture the controls perfectly in every game they make. Finally in a generation where every single game needs ten patches i have to thank ThatGameCompany for releasing a game so polished. I cant think of a single bug in this game.
Dont even think about it just buy it, play it and then contemplate
Whaaa ha!
7 - Rage - Windows/Steam
And it ends with a song!
Think my feelings about iD have been well documented. Used to live and die by iD releases, Wolfenstein, Doom, Quake. Some of the greatest games ever made, then they lost the plot. Think the rot started with Quake 3 Team Arena. Rage is seriously a return to form. It's my favorite genre, the RPG shooter. You visit towns(3 of them), talk to NPGs, collect junk, make up stuff from recipes, mod up your weapons and vehicles, do jobs, you get the picture.
The length of the game (15 to 19 hours) is lacking for an RPG, 15 if you don't do side missions, and side missions are revisiting places you've already been without much of a new twist. Also you need more than three towns, crazy detailed as they are. Progression trees for your vehicles and weapons are the bare minimum. Fallout New Vegas or Borderlands this ain't, and it's directly competing with those games.
Got two things going for it. Superb graphics. Comes on three DVD on PC and keeps spitting those mega textures at ya. Geometry is pretty static though. If you see a pile of rubble or boxes, don't think you can have fun with an RPG, the physics are almost non existent. The other thing is vehicles done right. Zooming around on your buggy has a motor storm feel to it.
If you got the rig for it, and you'll be wanting to play this on a big rig or 360, the PS3 version is god awful by all accounts, give this a go. I got it for $20, best $20 spent ever.
It's a bit dry and lacking in quirky humor like a Borderlands or Fallout, but it's a pretty good effort. I'd certainly like a Rage 2 on 6 DVDs with proper RPG elements. A few mission packs would be good too.
Not GOTY, but I enjoyed that. Groovy.
Best game of the year so far: Batman Arkham Asylum - Windows
Worst game of the year so far: N.O.V.A.: Near Orbit Vanguard Alliance - PSP/PS Vita
Last edited by BahnNZ; 04-09-2012 at 07:56 AM.
Currently playing: Everything God of War
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Fallout: New Vegas
I made lots of characters, in double digits for sure, and although I didn't go the full game with all, got quite far and it is amazing what different experience you can have based on the character you create and the quests you undertake / discover. It is also nice that small things are taken into calculation and you see the outcome in a slide show in the ending.
So the world and your impact in it was great and a big plus has to go to the writing. I wasn't a huge fan of overall story arc at all but all of the dialogue and most of the characters had an immediate impact thanks to the strong writing.
Decisions aplenty and matter, dialogues fun to sit through, shit loads of stuff to discover. What I didn't like though was the gunplay. It really didn't take my interest. I've tried tech and traditional gun setup in many of my characters, and both were meh. I ended up putting it on Easy as I didn't enjoy the gun fights and didn't find them satisfying so wanted them to end quick. VATS is a little buggy too which adds a bit more tediousness to the process. It randomly aimed at the air, sometimes wouldn't come up despite full AP, or the hitboxes around your target wouldn't load etc...To be fair all were quickly fixed by going out and back into it but still, tedious.
Another thing that constantly bugged me was the navigation, there would be a door leading to wasteland close to you, and the game for some reason would mark the longest way to the exit. This is not a problem once you learn your surroundings a bit though.
I also didn't like the way the layout was drawn in 'Local' section of the map, found it very confusing and the marker in multi story buildings was a bit of a mess as well at times.
So as great as the overall feel of the universe, choices, characters etc were, there were also a couple of key gameplay mechanics not up to scratch for me. I am really hoping next Fallout gets some key mechanics improvements mainly to work out the kinks and also to give it a fresh feel.
Overall though, this is an amazing universe to be immersed into. One that encourages you to discover different ways of doing everything and rewards you for it by giving you a new experience.
8/10.
TOTAL GAMES COMPLETED: 14
List of games completed with links:
1) Gears Of War 3 - RAAMs Shadow (6/10)
2) Dead Rising 2: Case Zero (6/10)
3) Halo: Reach (8/10)
4) The Simpsons Arcade Game (5/10)
5) Sly 2: Band Of Thieves (6/10)
6) Alan Wake (8/10)
7) MotorStorm: RC (7/10)
8) Super Stardust Delta (9/10)
9) Journey (9/10)
10) Mass Effect 3 (7/10)
11) Tales from Space: Mutant Blobs Attack (8/10)
12) The Next BIG Thing (8/10)
13) Rayman Origins (9/10)
My 2011 Completed Games List (39 games)
Last edited by masteratt; 04-10-2012 at 10:22 PM. Reason: forgot to update to '14'
Whaaa ha!
Ops.... False alarm, thought I finished something I didn't.
Last edited by BahnNZ; 04-10-2012 at 04:01 AM.
Currently playing: Everything God of War
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Out of curiosity, what is the story behind that/ which games was it? Did you get trolled by fake credits?Originally Posted by BahnNZ
Ops.... False alarm, thought I finished something I didn't.
Plants vs Zombies
Solid concept, very solid indeeeeeeed. But you know adventure mode could have used spicing up. They throw something new at you, say the night levels, then you endure like nine night levels in a row. Gets tedious.
And I really felt it was badly balanced. I got through the game without even knowing what some plants do, as I never needed them. In fact my lineup rarely changed until it had to due to the level (night, pool, roof etc). And even then I found a solid line-up after one or two rounds and that served me well nicely until the game changed the level lay-out again. Rinse and repeat.
So yeah, needed much better balancing and a better mixing and matching of levels. Other than that, great concept and fun game though.
7/10.
TOTAL GAMES COMPLETED: 15
List of games completed with links:
1) Gears Of War 3 - RAAMs Shadow (6/10)
2) Dead Rising 2: Case Zero (6/10)
3) Halo: Reach (8/10)
4) The Simpsons Arcade Game (5/10)
5) Sly 2: Band Of Thieves (6/10)
6) Alan Wake (8/10)
7) MotorStorm: RC (7/10)
8) Super Stardust Delta (9/10)
9) Journey (9/10)
10) Mass Effect 3 (7/10)
11) Tales from Space: Mutant Blobs Attack (8/10)
12) The Next BIG Thing (8/10)
13) Rayman Origins (9/10)
14) Fallout: New Vegas (8/10)
My 2011 Completed Games List (39 games)
Last edited by masteratt; 04-10-2012 at 11:33 PM.
Whaaa ha!
Well I was tweaking Crisis Warhead, finished tweaking, ran it, started playing it again from the last save and the game ended.
Thought it's bloody rubbish this game, you can finish it in 2.5 hours.
Made a mistake, it was Crisis 1. doh!!! Last save was right before the end of course, cos I finished that.
Called a senior moment, have them more frequently these days.
Currently playing: Everything God of War
Whaaa ha!
8 - Gears of War - Windows
Windows edition with an extra Brumack fight... Which lasts about a minute.
Starting to look a little past it Gears of War, even in 1080p. Took me forever to finish this. Started on an Athlon 9800GT system, continued on an i7/5870 system, finished it on the i7/680 beastie.
Next up a game that consistently won more awards in 2009 than any other. :O
Best game of the year so far: Batman Arkham Asylum - Windows
Worst game of the year so far: N.O.V.A.: Near Orbit Vanguard Alliance - PSP/PS Vita
Last edited by BahnNZ; 04-12-2012 at 11:38 AM.
Currently playing: Everything God of War
Il Commandante
Uncharted 2, I presume?
12. Mass Effect 3, PS3, X360
Here we go... the most anticipated, and by proxy, the most controversial game of the year. Is it deserving of all the vitriol it has received? To a degree, I suppose, though I approach the writing from the point of view as a writer. I agree there should have been a greater degree of choice and impact in your decisions, particularly if you've been creating a chain reaction for the last 2.75 games. There's probably some fatalistic argument to be made, though if there is one the writers didn't make the point. In the end, it had to end somehow and it had to create a unified theme regardless of the choice. Was their choice of an ending particularly good? Not really. The final scene is also a bit off-key. The idea of the story being part of a "fable" might have worked for another game, but not this one.
So, that aside, what about the rest of the game? Pretty damn good. I do like the quick escalation of events and how the game really ramps up the tension right from the get-go. The characters who've managed to survive up to now (depending on your choices) are given their due diligence and the gameplay hasn't changed much, but that's mainly because Mass Effect 2 rectified most of the original's faults. There are still hiccups and there are some rather bland game design choices, but the exploration and the epic feel of the saga kept me going. I preferred the second one overall and I do wish the denouement had been better (to see a near-perfect end to a trilogy, play Uncharted 3), but with so much working this is still likely going to be one of my top choices of 2012.
Pros:
- Astounding epic feel that does an excellent job of picking up where ME2 left off.
- Well-written dialogue that manages to flow nicely regardless of how you choose to play the game.
- Crisp, clean visuals with minimal tearing and excellent production design.
Cons:
- The ending could have been better.
- Some missions get repetitive.
Score: 3.5/4
"A-I-D-A. Attention, Interest, Decision, Action. Attention - Do I have your attention? Interest - Are you interested? I know you are, because it's fuck or walk. You close or you hit the bricks. Decision - Have you made your decision for Christ? And Action." (Alec Baldwin in Glengarry Glen Ross)
My stories, Coercion, and Avarice, and Conduit available for the Kindle.
Whaaa ha!
Didn't say it won awards for being the best game of 2009.
It's not that bad, I've played much worse. Got it for $3 when I picked up Crysis 2 for $15.
Currently playing: Everything God of War
Il Commandante
Fair enough. I didn't pick it as GOTY for 2009 anyway. I picked MW2.
"A-I-D-A. Attention, Interest, Decision, Action. Attention - Do I have your attention? Interest - Are you interested? I know you are, because it's fuck or walk. You close or you hit the bricks. Decision - Have you made your decision for Christ? And Action." (Alec Baldwin in Glengarry Glen Ross)
My stories, Coercion, and Avarice, and Conduit available for the Kindle.
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Ah, so 2009 was a year full of drugs huh?
Il Commandante
Nope. I stood by my choice in 2009 and I stand by it today. 2009, overall, was a rather lean year for games. Here's my top 10 from that year:
1) Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2
2) Uncharted 2: Among Thieves
3) New Super Mario Bros. Wii
4) Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars
5) Demon’s Souls
6) Mario & Luigi: Inside Bowser’s Story
7) Left 4 Dead 2
8) Forza Motorsport 3
9) Batman: Arkham Asylum
10) (tie) The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks, Assassin’s Creed II
"A-I-D-A. Attention, Interest, Decision, Action. Attention - Do I have your attention? Interest - Are you interested? I know you are, because it's fuck or walk. You close or you hit the bricks. Decision - Have you made your decision for Christ? And Action." (Alec Baldwin in Glengarry Glen Ross)
My stories, Coercion, and Avarice, and Conduit available for the Kindle.
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