Posts Tagged ‘Aside’

Aside: Alan Wake Worth The Wait?

Sunday, May 16th, 2010

I don’t mean to jump the gun here, especially as I only booted Alan Wake up this evening, but I’m pretty certain it has been worth the wait. In case you didn’t know, Alan Wake has been milling around the Xboxsphere since the launch in 2005, victim to many delays and a significant lack of updates.

Games that are in development for a long time are, in my opinion, typically underwhelming. Prey, which was in development for 11 years, was rubbish (IMO). It certainly lacked the quality you’d expect from a game that had been at the centre of such TLC for a long time, and it failed to grab my attention enough to even finish the game. Too Human, while I never played it, was released to a mixed bag of reviews after a decade in development.

It seems that games that have been in development for lengthy periods of time are naturally met with high expectations, but rarely live up to these expectations. I think Alan Wake is different.

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Posted in Asides | 4 Comments »

Aside: Bioware’s Bizarre New Approach To Sidequests

Thursday, April 15th, 2010

In my last post, I mentioned lack of sidequests as one of Mass Effect 2’s downsides. At 60 hours in, I now realise there are in fact a ton of sidequests… It’s just that most of them are hidden.

Admittedly I shouldn’t have left scanning the planets for minerals until I was so close to the final mission, but I realised I needed to better upgrade my ship, and I had been holding off for so long because of the monotony of probing planets. Now I’ve spent many hours scanning the planets, I’ve come across many missions I would have otherwise missed.

I fail to understand why Bioware have tucked away many of their sidequests, and I simply can’t see how it’s beneficial to the game or the player. Hopefully this is something we won’t see with Mass Effect 3.

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Posted in Asides | 7 Comments »

Aside: Natal.

Friday, January 15th, 2010

I’m not usually one to link to stories that crop up in my feed reader, but I’m guessing many of you have reservations, like myself, regarding Project Natal. I’m not massively stoked on the idea of it. Not because of the technology itself, although the E3 demo initially had me thinking it seemed too ambitious, but more so about it changing the way we play video games entirely. Then I read this article, which had a quote from Jon Burton, the Traveller’s Tales Director. Burton said “[the controller is] exceedingly clever, but the lag on the input and lack of physical buttons is really going to restrict the kind of games that can be done with it.”. This has eased my mind in a big way.

Playing a triple A shooter with nothing but my body as the controller isn’t something that gets me excited. At all. And I was worried that this was where the future of video games was indefinitely headed. Who knows, it possibly could be, but I have a temporary ease of mind knowing that this may not be possible any time soon. Call me a lazy gamer, or call me too stubborn to embrace the changes Natal may bring about, but I’m suddenly feeling very at ease with the motion control phenomenon. How about you?

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Posted in Asides | 6 Comments »

Aside: This Is How Much Of A Geek I Am

Friday, May 1st, 2009

You’re all about to collectively call me out on how sad I am, and do that annoying “taxi for Baxter” thing (Baxter being my surname, by the way). But yeah, this is how much of a geek I am.

When I’m playing a JRPG - which just so happens to be now - I sit with a notepad by my side, jotting down notes whenever an ambiguous clue is given in conversation with a NPC. So, for example, some melancholy stranger (they’re always melancholy in JRPGs) will hint at buried treasure he’d concealed long ago in the past, just outside a dungeon you’ll happen to venture towards later in the game. Most people will have forgotten by the time they get there, but not I! No, I have it written down in my trusty moleskine. What’s even worse is that I then tick next to each objective I’ve completed. Okay, I’ll get my coat and leave now.

Trump me, I dare ya.

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Posted in Asides | 5 Comments »

Video Game Faces (Warning - Contains Swearing!)

Sunday, February 22nd, 2009

I wasn’t sure what to call this. Video game faces? Skate 2 frustration? I obviously opted for the former, but it’s a perfect example of how frustrating Skate 2 can be! Anyway, things I’ve discovered about myself; I’m an annoying gamer, I feel sorry for the people I’ve been playing Left 4 Dead with due to the irritating shrieking, and I can’t figure out if that’s a hiccup or a burp.

Now it’s you’re turn.

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Posted in Videos | 15 Comments »

Aside: Does Lara Really Need Bigger Tits?

Monday, January 26th, 2009

Underworld performed badly sales-wise (and some of you may argue gameplay-wise, too). That, coupled with the economic downturn, has seen Crystal Dynamics cut 30 jobs. Shame, as I genuinely loved the latest Tomb Raider adventure. But being a long time Lara fan, I think I’m willing to overlook most niggles as my sentimental journey has such a hold over me. Regardless, poor sales and a waning interest in the franchise has prompted developers to, you guessed it, give Lara Croft another make-over.

If the developers think enhancing her bust or baring more skin is going to improve sales, they really need to stop and listen to the fans. For me personally, I think they should concentrate on prolonging typical Tomb Raider game-time, adding in longer levels and bigger puzzles - not necessarily making things more complex, just giving us a bit more to do and a few more levels to raid. I also want to see Lara doing what she does best; raiding tombs. None of this urban shite. Just good old fashioned tombs, caves and what-not. Tweaking the camera would help, too.

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Posted in Asides | 4 Comments »