Cyborgs & Ninjas

Deus Ex: Human Revolution
Finally figured out what was making me sick. Turns out the refresh rate of the game was set to 59Hz. The native resolution on my monitor is 60Hz. Once I made that adjustment, everything was good.

I finished the single player campaign and while the overall experience was good. A common complaint I've read about is the poor quality of the boss fights. For the most part, I was ok with the boss fights since I customized my character for combat/hacking (the fights weren't friendly for stealth builds). However, the final boss fight was anti-climatic. It was just so easy. At no point was I ever in any danger of losing. And it wasn't a very creative fight either. Shoot some turrets and robots. By then, I had tons of powerful weapons. With that said, I must've saved a hundred times during the campaign.

Usually, I don't get into video game stories that much, but I liked the DXHR plot. It fully embraced its cyberpunk roots. Reminded me a lot of the old Cyberpunk pen & paper RPG. Good times. I'm looking forward to the next installment. 9/10


Mark Of The Ninja
Other than watching a few gameplay videos, I knew nothing of this game. The artwork looked pretty in the vids. That's the extent of my knowledge.

The first thing that hit me about this game was it's sense of style. It had a very Genndy Tartakovsky look to it. The animation is smooth and the artwork, despite being a stealth (i.e. shadowy) game, is stunning. It's like playing a well-animated cartoon. The gameplay matched the graphics in terms of quality. Lots of different moves were available with a relatively simple control set.

One problem I had was the game punished killing. At the end of every level, points were awarded, but some points were not given if a mob was killed. I don't understand punishing the player for that when half of the skill/talent tree is dedicated to killing. That and I'm a ninja. A cold-blooded killer hiding in the shadows. A ninja that doesn't kill is just a dude in black pajamas.

This was a pretty short game (roughly 9 hours) but I think it was the right amount. Any more and the game would probably start feeling repetitive. I normally find games with puzzles very boring as it typically involves a lot of running around and/or collecting stuff. The puzzles in MOTN were very well designed. Complex enough to be fun, yet did not require a lot of farming or wasting time. Plus, there were multiple ways to solve some of the puzzles. Good job, game designers!

The story was fairly generic, but I can overlook that given the fantastic graphics and gameplay. The voice acting was on par as well. The female ninja sounded like Kelly Hu.

8/10

Work!

Ok, work has been insanely busy for the past few months. So many late nights and weekends at the office. It hasn't left me with a lot of time for games. However, I got back into the swing of things a few weeks ago.

Call Of Duty: Black Ops
Standard entry in the COD series: soldier shoots people in exotic locations. The gameplay was solid but uninspired. It didn't bring anything new to the table. The setting was different, but I'm not a huge fan of Vietnam era military weapons. The "plot twist" was somewhat predictable too and the the single player campaign was far too short. I'll give it a 6.5/10.

FTL: Faster Than Light
I started playing this after a co-worker recommended it. It's a nice little indie game from Subset Games. You  control of a ship and try to make across several sector of space while a huge armada is chasing you. Along the way, there are random encounters with space pirates, slavers, etc. There are several ways to customize your ship, i.e. you can focus on engines, shields, weapons and various other subsystems. The gameplay is simple, yet refreshing. Each game only lasts 30-45 mins. You either beat the game or die. So far, I've only died. Even at Easy, it's an incredibly difficult game. I've gotten to the end boss several times, but cannot make it more than 25% into the final battle. The graphics aren't that great but they're acceptable. I'll probably shelve this game for now...8.5/10

Deus Ex: Human Revolution
I was a huge fan of the original Deus Ex, so I was really looking forward to the latest instalment of the series. 3 hrs in and it's lived up to my lofty expectations. The graphics look fantastic, especially the HUD. The story and voice acting are engaging as well. The game has a heavy stealth element to it, but I've abandoned it completely. Going in guns blazing!

My only complaint, and this is going to sound weird, is the nausea. I can't play for more than 30 mins without getting dizzy and wanting to puke all over my keyboard. I don't know what's going in. In 30+ years of gaming, this never happened to me. Maybe I'll take some Gravol before my next Deus Ex session.