Friday 28 October 2016

Mega Update

It's been a while since my last post. Many, many games were finished in that period.

Counter-Strike: Condition Zero

Basically, this game is CS for people who want to play by themselves. You get a bunch of bot team mates and fight bot terrorists. Your team mates get "better" as you progress. In addition, there are a bunch of side objectives, like "win in 60 secs". I blew through this as quickly as I could because it was so boring. There's really no reason to play this. Online CS is so much more fun and dynamic.

Imagine a CS round filled with the most boring and incompetent players. That's Condition Zero. 3/10



Saints Row 2

My first foray into the Saints Row franchise. I always thought the SR games were a cheap knock-off of the GTA series. While GTA strived to be as realistic as possible, SR went in the opposite direction. There are trucks shooting poo, beating people to death with TVs, etc. Crazy good fun! And that's the key to SR2 - fun. It was a lot of fun running around doing ridiculous things. The voice acting was top-notch as well.

There were a few problems. I was playing on the notorious PC port of the game. The graphics engine was not up to par. The draw distance was poor. NPCs, targets, etc. would despawn too quickly if the player was a medium distance away. It was very frustrating trying to track down cars to steal when they would mysteriously despawn off your radar. 


Lots of goofy fun with occasional technical problems 7/10



Borderlands

I avoided this game for years because of the cover art. Yes, I totally judged this game by the cover. I just thought the psycho shooting himself in the head was such a lame and stupid thing.

I was wrong and I'm not afraid to admit it. Borderlands is a fun game. 


Sniper Elite V2

The only reason I got this game was because it was free on Steam. I enjoy sniping in FPS games and a game dedicated to that with realistic physics sounded like fun. Ok, so why didn't I buy it before? Well, the Sniper series is not a AAA franchise. It's somewhere between AAA and the bargain bin. I'm very hesitant to spend >$20 on a non-AAA title. So the price of $0 was perfect for me.

5 mins into the game and it's very apparent this is not a AAA title. The maps and missions are very linear and straightforward. Enemy AI and spawning are noticeably bad. I played on hard difficulty and the enemy, regardless of weapon and distance, had aimbot-level marksmanship. That ain't hard, that's just cheating. The enemies also didn't spawn until you reached certain portions of the map. So you could go in blasting down one street and the newly spawned enemies on the next street would be oblivious to the epic firefight that just happened. Very dumb.


Down to the most important question: how was the sniping? It was surprisingly well done. It was clear the developers spent the most time on the ballistics. Probably some of the best bullet-physics I've seen in a game. It was very satisfying hitting a target while compensating for wind drift and gravity. The other outstanding feature in the game was the x-ray cam. Every so often, a fatal shot would be slo-mo'd and then shown entering and exiting the target. The x-ray cam shows the internal damage occurring as the bullet rips through them. Very well done.


A friend of mine also got in on the Steam deal and we got together for some sniping co-op. The Overwatch mode was great fun but I hated the Bombing Run scenario. Bombing Run had far too much CQB and the enemies popped out of nowhere. Get to an objective point and it was like the Nazis were hiding in a bowl of rice waiting to pop a cap in my ass. Those were the only 2 co-op modes we played.
Great sniping, mediocre/poor gameplay. Co-op was an uneven experience. 6.5/10 



Dishonored

I admit, I hate the steampunk genre. Absolutely despise it. Is it historic? Is it sci-fi? Make up your mind! This is the main reason I didn't play Dishonored. It was only after all of my gamer friends spoke highly of it that I reluctantly installed it.

The first thing that got my attention was the art direction. This game is just really pretty to look at. The characters all have a very unique look to them. Kinda like a comic book. The voice actors did a fine job too. Susan Sarandon, in particular, was great as an old woman.

The game promotes and even rewards stealth and non-lethal play. I, on the other hand, killed everything that moved. I played it like a ninja and I have no regrets. It was immense fun sneaking up on enemies and shanking them. Killing so many enemies made the game a little harded as it went on. Nothing more killing wouldn't solve. One small complaint, all of this killing made some of the boss fights pretty easy. The final boss stage took me almost no time. It was somewhat anti-climatic.

One thing that struck me as really weird was the control layout. By default, the left mouse button controlled the characters right hand and vice versa. WTF, why? That threw me off so much in the beginning. I ended up remapping that control.

The story was somewhat clichéd and predictable. I saw the "twist" a mile away. However, it was an enjoyable experience.

Beautiful looking game, satisfying combat, with only minor complaints. I still don't like steampunk. 9/10


Batman: Arkham Asylum GOTY Edition

Years ago, I tried the demo for Batman. I loved it. Classic Batman action. I finally got around to purchasing it and installing it.

This Batman is from the cartoon series and not the Nolan or (shudder) Schumacher franchises. I think that was a good choice as it lends itself better to a video game. The game looks fantastic. It was a living, interactive comic/cartoon. They got most of the cartoons voice actors too. Mark Hamill does some of the best voice acting in the industry and AAs Joker is no exception.

AA seemed like a long game but HowLongToBeat.com only lists it as 12hrs to complete. I found the missions and combat getting repetitive. I hated the Scarecrow mission. Combat turned into button mashing and the quests made me run back and forth to the same locations. The game could've been 1/4 shorter. Like any Michael Bay movie, this game needed some editing. Sometimes less is more. Except there were too many Bat-gadgets. I only used them when I absolutely had to. I even stayed away from the Batarang during combat.

Excellent production values, but the game got repetitive. 7/10


Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon

As a big fan of Tom Clancy's books, I was curious to see how his non-book IP translated to a game. The Rainbow 6 series is a classic. How would GR stack up?

The answer? Meh. GR and R6 are both 3rd person (depending on the R6 game) squad based shooters. Classic R6 has a lot more planning and strategy to it. GR just plops you into the map and you plan from there.


It's difficult to fairly judge a game that's 13 years old. I'll definitely have to let the graphics slide. The world was made of triangles lol. This was less evident in city environments, but it was very noticeable in jungle maps.

The AI was insane. If they saw you, you almost always died. The graphic engine made far off enemies hard to spot, so there were a lot of times where you'd get shot and have no idea why. The enemy could shoot you in pitch darkness with an AK from half a mile away without using NVGs. So very many quick saves/loads. My own AI troops would get stuck on staircases, corners, etc. Combat was frustrating to say the least.

The attention to detail for the guns and plot was what I would expect from a Tom Clancy inspired game. This was not enough to make up for the crappy gameplay.

A frustrating game, even by 2001 standards. 3.5/10


Gunpoint

Someone at work told me this game could be finished in a few hours. After the long hours on Batman: Arkham Asylum, Borderlands, Dishonored and Saints Row 2, I could use an easy title to scratch off my list.

A simple puzzle game. Get your detective into an office building to steal data. There are guards in the building trying to stop you. You can rewire trap doors, security cameras, doors, etc. to your advantage. 
The graphics are of the basic 8-bit, old school variety.

The missions were repetitive. Each one added a new "mechanic" but the mechanics are so similar that it didn't make too much of a difference. Basically, re-wire things to make it do what you want.

An easy, and somewhat boring game with uninspired artwork. It's really short so it's got that going for it. 3.5/10


World of Guns: Gun Disassembly

This game really isn't a game. I stumbled upon it in Steam as a free-to-play game. The "game" is to assemble/disassemble real-world guns in an AutoCAD-like environment. You get timed, and then you try to beat that time. This is something you would do to keep your sanity if you got trapped beneath a pile of old newspapers in your garage.

Not a game. No score.



South Park: The Stick Of Truth

I'm not the biggest South Park fan, but I've watched a few episodes and have enjoyed them. My personal favourite episode was "Make Love, Not Warcraft". A close second is "Child Abduction Is Not Funny". Usually, TV shows and movies do not make for good games. Studios don't give those kinds of IP much love as they figure it already has a built-in audience so they don't need to try as hard. To my surprise, The Stick of Truth is an original and entertaining game.

The game is an "open world" RPG. The art work is exactly like the show. In fact, it's pretty much like being in an episode of South Park. The storyline has many similarities to the recent 3-part Game Of Thrones parody. And much like the show, the writing in the game is sharp and hilarious. Lots of references (of course) to the show. Easily the funniest game I've ever played. The boss fight of the gnome stage takes place in the most original environments in a video game.

Combat was turn-based and became repetitive by the end of the game. The GUI was a little too cluttered. It could've been streamlined a lot. The world could've been bigger with more options to explore buildings.

This game takes everything that funny about the South Park franchise and puts it into a video game. Absolutely hilarious with only minor problems. 8.5/10


Saints Row: The Third

SR2 turned me into a huge SR fan. I liked the characters, I liked the wacky gameplay and I even enjoyed the plot. What I didn't like was the technical problems. I was hoping SR3 would fix those issues and boy, did they deliver. SR3 is a solid experience on the PC. No more drawing problems! Yay!

SR3 takes place in a different city but it doesn't make that much difference. The story is a little similar to SR2 (having the Saints gain power and defeat rival gangs) and also wacky. The missions and overall gameplay are streamlined in SR3. It made for an overall better gaming experience. However, I still prefer the story from SR2 as it was a bit more interesting. That's not to say SR3 was boring. It certainly had memorable moments and character arcs. The wrestling subplot was genius and surprisingly authentic.

One complaint I have is the DLC. I bought the franchise pack and it came with everything. So when I started the game, I had all of the end game vehicles, weapons and bonuses. I started with a freakin' VTOL in my garage and 35% bonuses to money and respect. It made the game so easy. Also, not enough Johnny Gat!

I enjoyed 3 as much as I did 2, and that's a lot. Plus, no technical problems! I'm excited to play 4. 8.5/10


Animal Crossing: New Leaf
This isn't a Steam game, but still a game that I finished recently. It's a weird little 3DS game that let's you be the mayor of a town comprised of animal citizens. The fact that they're animals is irrelevant. They might as well be humans because their animal natures are never explored.

The goal of the game is to grow the town and collect things (e.g. butterflies, fossils, etc) for the town's museum. I'm not sure if there's a definite ending to the game, but I grew it to a fairly large size with all of the store and store upgrades. I also maxed out my own mansion.

After all of the expansion, the game doesn't really go anywhere. The only thing left is to pick fruit and go fishing. The co-op can be quite as some of the mini-games were interesting on the island. However, it's not enough to make up for a lack of endgame activities.

A cute little game with not a whole lot to do. 5/10


Tomodachi Life

This is another 3DS game I "finished" recently. Much like Animal Crossing, this game is also a town simulator. The big difference is, the inhabitants are comprised of Miis. This means you can populate it with people who look like your friends and family. You can also add celebrities if you want. I have Shaq, Captain Picard, Tyrion Lannister, Naruto and the main cast of Frozen living in my apartment complex. The most entertaining part of the game is seeing your "friends & family" interact with one another.

Gameplay is fairly simple. Buy food. Feed the people. Solve their problems. Help them with their relationships. Eventually, couples will pair off and get married and have kids. Once the kid is old enough, they have the option to go travelling (i.e. SpotPass to other 3DS'). At that point, the credits roll. You can continue the game after that, but it's just more of the same. Right now, I'm trying to collect all of the food and find everyones favourite meals. One interesting technical feature is the text to speech engine. The Miis say everything and it can lead to funny results sometimes.

Unlike Animal Crossing, co-op in Tomodachi Life is even more limited. It only involves trading items with another player. They can't even look around your town. Not that it really matters since all towns are laid out exactly the same.

A cute little game with not a whole lot to do. 5/10

If you've made it this far, I'm sorry for such a long post. I'll try to update more often.

Update: Steam Summer sale happened last weak. I bought quite a few titles. I'm making this quest a lot harder on myself.



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