Ramblings by E. Majkut

Alan Wake Review

2010-05-25T17:37:00.004-04:00

Video games are often compared to movies and TV shows, but never before has that comparison been so apt. After a prolonged development schedule, a major redesign and years of doubt about whether it would actually be released, developer Remedy's action thriller Alan Wake is finally here. Its episodic narrative blurs the line between games and television in all the right ways, with the end result being an experience that makes me wonder why games like this weren't being made years ago.

After suffering from writer's block for months, famous writer Alan Wake joins his wife on a vacation meant to help him clear his head. Once they arrive in the quaint little town of Bright Falls, Washington, things quickly take a turn for the weird. Strange events start happening and Alan's wife Alice disappears, starting him down the path to some terrifying adventures.

Right from the very start, Remedy does an excellent job of setting the mood. Solid voice acting combined with writing that's better than what you'll find on most television dramas makes for a strong introduction, then carries on through until the end. The characters themselves aren't quite as convincing, and stiff facial animations sometimes detract from otherwise enjoyable dialog.

Each section of the game is portioned and presented just like an actual TV show. A credits screen and music play at the end of each chunk, while a “Previously on Alan Wake...” segment recaps the last episode at the start of each new one. It was almost odd the first time this happened, but the feeling that you're experiencing some sort of awesome, interactive television program sets in soon after.

Consistently awesome musical choices help with that feeling, too. There's a steady stream of tracks that seem like they'd be completely out of place in a title like this, but instead blend perfectly with what's going on.

The various environments found within Alan Wake are among some of the best I've seen. It's not that the level design is particularly amazing, but the atmosphere created within each of them is outstanding. From the creepy vibe given off by an overly eager fan that you'll run into at the town's diner, to the spooky forests that'll make you play the game with the lights on, Remedy consistently hits the right notes. Gorgeous lighting effects make shadows creep across the walls as you search a darkened cabin with your flashlight, and tree limbs look like twisted fingers reaching out to grab you when lit by the eerie red light of an emergency flare.

Light, as you'll quickly learn, is an important survival tool in Alan Wake. What better weapon to use against creatures made out of darkness? It's not much more than a novel game mechanic when you're limited to a simple flashlight, but the level designers have thrown in lots of ways for clever players to use the environment to their favor. Finding and starting up an old generator might provide power to a searchlight, which can then be used as a devastating weapon against the bad guys. Finding yourself suddenly surrounded by enemies isn't so bad if a couple of work lights happen to be lying around nearby. Alan's arsenal is rounded out with a handful of different guns, as well as road flares and flashbangs, all of which are fun to use in the right situation.

Once you've figured out how the baddies operate, encounters can eventually become repetitive. New types of weapons and enemies are spaced out nicely throughout the game, helping to negate this somewhat. Computer controlled allies also help to put a twist on certain levels, and the artificial intelligence was surprisingly competent when it came to not getting itself killed.

The worst parts of the game are the ones that stray farthest from the story. Trudging around to collect coffee thermoses and manuscript pages felt like busy work meant to artificially extend play time. Reading the manuscript pages provides additional details and bits of story, but also occasionally spoiled upcoming events that I hadn't seen yet. Additional pages can be found when the game is played on nightmare difficulty, but some things just aren't worth the achievement points.

If you're into scary stories, or even just looking for something different, Alan Wake is a solid purchase. Its story, as well as its method of telling it, feels like a refreshing step in the right direction for video game narratives. There's a lot of great content here, and the episodic format means Remedy can easily expand upon the groundwork they've laid. Hopefully, any future content will be as strong as this opening act.

Title: Alan Wake
Price: $59.99 (Standard edition) $79.99 (Collector's edition)
Platform: Xbox 360
ESRB Rating: T for Teen
Score: A

Just Cause 2 Review

2010-05-08T13:09:00.003-04:00

Open world games have been getting steadily more immersive as technology improves, but these games are often forced to make certain trade offs to attain their high level of player freedom. Tossing someone into an enormous sandbox and giving them little direction about where to go or what to do can cause just as much frustration as it would to heavily restrict and direct their experience. There's a balance that needs to be struck when creating games of this type. The newly released Just Cause 2 comes close to hitting the sweet spot, but a handful of rough patches keep the title from completely nailing its mark.
Just Cause 2 puts you in the boots of returning protagonist Rico Rodriguez who is tasked with taking out the dictator controlling the island nation of Panau. After a few brief but helpful tutorial missions you're turned loose to explore the island at your leisure. The map is staggeringly huge, and it'll take you a little while to even comprehend just how much there is out there for you to do and see.

The environments you'll travel through are one of this game's biggest strengths. Steamy jungles, crystal clear waters filled with tropical fish and snow capped mountain peaks are just a few of the gorgeous features you'll come across. Standing on a cliff and looking down at a world that seems to go on forever in every direction is really an amazing feeling, especially when you realize that the game allows you to go out and explore every last inch of what you're seeing.

You're not here to work on your tan, however. Various military installations and other bits of government property throughout the island are your targets. Other than the occasional scripted story mission, you're free to approach these targets as you see fit. Do you sneak into a military base and plant explosives on everything, or risk leveling it from the air in an attack chopper? Maybe blasting your way in through the front door with a tank, or a few strafing runs in an attack jet are more your style? There are as many ways to do things as there are people playing Just Cause 2, but that open endedness is a double edged sword.

This is a game that is consistently over the top with its action and combat. Not content with just giving players a huge island and a whole arsenal of guns and vehicles, the developers have also included a grappling hook and parachute for you to use. The grappling hook can be used for many obvious things such as pulling yourself up onto a building or yanking a guard out of a tower. Combined with the parachute (which you can open and close at will) you're practically Batman, swinging around and pulling off crazy aerobatic stunts while confused guards spray gunfire at you wildly. Getting into and out of tough spots is an adrenaline filled “Hell yeah!” moment almost every time. There's nothing like bailing out of your own burning helicopter in midair and then using the grappling hook to hijack an enemy's ride right out of the sky. The environment, vehicles and the tools that you're given all combine perfectly to form endless numbers of amazing, Hollywood style action moments that will leave you grinning every time.

While these high points are incredibly satisfying, they're tempered somewhat by low production values in other areas of the game. Most players will be too busy blowing stuff up to care much about the story, but it's really quite awful. Bad dialogue is only made worse by cringe worthy voice acting, including some accents that make me wonder if the developers were trying to be sarcastic. Story missions are often repetitive, with many of them being simple redresses of the exact same mechanic found in a previous level. The combat isn't the best, and the targeting feels loose and imprecise. Luckily the guns were designed with this in mind, meaning that you rarely need to be all that accurate with your aim.

Various upgrades as well as new weapons and vehicles that can be unlocked will motivate you to keep playing for quite some time, but sooner or later the game does get tiresome. It would've been nice to see cooperative multiplayer, though the technical limitations involved in including such a mode are understandably an issue.

If you're into action games or Michael Bay movies, this is definitely the game for you. Those who aren't sure should check out the free demo, which will let you play around on a portion of the island for 30 minutes and give you a taste of the sandbox style destruction that it offers. Personally, just writing about Just Cause 2 is making me want to fire it up for another round of chaos and explosions. It's not a perfect open world game, but it does a lot of things right.

Title: Just Cause 2
Price: $59.99 (Xbox 360, Playstation 3) $49.99 (PC)
Platform: Xbox 360, Playstation 3, PC
ESRB Rating: M for Mature
Score: B+

Battlefield: Bad Company 2 Review

2010-05-08T13:00:00.002-04:00

The Battlefield series was among the first to take the cramped environments of early first person shooters and expand them out to large, dynamic war zones. Multiple soldier classes, vehicles with positions that can be crewed by human players and sprawling maps are some of the series' major hallmarks. Recent iterations have added destructible environments and single player elements to the mix. Battlefield: Bad Company 2 continues the "bigger and better" ideology, polishing core mechanics that fans of the series love while layering on new ideas that bring the series up to date.

I never got around to playing the first Bad Company game, leaving me with few expectations for the sequel. After hours of playing I can confidently say that the majority of the game's strengths lie in its multiplayer component. It's not that the single player campaign is bad, it's just nothing spectacular. Average voice acting and a story that feels heavily derivative take away from what is otherwise solid game design. The levels are pretty enough to make gawking at them fun, but mediocre artificial intelligence leads to enemies that never feel like they pose too much of a threat. This makes the single player combat feel somewhat hollow, as taking out dim witted computer opponents is rarely as much fun as outsmarting an online enemy.

Levels vary from the blowing snow of the arctic to the glaring brightness of the desert, and even into steamy jungles overrun with thick vegetation. Each of them is gorgeous, with countless little visual touches adding an extra level of detail. The look of the sun glaring off the sand, or the way dust kicks up around a tank as it fires is uncannily realistic. Helicopters hovering low to the ground put off rotor wash that kicks up dust and debris. Clouds of smoke or dust from explosions and collapsing buildings create realistic visual obstacles, forcing you to adjust your plans accordingly. The game's environments are excellent arenas for waging war, and their dynamic nature will constantly keep you on your toes.

One of the coolest features of the first Bad Company was the ability to destroy just about anything in the game world, and that technology has gotten an overhaul in the sequel. You can mow down trees, blast your own entrances into buildings or even collapse entire structures down on top of your enemies. Fighting an enemy tank is a whole new game when its main gun can blast through almost anything you can hide behind. It's awesome even from a purely aesthetic perspective. Firing a rocket into a house and watching as a wall blows out, showering you in dust and splinters is an incredibly satisfying moment. Multiply that over an entire battlefield with a few dozen soldiers and a handful of vehicles blasting away at each other and it becomes intensely immersive.

Like I said before, the multiplayer is where it's at with Bad Company 2. Up to 32 players can play together at once, split evenly between two teams. Battlefield's classic Conquest mode features prominently, tasking gamers with capturing various points around each map to deplete their enemy's supply of tickets to win the round. This mode was the main attraction in previous installments of the Battlefield series, but I found myself having a lot more fun with Bad Company 2's Rush mode. Rush involves one team trying to defend a series of objectives while the other tries to plant bombs to take them out. As a result, combat is focused into the areas around these objectives, making for firefights that are much more intense and entertaining. Another mode, Squad Rush, pits your squad of four against four opponents. This mode puts the spotlight on individual skill as well as squad strategy, and made for some of the most potent victories and defeats I experienced while playing.

Bad Company 2 adds some new twists to the multiplayer, but many of them feel as if they were swiped straight out of other, similar games. A system of gaining experience points to unlock new abilities and equipment is in place, and it bears a striking resemblance to the leveling up seen in shooters such as Modern Warfare 2. Regardless, these unlocks will constantly motivate you to try out new classes, weapons and tactics. Apart from just weaponry, upgrades such as body armor or improved vehicle optics can be combined in many different ways, allowing you to get creative with your loadouts and your strategies about how to put them to use.

Battlefield: Bad Company 2 is a great online shooter, but only a good one when it comes to single player. It's unmistakably a Battlefield game, but at the same time blends in aspects of other great first person shooters. Bad Company 2 is the perfect game for getting online with some friends to blow stuff up. Tons of equipment and ability choices means there's a role for everyone to play, allowing you to help your team along the path to victory no matter your personal play style. Available on consoles as well as PC, this is a game my friends and I will be playing for months to come.

Zombie Driver Review

2010-01-10T11:18:00.000-05:00

Zombie games seem to be popping up in all sorts of unexpected places lately. First person shooters featuring the shambling undead are an obvious example, but everything from tower defense games to overhead twin stick shooters seem to be jumping on the bandwagon. Adding to the pile is Zombie Driver, a game that combines 2D driving elements with every zombie cliche you can think of.

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Darkest of Days Review

2010-01-05T02:00:00.001-05:00

First-person shooters are easily amongst the most popular titles on any platform, but it's a genre that's running out of new ideas. Gamers have fought everything from aliens to zombies on battlefields ranging from Mars to World War II, meaning that being new and innovative is increasingly difficult for developers. Adding new twists to an existing idea is a popular route for development studios when dealing with this problem, and Darkest of Days attempts to do just that by putting players into the role of a Civil War soldier who travels through several different time periods to prevent history from being altered. Despite the odd-sounding premise, my interest was piqued. It was all downhill from there, though.

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Batman: Arkham Asylum Review

2009-12-23T15:05:00.000-05:00

The name "Batman" strikes just as much fear into the hearts of gamers as it does the villains of Gotham City. The Dark Knight's foes cower in fear of justice, but I'm cringing because of the never-ending stream of downright terrible games that have been abusing the Batman license since as far back as the original NES. The legacy is so bad that I'd considered it almost a foregone conclusion that Batman: Arkham Asylum would be nothing more than the next heap of garbage to add to the pile.

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Solar Review

2009-12-19T15:24:00.001-05:00

Fall has been full of big name game developers and franchises, with a ton of major releases across every platform. Many unique and interesting independently developed games have come out in recent months as well, but my attention has been so fixated on the mainstream titles that I've had to go back to make sure I wasn't missing out on anything. The Indie Games section of Xbox Live almost always has something worth checking out, and that's where I found Solar.

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Assassin's Creed 2 Review

2009-12-07T11:58:00.001-05:00

I'm new to the Assassin's Creed series. After watching a friend play the first game I thought it looked boring and got distracted by other titles out at the time. When I heard that developer Ubisoft was working on a sequel that supposedly solved many of the problems from the first game, I was skeptical at first. After getting my hands on Assassin's Creed 2 and spending some time within its masterfully created world, that skepticism quickly evaporated.

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Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 Review

2009-11-24T12:08:00.001-05:00

When you're dealing with the sixth game in one of the industry's best-known franchises, it's an understatement to say that expectations are high. Add to that a million screaming Call of Duty fanboys, a massive marketing campaign and Activision's bold claims that their game is going to be the biggest release in entertainment history and you've got one heck of a tall order to fill. There is both success and failure here, and each came in ways I never expected.

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Gratuitous Space Battles Review

2009-11-03T11:22:00.000-05:00

The simplest pleasures are sometimes the best ones. In the context of gaming, simple pleasures come in lots of different ways. They’re increasingly hard to find with today’s games growing ever more complex, but occasionally a developer will come along and release a title composed of gameplay mechanics that have been distilled down to their most basic forms. Keeping things simple allows players to focus on one or two core mechanics instead of losing themselves in endless layers of depth or difficulty. Independently developed (and aptly named), Gratuitous Space Battles focuses like a laser beam on several classic elements.

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Forza Motorsport 3 Review

2009-10-30T11:05:00.000-04:00

I haven't gotten a speeding ticket in over eight years, my car is more than sixteen years old and I've been accused of driving like an old lady on more than one occasion. Call me boring, but I prefer to do most of my crazy driving inside the virtual world where my insurance agent can't find me. The problem is that it's been a long time since I've played a racing game that I could seriously get into. I've done at least a few laps in most of the major titles in the genre, but always found myself pushed away by unrelenting difficulty, wonky physics or any of a number of other issues. Forza Motorsport 3 came along just in time to restore my faith in racing games.

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Lips: Number One Hits Review

2009-10-28T11:23:00.000-04:00

Guitar Hero and Rock Band have had imitators for as long as they've been around. Everyone seems eager to cash in on the quickly expanding music game genre, though not as many seem to want to put in the work required to make a title equivalent to the big names. The result has been a mix of copycats that have ranged from pretty good to unspeakably bad. The latest of these, Lips: Number One Hits, falls somewhere in the middle.

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Majesty 2 Review

2009-10-18T12:15:00.000-04:00

My dad always tells me how they don't make things like they used to, everything from cars to houses to televisions. I'm not old enough to log an opinion one way or the other on a lot of his observations, but I've definitely noticed that the old adage can be applied to video games just the same as anything else. With more and more PC games catering to the growing console crowd, old veterans like myself are left yearning for a good old-fashioned computer game to sink our teeth into. Majesty 2 hits the spot in multiple ways.

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Halo 3: ODST Review

2009-10-10T04:35:00.001-04:00

Back in 2001, Halo: Combat Evolved was something new and huge. When it was released it broke not only sales records, but also the misconception that first person shooters couldn't be done right on a console. Its enormous marketing budget has arguably allowed Halo to move gaming further into the mainstream, as well. Several successful sequels later and the series is still going strong. The problem is that I can't figure out why.

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Shadow Complex Review

2009-09-13T13:02:00.001-04:00

Now that it's starting to feel like fall outside, I've begun looking back at the amazing list of games that have come out over this past summer. The "Summer of Xbox Live Arcade" event that Microsoft has been running has featured one great title after another, the latest of which is Shadow Complex. It's a game that has seen the love and attention of a big name developer, Epic Games, but doesn't feature the hefty price tag seen on most of their releases. Fighting against the misconception that low price equals low quality, Shadow Complex's serious tone plays counterpoint to other recent (and more playful) platformers like 'Splosion Man. It's a title that's made me reconsider what a platforming game can do.

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Red Faction: Guerilla Review

2009-09-09T06:03:00.000-04:00

We've seen some incredible changes in video games over the course of the past decade. They've gone from being a barely recognizable collection of polygons on a low resolution screen to being crisp, clear representations of some imagined reality that we project onto enormous, high resolution displays. Despite those advances, many game worlds are still incredibly static in nature. The characters may change, and scripted events sometimes rearrange the buildings or terrain, but those tend to be special circumstances as opposed to being the rule. These limitations are understandable once you consider things like tasking a console CPU with calculating the immense number of physics interactions and objects involved in simulating even a single structure in such detail. New advances along these lines have allowed for the creation of increasingly complex and realistic environments, with Red Faction: Guerilla sporting one of the most beautifully rendered examples I've seen yet.

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Hearts of Iron III Review

2009-08-31T00:56:00.001-04:00

World War II might just be the most overdone conflict in the history of video games. Every genre seems to have a mountain of games set in this time period, whether they're trying to meticulously simulate things just as they really were or they're putting some strange twist on the facts to come up with a new version of reality. The only thing more cliché is talking about how overdone World War II games are in a review of one.

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'Splosion Man Review

2009-08-24T09:45:00.001-04:00

Platformer games have had gamers collecting mushrooms, bouncing off of enemies and doing all sorts of other crazy interactions for years. From older classics like Super Mario Brothers or Metroid, to more modern takes on the genre such as Trine or the Bionic Commando remake, they've all explored many different variations on the same theme. Traditionally done in 2D, platform games boil down to nothing more than glorified mazes that players are herded through to reach some arbitrary goal at the end. When you break it down that way, it doesn't sound like a whole lot of fun. Different takes on the basic game mechanics and a thick layer of style and charm is what developers rely on to differentiate their game from others, but after so many years of re-treading the same ground a lot of it has begun to feel stale and off-the-shelf. There have been a surprising number of titles managing to break the platformer mold this year, the latest of which is 'Splosion Man.

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Ghostbusters Review

2009-07-26T11:58:00.000-04:00

I think the Ghostbusters are pretty much a household name at this point. Nearly everyone has seen the movies, or the cartoons, or the comics, or the endless amounts of children's toys, breakfast cereals and other landfill fodder that comes along with a successful movie franchise. As popular as the movies are, the original was released over twenty-five years ago. Generally the only thing worse than tying a game in with a movie is tying a game in with an old, classic movie. As a fan of the films and many of the actors and actresses who were a part of them, I can honestly say that this game stays true to the spirit of the movies and feels like ten straight hours of fan service.

Every time someone decides to make a video game based off of a movie I simply sigh, shake my head and wonder what they're thinking. Sure, it sounds like a great idea, allowing fans of a movie to immerse themselves in a world they'll never have a chance to visit otherwise. The problem is that these games are usually nothing more than half-hearted attempts to make a few extra bucks by shoe-horning a movie license into some studio's half-finished game engine and calling it a day. I could fill this page (along with the rest of this issue) with a list of bad games based on movies. There are, however, exceptions to every rule. Imagine my surprise when I discovered that not only was one of my favorite childhood movies being resurrected as a modern day video game, but that it was actually good, too.

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Trine Review

2009-07-17T12:31:00.000-04:00

It's hard to keep yourself from being bombarded with information about whatever upcoming game the PR machine has determined is the flavor of the week, and there's millions of dollars in marketing budgets meant to keep it that way. I'd be all for the process if hype made for good games, but unfortunately it doesn't. Luckily, lesser known companies seem to sneak excellent games out here and there when you least expect them. Instead of teasing players for months with countdowns to announcements and fancy Hollywood events that real gamers don't even have a hope of getting into, games like Trine sneak in out of the blue and show how good many games could be if more attention was paid to development than advertising.

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Battlefield Heroes Review

2009-07-13T11:33:00.001-04:00

They say that the best things in life are free. In my experience the old adage doesn't always hold true, but getting something on the house is particularly nice nowadays considering how tight money seems to be for everyone. Luckily for gamers, many companies are constructing business models that allow fans to get their hands on games for free. There's a catch, of course, namely having to endure some combination of in-game ads, micro-transactions (buying power-ups or other in-game items using small amounts of real money instead of paying a monthly subscription fee) or other ingenious ways that developers have come up with to keep their bills paid. It's not a bad idea, especially when you consider that you're never forced to fork over a dime to play, even though you'll be constantly reminded of the advantages of doing so. Electronic Arts has decided to try their hand at the free-to-play model with their tried and true Battlefield series, and Battlefield Heroes not only drastically changes the economics of playing the game but the look and feel of what you'll find inside, too.

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Puzzle Quest: Galactrix Review

2009-07-05T14:12:00.001-04:00

With so many puzzle games out there nowadays, it's hard to keep things new and fresh. Puzzle Quest was one of the few puzzle games I've ever played extensively, and the perfect mixture of brain bending and role-playing elements kept me going for quite a while. The colorful fantasy world that the game placed you in was another alluring element, and it was a place that felt much more fleshed out than the worlds of other titles in the genre. The sequel, Puzzle Quest: Galactrix, veers off in a new and interesting direction, setting things in a sci-fi world filled with high technology. There are also plenty of upgrades and fixes to the way the game plays, along with some twists and turns that fit in nicely with the sci-fi theme, gravity being one such example. I've gotten a lot of enjoyment out of the game so far, and when you consider its low price and availability on so many platforms, it's not hard for everyone to get in on the fun.

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Sims 3 Review

2009-06-28T14:41:00.000-04:00

The Sims. Every time I see a list of video game sales numbers, it's always there right at the top. It's the franchise that corporate bean counters dream about at night, the one that has worked its way into nearly every demographic you can think of, the series that has sold over a hundred million copies and practically given Electronic Arts a license to print money. There's quite a reputation for the latest sequel, Sims 3, to live up to.

Sims 3 is, much like its predecessors, all about creating virtual people and families, and then guiding them through all the events you'd expect an average person to go through in their life. That’s everything from potty training to doing homework, getting that first kiss or your first part time job. Later in life your Sims tackle issues such as their careers, relationships, managing their money and perhaps even having children of their own. Newcomers to the series might think it all sounds a bit drab and boring, but legions of obsessed Sims fans can tell you that the game is more about the journey and less about the destination.

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Ninja Blade Review

2009-06-17T03:55:00.000-04:00

Movies and video games often seem to cover a lot of the same ground. The ways in which they tell stories, convey action and elicit emotion seem to be increasingly similar while yielding mixed results. You might recall the loads of bad movies based on mediocre video games, or vice versa, as well as the atrocious full motion video games of the early CD-ROM era, all examples of taking the idea a bit too far. Ninja Blade is the newest game I've found to be suffering from this same problem, and I can't help but think that the people who worked on it must have wanted a career in making movies, not games.

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Demigod Review

2009-06-07T13:08:00.001-04:00

This spring has been particularly busy for the real time strategy genre, with many titles bringing new tricks and innovations to the table in an attempt to rise above the others. Some of these new ideas have worked out pretty well. Some, like Gas Powered Games' newest title Demigod, have been a bit more on the iffy side.

Obvious effort has been put into the game, and I can appreciate the level of polish that many aspects of it possess, but it's been an uphill battle the whole way to figure out exactly what it is about this game that's supposed to be so much fun.

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Plants vs Zombies Review

2009-05-17T10:52:00.001-04:00

PopCap Games is responsible for some of the most addictive and widely known casual games ever to hit the market. Bejeweled is a title that has been helping people goof off at work for years now, and everyone from soccer moms to the most hardcore gamers have heard the name. Peggle is much the same, a strangely addictive title that'll have you sitting down for a five minute game only to end up wasting an entire afternoon bouncing pachinko balls of f of colored pegs. There's a whole list of other great casual titles that PopCap has put out and I've been looking forward to Plants vs. Zombies, their latest release, ever since I first heard about it a while back. Now that I've gotten to spend some time with it I'm happy to report that it delivers the same addictive fun and entertaining charm fans have come to expect of this developer.

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The Hunter Review

2009-05-03T15:07:00.001-04:00

You've seen them before, hidden amongst the other garbage that passes for games in your local retailer's bargain bin. Their boxes are covered in bright orange interspersed with woodland camo, the back filled with a list of bullet points meticulously designed to lure in unsuspecting consumers. Constructed of simple cardboard and paper, these boxes contain a mystical force powerful enough to completely destroy the reputation of any gamer who dares venture too close. They've been one of gaming's dirty little secrets for many years, enjoyed by few and scorned by many, they are hunting games.

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Company of Heroes: Tales of Valor Review

2009-04-26T13:58:00.001-04:00

Real time strategy games have been around for a long time now, and sometimes it feels like every imaginable setting and style that could be applied to such a game has been completely beaten to death. How does a developer innovate and keep things new and fresh when they're working in a genre that's often as unoriginal as it is stagnant? Every type of game has its own solutions to these problems, and developer Relic Entertainment seems to have stumbled upon a few of them. The second expansion to Company of Heroes, Tales of Valor livens up the real time strategy genre with some interesting innovations.

If you've played the original Company of Heroes or the first expansion Opposing Fronts, the gameplay in Tales of Valor is going to be mostly familiar to you. Things (for the most part) revolve around building a base, creating units, taking and holding resource points and finally crushing your enemy. This, of course, isn't usually as easy as it sounds.

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Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War II Review

2009-04-19T17:47:00.000-04:00

The Warhammer license has been churning out games for what feels like ages now. Everything from first-person shooters to imitations of the tabletop version to real time strategy titles like Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War II, it's a universe that many gamers recognize and love.

Warhammer 40,000 started back in 1987 as a tabletop game that's still wildly popular to this day, though not all of the games based upon it have turned out nearly as successful. The original Dawn of War game did pretty well for itself, giving the sequel a solid financial as well as creative foundation to draw from. Developer Relic Entertainment seems to have capitalized nicely on this advantage, turning out an RTS that's got more of what fans liked about the first one along with some creative new additions thrown in for good measure.

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Empire: Total War Review

2009-04-12T14:19:00.000-04:00

Over the course of the last decade, the Total War series has taken gamers on a whirlwind tour of history. From feudal Japan and ancient Rome to the Middle Ages and now Revolutionary War-era Europe and America, the series has covered so much ground that I wouldn't be surprised if developer Creative Assembly had a DeLorean stashed away somewhere around their studios.

This latest installment of the series mimics the successes and failures of the previous games, so closely in fact that I can't help but wonder how many sequels it's going to take for them to realize that squashing bugs and creating serviceable computer opponents is something you do before releasing the game, not after. Still, the game captures the epic scale and attention to detail that the series is known for and, despite my frustrations, I keep coming back for more. Empire: Total War is a game that will reward you for your patience, assuming you've got enough of it.

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Street Fighter IV Review

2009-03-31T09:34:00.001-04:00

There's the din of a hundred voices filling the air. The sound of fingers slapping against the worn plastic buttons of beaten down old machines. Bodies press tightly together as onlookers jockey for position to watch the action, the row of quarters along the glass marking each competitor's place in line according to some unspoken but long respected rule. Certain games somehow manage to resonate with a forgotten chord deep inside long time gamers, bringing on a wave of nostalgia so heavy that you can almost smell the pizza grease and nacho cheese from the old arcades these games started out in.

Read the rest here.

Grand Theft Auto IV: The Lost and Damned Review

2009-03-23T12:02:00.001-04:00

Episodic gaming has been trying to get off the ground for years now. Based around the idea of releasing smaller and more frequent installments of a series instead of making fans wait for years for a massive sequel, the concept has proven to be more trouble than it's worth to many of the developers who have tried it. When Grand Theft Auto IV came out last year, I never really considered the ways in which episodic gaming might apply to it, but it's obvious that someone at Rockstar North did. Grand Theft Auto IV: The Lost and Damned is the product of that daydream, and it feels like such a perfect fit that I can't believe people weren't talking about this earlier.

Read the rest here.

Halo Wars Review

2009-03-15T19:24:00.001-04:00

From the moment my copy of Halo Wars arrived I knew it was going to be tough to suppress my overwhelming preference for real time strategy titles to be on the PC. It's where the genre started and spent many years evolving, and even the most dedicated console fans can't deny that the mouse and keyboard is a far more effective combination for micromanaging hordes of units.

The developer, Ensemble Studios, had been developing RTS titles for the PC since the mid 90's and was behind the successful Age of Empires series. All indicators were pointing towards this being an experience that was going to constantly remind me that I'd rather be playing it on a computer. The nail in the coffin, or so I thought, was setting the game in the Halo universe. It's one of the more generic sci-fi settings I've seen (check out my Halo 3 review) and I wasn't particularly looking forward to going back to it. As you may have guessed, my experience with Halo Wars didn't quite work out the way I'd first expected and I was pleasantly surprised by a game I thought I knew before I'd ever even played it.

Read the rest here.

Sins of a Solar Empire Review

2009-03-05T04:03:00.001-05:00

I don't know about you, but I don't get to spend nearly as much time playing games as I'd like to. Games that fit into the 4X genre have long been a favorite, but rarely do I get a chance to relive my wasted youth by playing one through simply due to the time constraints. Short for “explore, expand, exploit, exterminate,” 4X games are generally epic in their scope and focus heavily on allowing the player to concoct their own mixture of these four core gameplay concepts to make their way to victory. There are plenty of titles out there for the hardcore (Galactic Civilizations is an excellent example), but there has long been a need for someone to infuse some modern influences into a 4X game, and Sins of a Solar Empire is the first game to come along that's done this just right. Set in the future, Sins borrows bits and pieces from all the best sci-fi games and movies, creating aesthetics that have something for everyone.

Read the rest here.

Catan Review

2009-02-15T22:26:00.000-05:00

Since I already discussed the first console board game I was recently introduced to, I figured I'd wrap things up by talking about the second. The previous game I reviewed was Carcassonne, a title that eases new players into some fairly simple strategy elements while maintaining a fair level of depth, too. This week's subject, Catan, takes the level of complexity up a notch or two by introducing much more intricate interactions between the players. Long term planning, trade, limited resources and shrewd negotiation are all elements players will need to balance in this family-friendly Xbox Live Arcade title.

Read the rest here.

Life and Death

2009-02-15T22:10:00.003-05:00

I spent the first half of my day celebrating the very first birthday of the cutest (and only) niece I've ever had. It really gives you a sense of time to look at generations when they're together like that, and the memories of my sister being that small still linger in my mind. It makes me feel old but wise. It makes me realize what my aunts and uncles, and even my parents felt like when I was the little brat running around and they were trying to find their way through life at this age.

Overall, it was a good day. Friends, family, and food combined with piles of cardboard and wrapping paper made for quite a first birthday. Poor Lily could hardly stay awake after a day of playing and laughing with the people that make up the entirety of her little world. It's enough to really bring out the pangs of wanting to be young again.

Rarely do we get a chance to see the yin and the yang all in one day, but today was one of those days. I just got off the phone with a family member, and through the tears and sobbing I managed to make out that one of my great aunts had died tonight. She'd been sick a long time, and I don't recall seeing her since I was a child, but the way it sort of brought today's events full circle really struck me. One life so full of youth and potential, the other filled with decades upon decades of memories and experiences, all gone in the blink of an eye. We spend our lives gathering knowledge, friendship, material objects. So much time and energy towards things that are so very fragile and fleeting when examined through the lens of the long view.

My apologies for this post, but sometimes I just need to pour out the things that are filling up my head. Just remember to stop and look around you every once in a while. The things you know and love, including yourself, aren't going to be here forever.

Carcassonne Review

2009-02-11T06:17:00.001-05:00

Times were simpler back before you young kids came along with your fancy electricity and your crazy shizzle-dizzle language. Instead of drooling on themselves in front of enormous widescreen televisions, people actually got together in the same room (shocking, I know!) and sat down to play games. More specifically, they played board games.

Read the rest here.

Yes, I actually used "shizzle-dizzle" in a review. Thanks to Ryan Scott for allowing me to blatantly rip off his Twitter feed ;)

Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix Review

2009-02-02T05:40:00.000-05:00

Any gamer worth their salt has played a version of Street Fighter 2 at some point in their life. Released in 1991, the series has been updated and revised with countless releases and is still influencing the fighting genre two decades later. From arcade cabinets to nearly every modern console, the Street Fighter franchise is as ubiquitous as it is timeless. It's a series that, along with several others, defined what a fighting game should be to an entire generation of gamers. Living up to that legacy while pleasing both the hardcore tournament players and the more casual fighting enthusiasts is a tall order that Capcom has proven they're more than able to fulfill.

Read the rest here.

Bullet Candy Review

2009-01-25T16:21:00.001-05:00

In the early days of gaming, technology (or the lack thereof) was a major obstacle standing in the way of adding more complexity to games. Arcade shooters were one of the first genres to emerge in those early times (Asteroids, anyone?), and from their humble beginnings became something that would be iterated upon again and again with future generations of hardware. Nowadays, hardware is much less expensive and exponentially more powerful. Arcade-style shooters have been left in the dust to some degree. Luckily, the casual gaming market on the PC has shown itself to be the perfect place for these relics of the past. Bullet Candy combines the best of the old and the new to form one of the most enjoyable arcade shooters I've played since their golden days.

Read the rest here.

Another retro-review, if you will. Just remember my audience here, folks. Not all of my readers are slavering to hear about the latest and greatest games. Sometimes a nice, simple title like Bullet Candy is exactly what they're looking for.

The reports of my death have been greatly exaggerated

2009-01-25T06:49:00.006-05:00

Yes, I'm still here.

Things have just been a bit hectic as of late. Lots of work, lots of writing, lots of games to play. Between all of that and spending a week fighting some major bronchitis, I've had my hands full. I'll have a link up to my Bullet Candy review within the next few days, and I'm already hard at work on my Super Street Fighter 2 Turbo HD Remix write-up as well.

I'm really surprised at how wrapped up I've become with HD Remix. It's been a long time since I really put a lot of time into a fighting game, and so far I'm having an absolute blast. It feels SO damn close to the old Street Fighter games that I can't help but feel nostalgia for the golden days when I first played it in the arcades. The sharp, widescreen reworking of the visuals and completely fucking kick ass remix of the soundtrack gives the game a modern feel while leaving the mechanics right where I want them: in 1991. Better yet, it seems to be catching on quite readily with a lot of my friends, and we managed to kick each other's asses for a few hours tonight between rounds of Castle Crashers.

The one thing that's really bothering me though is the Xbox 360 controller. I've never had an issue with it in any of the games I've played until now. The D-Pad just doesn't feel as responsive as I'd like it to be, and while the analog stick fares a bit better it's not as reliable for pulling off a quick series of moves. It's annoying enough that I'm considering dropping $80 on one of these. It depends mostly on whether or not I'm going to get enough use out of it to justify the purchase, so I'm hoping we'll be wailing on each other for a good while. Hit me up on Live (DrJonezMD) if you're up for a beat down. If all else fails, I can always pick up Street Fighter IV...

Other than Street Fighter, the only other games I've really played in the past week are Catan and Carcassonne. They're both Xbox Live Arcade remakes of classic board games, neither of which I've had any previous experience with. I'd heard of them before, but never really considered giving them a shot until Julian Murdoch over at Gamers With Jobs put together a board game night on Live last weekend (Thanks Julian!). I'll admit, I had a lot more fun than I originally thought I would, and I always enjoy new ways to game. Both games are inexpensive and quick to download, and I definitely recommend giving them a look.

I picked up Sins of a Solar Empire a couple of weeks back, and have been sporadically tooling around in the Entrenchment beta. Purchasing these involved my first experience with Impulse, Stardock's digital distribution system. So far, I'm liking it. Look for more on these once I work my way through some of the backlog I seem to keep adding to.

Halo 3 Review

2009-01-09T14:00:00.001-05:00

It may seem a little odd that I'm ringing in the new year with a game from 2007, but I thought it was about time I finally took in the view from atop the Halo bandwagon. It's a series that has sold millions of copies to its ravenous fans, and all three of the Halo games have been flagship titles for the Xbox and later the Xbox 360. However, there's a rift between those fans and I. I've never quite seen what it is that makes them love the game so much. As a gamer who's been playing first-person shooters since even before Doom on the PC, the idea of yet another generic looking run-around-and-shoot-things sort of game never really stirred my interest. I managed to make my way through about half of the original Halo on the PC, and I've never once laid a finger on the sequel. Halo 3 is my first brush with the franchise in quite some time, and I wasn't quite sure what to expect.

Read the rest here.

Gravity Bone

2009-01-05T16:08:00.003-05:00

It's got a weird name, but I've been linked to Gravity Bone by at least a dozen people in the past two days. I wasn't sure what to expect, and it turns out that it's actually a neat little game. A bit odd for sure, but that's partially what I find sort of charming about it.

Built upon an engine that's built upon the Quake 2 engine (let that sink in for a second...), this is basically a quirky little first person shooter. There's a definite 70's spy vibe being given off, but the upbeat music and strange looking/sounding denizens of Gravity Bone's world make it clear that this isn't your normal FPS.

It consists mostly of you running around and trying to complete a handful of strange objectives and then making your escape before you're caught. The end of the demo, if you can even call it that, manages to weave in just enough narrative to get the gears in my head turning about what other fun things might happen in this goofy little world.

For the price of FREE, it's at least worth taking a look at. I have no idea where the author intends to take this project, but I'll certainly be checking in on it from time to time.

Get it here.

Banjo Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts Review

2009-01-02T13:19:00.002-05:00

Anyone old enough to remember the Nintendo 64 has probably heard the name Banjo-Kazooie before. The series has seen a handful of sequels over the years, but the most recent have been for Nintendo's hand held systems. Banjo Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts is the series' first console release since 2000, though it feels like someone dragged it out of the closet and dusted it off in an attempt to lend credibility to a game that might otherwise have had none. There's some interesting gameplay mechanics here, but without a recognizable license to carry it, I doubt this would have ever made it to market.

Read the rest here.

Oh, and happy New Year to everyone :)

Braid Review

2008-12-24T12:43:00.002-05:00

If you're into indie titles, then 2008 was a great year to be playing video games. Audiosurf, Pixeljunk Eden, World of Goo and Castle Crashers were all excellent titles, and that's just the tip of the iceberg. It's very encouraging to see that the creative minds behind these projects are willing and able to do their own thing without the onus of a publisher looming overhead. I wanted to touch upon one last independent title that I felt was truly outstanding before the year closed out. Enthusiast press gave Braid a lot of attention, but more mainstream gamers have likely never heard of it. It's a strange, introspective trip that combines classic platforming elements with some odd and original puzzle mechanics to create something that feels greater than the sum of its parts.

Read the rest here.

Yeah, I realize I'm a little late to the party with this one. There's been so much to play this fall that it was inevitable that a few games would fall through the cracks. The problem is, what do I play once I've worked my way through the pile? Releases have dramatically slowed since a month ago and I'm almost out of stuff to write about. I've got Banjo Kazooie Nuts and Bolts coming up, and then all I've got left after that is a copy of Halo 3 that's still in shrink wrap. Bleh. I guess I'll figure SOMETHING out.

Oh, and Merry Christmas! :)

Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning Review

2008-12-21T14:05:00.001-05:00

With World of Warcraft claiming nearly seventy percent of the MMORPG (Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Games) market, it's tough for new games to come along and try to get their piece of that pie. Blizzard's enormously successful online RPG has, for better or for worse, become the yardstick by which all other similar games are measured. The market has become a brawl for WoW's leftovers, and many unworthy contenders have failed and fallen by the wayside. Fall saw the release of several games with high hopes for knocking Blizzard from the top of the charts. Boasting the license to some long respected intellectual property and years of development, Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning isn't likely to become king of the hill any time soon, but there are enough new ideas here to make it worth a long look.

Read the rest here.

World of Goo Review

2008-12-11T14:25:00.000-05:00

If you're in the business of making puzzle games then it's likely that business is pretty good at the moment. Casual, lightweight and relatively inexpensive to produce, the popularity of puzzle games has been growing by leaps and bounds. Low prices, addicting gameplay and the ability to be found on anything from your PC to your cell phone are certainly contributing factors to this rise in renown. The steady stream of excellent and shockingly original games coming from developers like PopCap continues to amaze me, and a genre that I once viewed as being for bored office workers and those not manly enough for more hardcore games has sucked me in and gotten me hooked with its cute little characters and brain-bending challenges. World of Goo has been my latest addiction, and it's a title that proves once again that you don't need a huge development team or piles of cash to make a good game.

Read the rest here.

Mirror's Edge Review

2008-12-06T13:04:00.001-05:00

Amongst the lengthy list of video game genres, first person shooters have long been one of the most popular. It's not surprising considering that young males make up the largest percentage of the gaming demographic. It's hard to deny the fun involved in blowing a bunch of stuff up as some testosterone filled special forces tough guy, but many big name new titles never seem to dig any deeper than that. Deadlier weapons and a higher body count often seem to be as far as innovation goes with these games, though there are certainly some outstanding examples of titles that don't fit into this mold. Gamers, myself included, have long been waiting for something new and different to come along in the genre. Mirror's Edge is a hop, skip and a jump in the right direction, and in more ways than you might think.

Read the rest here.

Beware of Dork

2008-12-01T14:22:00.003-05:00

So, it took three days of frustrating phone calls and deciphering strange accents, but I've finally managed to order my new G1! Yay! For those of you not aware (ie: not huge dorks like myself) you're probably wondering what the heck a G1 is. Well, check it out!

I'm actually fairly excited about it. I've never owned anything beyond a fairly basic cell phone before, so I'm interested to see if I'll really use a lot of the functionality that the G1 will provide. It integrates nicely with all of the Google applications that I use, and I'm sure I'll be using it to send/receive email at the very least. Having Google Maps in my pocket seems like it'll be especially useful too, and even more so with the built-in GPS. Maybe if I continue justifying my purchase here in my blog I'll feel better about spending $150 on a phone, heh.

The Android Market is another feature I'm eager to check out. It's a completely open source marketplace for applications and other doodads you can download for your G1, and I've already seen some impressive examples of what's up there from friends who own the phone. I'm sure it'll continue to grow (as does anything with the name Google printed on it), and surely even better software is right around the corner. A video recorder would be nice!

I ended up having to stop at my local T-Mobile store during part of my struggle to order the phone, and it reminded me why I do a lot of my major purchases online nowadays. Holiday crowds suck, a lot. Just standing there silently in line for a while gave me a chance to watch some of the people around me. It really makes me wonder if I'm the last person left with any modicum of decency, manners, or respect for those around me. If only the G1 came with a tazer...

Left 4 Dead Review

2008-11-27T16:21:00.002-05:00

Zombies have been used as cannon fodder in games for a long time now, and the endless waves of shambling undead have shown no signs of slowing down in recent years. From classics like “Doom” and “Alone in the Dark” to more modern examples such as the “Resident Evil” series or “Stubbs the Zombie,” gamers continue to show their love for what has practically become a sub-genre all its own. In “Left 4 Dead,” Valve (the developers behind Half Life, Team Fortress 2, and many other huge hits) has taken the zombie game and plastered on the thick layer of the polish that they're known for to create something that feels very familiar, yet new and unique at the same time.

Read the rest here.

I figured I'd throw this up here before slipping into a tryptophan induced coma. Happy Thanksgiving!

On the Edge

2008-11-22T13:44:00.002-05:00

I've been putting a lot of my free time this week into Mirror's Edge in an attempt to finally finish it up. The problem is, the farther I get the more I want to jump off a cliff. I'm really digging the game, and when things are flowing along nicely it's an awesome experience. The problem arises when I get stuck somewhere, and the sudden interruption in my enjoyment frustrates me very quickly. Getting stuck seems to consist of either coming up against a group of bad guys who are ridiculously difficult to avoid or kill, or coming to a dead end with no idea of what acrobatic shenanigans are required to get to where I need to be.

I realize that the game would be a complete snooze without any challenges, so I'm not really sure what could've been done to smooth things out a bit more. I've heard nothing but good things from friends that have played it through, so maybe I'm just spatially challenged or something.

I'll be submitting my review of Mirror's Edge sometime this week, so look for it up here the week after that. My Left 4 Dead review is already headed to the presses, and I'll have it up here too once the print version is out on wednesday. I can already sense the anticipation!

Fable 2 Review

2008-11-21T13:20:00.002-05:00

Life, it might be said, is all about choices, choices of all shapes, sizes and varieties. Everything from how much sugar to put in your morning coffee to the names you give to your children. This ceaseless supply of forks in the road was something that Peter Molyneux tried to leverage in the original Fable. Just about every last choice you could make in the game affected your character in some way. The idea turned out to be somewhat hollow though, as the game's final hours essentially gave players the ability to clean the slate they'd spent so many hours filling up with the consequences of their actions. Recently released, Fable 2 is Molyneux's second attempt to bring this idea to life. He and his team at Lionhead Studios seem to have hit the nail squarely on the head, and I've found this sequel to be much deeper and more thought provoking than the original.

Read the rest here.

Fallout 3 Review

2008-11-21T13:20:00.001-05:00

Despite being released over a decade ago, the original Fallout still receives widespread recognition amongst PC gamers today. That's really saying something when you're talking about a gaming industry that seems to thrive by focusing their magnifying glass on whatever title happens to be this week's latest and greatest. Combining solid, original RPG gameplay with a post-apocalyptic setting clearly influenced by the atomic age of the 1950s, Fallout was practically an instant classic. Later additions to the series were met with less enthusiasm, and after Interplay laid off the team working on Fallout 3 in 2003, many longtime fans were unsure if they'd ever see another sequel. Since announcing that they'd acquired the rights to make the next Fallout game, developer Bethesda Game Studios has been fighting an uphill battle to prove that they've got what it takes to do justice to such a beloved franchise. As a long time Fallout fan, I can honestly say that they've somehow managed to pull it off.

Read the rest here.

Long Days

2008-11-14T13:33:00.002-05:00

I haven't been doing much besides posting my reviews up here lately, as you may have noticed. Things have been busy for me though, and I find that when I actually have the time to think of something interesting to post here, I rarely have the energy to write it up.

The recent deluge of fall releases hasn't helped the situation any, either. In the past few weeks I've burned my way through Far Cry 2, Fallout 3, and I just finished my review of Fable 2 wednesday night. I've enjoyed all three titles pretty thoroughly, but I've got this constant nagging feeling that I was forced to rush my way through them. It's odd to set a deadline for finishing a game because you know you have to write about it. You don't get enough time to check out all the little side quests and other things that you wanted to see, and there's rarely time to go back once you've moved on to the next game. If only there were more hours in a day, I'd be good!

My copy of Mirror's Edge is on the way. I really dug the demo on my 360. It's got a very slick, modern look and feel to it. Blend that with some laid back electronica and the ability to feel like an acrobatic badass, and apparently you've got yourself a recipe for success. I keep hearing complaints that the game isn't long enough, but that's an argument I still don't understand. Games aren't a quantifiable product. I'd rather play through six really good hours than grind my way through fifty hours of something that's being stretched out just for the sake of increasing the length of the game. Of course the obvious example here is Portal, but there haven't been too many other examples as of late. Maybe I'll have another once I finish Mirror's Edge :)

I'm working my way through World of Goo, but I haven't put much time into it lately. I got stuck on a certain level and just haven't had the heart to bang my head against that wall again yet. I spent a lot of time on Bridge Builder and the handful of other construction games that spread around the internet back then, and this definitely gives some of the same sort of vibes. The cartoony style adds something too. Those cute little goo balls definitely have a lot more personality than cold steel girders.

The Left 4 Dead demo has been a ton of fun, but after playing the demo level to death I've kinda set it down again until the full version unlocks on tuesday. I was a little annoyed at the $50 price tag since this DOES just feel like some sort of HL2 mod, but I knew it wasn't a game I could pass up. Damn you, Valve!

That's about it for now.

Far Cry 2 Review

2008-11-10T16:51:00.001-05:00

Every good action movie has that one scene that makes all of us wish we could be the hero on screen. Whether it's driving expensive cars, visiting exotic locales or blazing away at the bad guys with some ridiculously over-sized piece of weaponry, it's hard not to imagine what it might be like to walk a mile in a pair of combat boots. Games have been offering us the chance to try our hand at such scenarios for years now, although most never truly succeed at fully immersing gamers into their fictional worlds. It’s understandable though, as simulating every nuance of a real life environment is nothing short of a daunting task. Departing from the science fiction filled settings that came earlier in the Far Cry series, Far Cry 2 is the latest attempt to finally give gamers a wide open and lifelike world in which they're free to play the part of hero as they see fit. I was skeptical at first, but Ubisoft has hit close to their mark with this one.

Read the rest here.

Unreal World Review

2008-10-29T11:38:00.002-04:00

Alright, I'll admit it: my taste in games can get a little eccentric at times. The internet is full of odd little projects put out by people all over the globe, and occasionally I stumble across one of them and find myself unable to put it down. Unreal World is a game that's full of foreign flavor, odd little quirks and a whole slew of people, places and things you've probably never even heard of before. Set in Finland at a time that's roughly around the iron age, the game spends just as much time teaching you about a culture that many Americans know little about as it does challenging you to survive in what can often be a harsh environment. The unique setting combines with a gameplay style that's not often seen nowadays to create something strange, yet special in its own way.

Read the rest here.

Some of you have probably have of Unreal World before, but maybe not. It's sorta like Dwarf Fortress. One of those weird little indie games that gets around the internet by word of mouth. I've come back to it occasionally to see what's new, as the game has always fascinated me for some strange reason. Sami, the author, is a really interesting fellow, too. I've had some great conversations with him via email, and I even did some translation work for him for the game. He strikes me as the kind of guy I'd love to have a beer and share some stories with. I guess if I ever end up in Finland somehow, I'll have to look him up. ;)

Hinterland Review

2008-10-26T00:05:00.002-04:00

Set in a fantasy world filled with swords, spells and hordes of disgusting monsters, Hinterland certainly borrows from the old ways of Diablo. Players view the world from a 3/4ths overhead perspective, and while it's often easier to use the assigned hotkeys to perform various tasks, the game can be played entirely with the mouse if one so desires. This translates into a control scheme that's easy to learn, meaning you'll spend less time hunting for buttons and more time hunting for bad guys. One complaint is the lack of any sort of a tutorial or introduction, though a help screen can be pulled up at any time to refresh your memory about the basics. The included manual also covers many topics in more detail, but I still found myself hunting around online a time or two when both of these resources failed to answer questions that I had.

Read the rest here.

I feel bad bagging on the game, but it really has some flaws that need to be ironed out. The people over at Tilted Mill were great to deal with, and I always hate giving negative reviews to nice people. That's how this business works though, I suppose.

S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Clear Sky Review

2008-10-20T13:28:00.002-04:00

The year was 1986. Prypiat, Ukraine was a bustling city of over 50,000 people, many of them workers at the nearby Chernobyl nuclear power plant. Some of you (myself included) may not be old enough to remember living through it, but we all know of the tragic events that took place there in the early morning darkness of April 26th of that year. A botched experiment caused an explosion inside the reactor, bringing about one of the most horrific nuclear accidents the world has ever seen. Winds carried radiation all across the globe, the silent killer threatening the lives of billions of people.

Read the rest here.

Looking back, I really hate that "just when you thought it couldn't get any worse!" line. Yeah, just when I thought my writing couldn't sound any cheesier, I wrote that! Bleh!

Ken Burns Effect

2008-10-16T15:36:00.003-04:00

I realize I haven't posted much this week, but things have been busy, and most of my free time has been spent working my way through The War. It's a fifteen hour documentary on World War II by Ken Burns, and it's absolutely amazing. I've been a history buff for a long time, and anything about the second World War has always fascinated me. But this, it goes so far above and beyond any other film I've seen.

The film follows a handful of soldiers from four American towns, and the experiences of these men and their loved ones. Every single last one of those men had an incredible story to tell, and even after all this time you can still see the pain and sorrow in their eyes when they talk about the horrible things that they saw. It amazes me that boys, not even men, much younger than I am now, managed to stand up and fight their way through such experiences. I look at those veterans and know that I'll never be half the man that they were, even if I live twice as long as they do. It almost makes me feel ashamed to be part of a generation that eats Big Macs, listens to Ipods, and drives around guzzling gas in their car while so many people from the generation that gave us these excesses never lived to see it all. We've never had our test, our hardships to overcome. We've never had to sacrifice like that, never had to endure such awful things, never had to fear losing our freedom. Perhaps worst of all is how few of my generation even remember that terrible war. They know about the Nazis, and they've heard about Pearl Harbor, but they've never found it worth their time to really learn about the battles that were fought, the men that were lost, and the hardships that every last American endured for four long years. It's appalling that such a thing could ever be forgotten.

I'm not trying to sound cheesy, and I think every word that could ever be said about that war was already uttered long ago. It's just hard not to have an abundance of emotion after watching such a thing. It's nearly inconceivable. How did they make it through all of that?

It almost makes me wish I could go back in time to live through it all. Not because I enjoy war, but because those were some of the finest people to ever walk the face of the planet. Politicians were real people, and combining any ten of today's politicians still wouldn't equal a Franklin Roosevelt, or a Winston Churchill. Generals read from teleprompters after being powdered with makeup for their press conferences. They don't vow to return like MacArthur, or piss in the Rhine on the way over the bridge because they'd "always wanted to" like Patton did. The only real people involved in that mess today are the men and women in uniform. It's unfortunate that their hands are bound by generals and politicians who are about as real as the green plastic army men I had when I was a kid.

I'm not sure that there's really a central point to this post. I just had a lot of thoughts after watching The War and needed to pour some of them out. It's a bit of a mess, but at least I got it off my chest.

Down With The Sickness

2008-10-10T14:10:00.003-04:00

I just finished up my Stalker: Clear Sky review this morning, and I'll have it up here once it's published next week. I had to drag my ass out of bed to get it done though, as I think I'm finally coming down with that cold that everyone seems to be getting. My whole body feels like complete crap, I can't get warm no matter how many blankets I pile on top of myself, and my head feels all screwy. What a wonderful start to the weekend!

Rumors abound that the console version of Fallout 3 has already been leaked. The release is scheduled for October 28th, making this one hell of an early look at the game. So far I'm hearing that it looks "just like Oblivion but with guns", and that assessment isn't making me too optimistic about it. Oblivion was pretty cool in a lot of ways, but it certainly had its' quirks and limitations too. The idea of those issues coming anywhere near the much beloved Fallout universe is a real downer, to be honest. At any rate, I'll have my review of the game up here sooner or later, depending on when Bethesda decides to send me my copy.

Now, I'm off to forage for some tomato soup. Maybe it'll help me feel a little better.

Rock Band 2 Review

2008-10-08T15:49:00.001-04:00

When it launched last November, Rock Band raised the bar on rhythm-based games. It featured the lead and bass guitars that the Guitar Hero series made standard, but also upped the ante by allowing players to test their skills at drumming and singing, too. It didn't hurt that the game also had entertaining game modes, one of the best multiplayer experiences to come along in years and more downloadable content than you can shake a stick at. As great as the original Rock Band was, there were still a few rough edges. If you stare at any masterpiece long enough, you're bound to find flaws. Luckily, developer Harmonix seems to have gone over the game with a magnifying glass, and Rock Band 2 makes me wonder why they didn't do it this way in the first place.

I really wish they'd let me write the headlines on these things. Yeesh. Read the rest here.

I've also become aware of several mistakes I made in the article since I wrote it, and I'm feeling kind of silly about it. For instance, I was under the impression that the bass with the dual strum bar was the stock Rock Band 2 guitar, when in fact it was a third party peripheral I was using. Meh. I'm usually pretty solid about checking up on my facts, and I always make sure I put in enough time with a game to feel comfortable with reviewing it, but this is the first time I've seen such a stupid error in print. Ugh.

Live and learn I suppose. I'll just have to redouble my efforts when it comes to fact checking. I still look like a tool, though.

Facebook

2008-10-06T06:41:00.001-04:00

So, I've just spent the last hour playing around with my Facebook profile. I created it a while back just to check it out, but never really used it much. Sites like Facebook and Myspace have never really interested me, as I don't quite understand the point of it all. I'm a dork, and I've still got more friends than I have time for, so why do I need a list of strangers that I'll never meet on a website somewhere? It also feels weird to add people you DO know personally, because really, do I need an RSS feed telling me that you just fed your cat?

I guess this means I'm giving in, huh? The real reason for my sudden interest in Facebook is really about professional networking. Sort of like this blog, I suppose. A place where I can put up info about myself, scraps of my writing, stupid pictures, that sorta thing. I'm just going to put some basic stuff up for now and see where things go. If it's annoying or if I don't find myself doing anything useful with it, I guess I'll crawl back under my rock.

While I'm at it, I might as well try to get as many friends on my list as possible. Not that I care or anything, you know. It's just for testing purposes, I swear! At any rate, if you're reading this, have a Facebook account, and actually know me in some capacity or another, hit me up and we can be e-buddies. Yay.

Mount and Blade Review

2008-10-03T16:20:00.000-04:00

Most of you out there have probably never heard of Mount and Blade before. Like many other independently developed games that are floating around out there on the web, this title is the product of a small group of people who began working on it in their spare time. TaleWorlds hails from Turkey, and their tiny band of six employees have poured their all into bringing the game to life. They've also managed to effectively compensate for their lack of a million dollar marketing budget by leveraging the internet to create a modest but active fan base for Mount and Blade. If it weren't for digital distribution and the world wide web, this and many other great games would never make their way into the hands of gamers.

Read the rest here.

New York Times

2008-09-29T06:06:00.001-04:00

Oddly enough, our car from the LeMons race just won't quit. I was sent a link to a New York Times piece about the race, and whose car do I see right at the top of the article? Ours, of course, along with one of the others that was there. It's sorta strange how it keeps turning up. You can also spot the car in a few places in the accompanying video, and there's an excellent interview with LeMons creator Jay Lamm discussing the spirit of the race and how it all got started.

I am SO doing this again next year.

Of Chex And Back Troubles

2008-09-26T13:49:00.000-04:00

If only I'd known what was in store for me after my last post! I thought being sore was bad, but I ended up pulling a back muscle while hauling a bunch of the leftover pool parts away the next day. Now it hurts like crazy to stand, to sit, and even to lie down most of the time. I've got a review due today, and I'm finding it incredibly hard to concentrate on writing when there's this constant sharp pain in my lower back. Ugh.

On a completely unrelated note, does anyone remember Chex Quest from WAAAAY back in the day? It was a goofy Doom clone meant to advertise for the Chex brand, and you're some sort of superhero who runs around and fights these big slime monsters. I don't remember all the details after all this time, but I couldn't help laughing today when I found out someone has been working on a sequel. It's free to download, and I was shocked to find that it runs flawlessly on my Vista Ultimate 64 bit machine. A little dose of nostalgia now and then is always fun.

I've mostly been playing Mount and Blade this week, and that's what my review is on. It's been in development for a long time, and it's good to see such a small developer's efforts finally paying off. The game has come very far from the early builds that I remember, and I really dig the whole Darklands feel that it has (yes, more nostalgia!). PC Zone UK wrote a review and gave it a 62 out of 100, but after reading it over I can't help but think that the reviewer might not have had the strongest grasp on the game. Damn you young punks and your lack of respect for the classics! I've been waiting for Darklands 2 (or its equivalent) since I played the first one back in 1992. Oh Microprose, wherever did you wander off to?

I mentioned Rock Band 2 previously, and I got the chance to play it with some friends for a few hours last weekend. As I'd feared, things turned out to be quite the sausage party, and literally so after someone busted out a box of these weird ass bagel things with chunks of hotdog inside. Who thinks this shit up? But yeah, Rock Band 2. It's just like Rock Band, but better! It's hard to explain a lot of the differences to someone who isn't familiar with the first game, but Rock Band veterans will easily spot the little improvements sprinkled throughout the sequel. Vocals are more forgiving now, opportunities to perform hammerons and pulloffs are easier to spot now, and a lot of little annoyances such as created characters being tied to one particular instrument have been addressed. There's also a new No Fail Mode, meaning you and your drunken friends can wail all night without fear of fan rejection, though you're prevented from saving any progress that you've made while No Fail is enabled. I'm hoping to put some more time in with the game this weekend, and I plan to review it for my column next week.

Feel free to blame my back for any nonsensical rambling that may be occurring here. As they say, brevity is the soul of wit. Or, at least it spares readers from straining their eyes on my endless prattle.

Now, I'm off to finish my review.

Pooled Muscle

2008-09-20T17:45:00.000-04:00

I spent about six hours tearing down an above-ground pool today, and lemme tell ya, there are definitely better ways to spend a saturday afternoon. Especially with the beautiful weather we've been having lately. I apologize for the horrible pun in the title, but let's see you come up with something better when you're sore, tired, and stuffed full of tuna sub. Nyah.

A nap is certainly in order however, as I've got a full night of work ahead of me. I mean, SOMEONE has to go out to Lakewood to check out Rock Band 2. The game isn't just going to review itself, you know! That's me for you, always taking one for the team!

Extra bonus points if I manage to get some four player Castle Crashers going on.

Extra special bonus points if it doesn't turn out to be a total sausage party.

Castle Crashers Part Deux

2008-09-19T12:38:00.000-04:00

Tom Chick wrote a little followup with the results of the LeMons event as well as some of the pics we took while we were there. He also included a big summary I did of everything that happened. I finally get two paragraphs on a fairly big gaming site, and they're not even about gaming! Bah!

Oh well! Thanks anyway, Tom!

Telephone Poles Suck

2008-09-15T13:31:00.000-04:00

After spending a weekend at the LeMons race getting my ass beaten by the sun and rain, I had the luck to return home to no power courtesy of Hurricane Ike's leftovers. Apparently I wasn't the only one, as I've seen reports that 336,000 people in Ohio were without power last night. Fourteen hours later, the juice is finally flowing again.

Every time this happens, I wonder why we're not burying power cables yet. Not only would we be rid of lots of ugly wooden poles, but my power wouldn't go out every time someone sneezes. I guess living in the boonies doesn't help either.

24 Hours of LeMons

2008-09-12T18:00:00.000-04:00

Some friends and I will be competing in the 24 Hours of LeMons event in Toledo, Ohio this saturday and sunday. Basically, it's a 24 hour race where none of the cars can be worth more than $500. It's a good opportunity to relax, have a few beers, and watch scrap metal go around in circles for a day or so.

Our entry will be what's left of Dave's third BMW, complete with a pretty awesome paint job. The guys did some great work on it, and it sorta became this strange amalgamation of everyone's interests expressed in mural form. Castle Crashers has been pretty popular with our group lately, and my friend Chris is responsible for the green guy on the hood.

The rest of the pics.

Apparently I wasn't the only one impressed with their work, as Tom Chick mentioned us in his Fidgit blog yesterday. Hopefully we'll have something besides a pile of smoking wreckage for Tom's followup on monday.

If you're anywhere near the Toledo Speedway this weekend and happen to spot a car made out of bricks and covered in video game nonsense, stop by and say hi!

My Firstest Blog Post Ever

2008-09-12T17:42:00.000-04:00

After much prompting by friends and colleagues, I've finally decided to carve out my own little corner of the blogging world. Hello world!

I've been working part time as a gaming journalist for almost five years now, on and off. I've written for several newspapers, including the biggest paper in Ohio, and I'm hoping to one day turn my writing talents into something that'll put food on the table a bit more reliably.

In that vein, I'm planning to throw a bunch of my writing up here for folks to peruse. I'm not trying to become mini-IGN or anything, but at least I'll have a place to point anyone who's interested in reading my stuff to.

So stick around, put your feet up, and enjoy digging through the forthcoming piles of random crap I'll be posting here.