Recently in Games Category

One of the games I got for Christmas was Mass Effect for the Xbox 360.  This game was made by BioWare who is well known for their long line of RPGs, recently with more action and less turn based.  The only previous game I have played by BioWare was Knights of the Old Rebulic for the original Xbox.  Most of their games have not been the type I like since I am not a traditional RPG fan.  I also played KOTOR2 which was very similar but made by Obsidian instead.  I played the original KOTOR over my Christmas break for the 2003 holiday season.  It was my first year working at a school and had a long time off.  I then spent the 2004 holiday break playing KOTOR2.  Each of these took about 40 hours of total play time, some of those hours were more enjoyable than others.  Now for the 2007 holiday break I have spent a good amount of time playing Mass Effect.  The total time according to the game clock was 37 hours, however I think it was less than 35 and there were just times I left paused for quite a while.

As I said I don't usually play RPGs since I don't like them as much as other game types.  I got into KOTOR based on the idea it was a Star Wars storyline.  I wanted to play Mass Effect as I trusted the developer and there looked to be some real advancements in the game this time around.  The game is based 150-200 years in the future with the Human race being able to travel the universe and having met many other alien races.  If you played KOTOR (or I am told any other recent BioWare game) you immediately know the basics of this game.  There is the main character and a possible group of six additional characters on the team.  When you go on a mission you pick two others to complete your team of three.

I will get the bad parts of the game out of the way first.  The game's interface and controls are not straightforward and they are also not explained during the game much at all.  There is a little explanation in the manual, but if like me you didn't read the manual cover to cover you may be lost even more than usual.  This was most apparent in that it took me 10 hours of game play before I knew about the ability to use and control powers in the game, that is just silly.  The next annoying interface is inventory management.  Equiping your players, buying and selling equipment and finding the best mix of equipment literally took me hours throughout the game.  This has been a problem for this game engine since at least KOTOR and I know there has to be a better way.  Simple things like only showing items that apply to a given character would be great or being able to manage all 7 players at once without having to change screens would help too.  I sure hope they improve it in Mass Effect 2.  Other common complaints didn't seem to effect much or at all.  I never had a problem with save games getting corrupt or the autosave system.  I had a handful of frame rate issues, but very rarely.  The loading screens while more frequent than I would like never seemed too bad, that might be due to lowered expectations due to many reviews mentioning it.  The last little issue was texture pop, especially from loading.  You would see a blob, which would then refine its geometry and then usually two steps of texture application.  It didn't happen often but was very obvious when it did.

Reading that last paragraph you might think I thought the game was broken or flawed, that really isn't the case though.  The best way I can prove that is to say that I played this game for 35 hours and thoroughly enjoyed it.  You may see other reviews saying they finished the game in 15 hours, which I am sure is possible however to do it you would have to skip a large majority of the side quests and only concentrate on the main plot quests.  I chose however to do every possible side quest (those that were offered to me) and as a result reached level 50 in the game which I think can only be done by doing everything.

The reason I played all the side stuff is that I have a collectors mentality for the most part.  The other reason was that often the side quests fleshed out character back stories or added to the overall story.  The one downside to all the side quests was the repetitiveness of the survey missions as you explore the universe.  The other problem was the landing missions.  These landing missions were mostly driving a 6 wheel armored personnel carrier around chunks of the planet.  This driving missions weren't too bad and some were actually quite fun as you explored and encountered enemies.  The downside was in many cases the terrain seemed to be generated by a random map maker with a likeness for steep cliffs and jagged edges.  It was frustrating at times trying to climb certain mountains because they were basically vertical with a few pixel wide peaks.

The story was pretty average sci-fi fare.  The universe it compares most to for me is Babylon 5.  There is a central space station called the Citadel that serves as the hub for government and has mysterious beginnings.  A lot of the story is about a parent alien race that created the technology that was found and allowed later races to rapidly advance.  The last major chunk of the story is a hidden race of ancient super evil.  Your goal as the main character is to investigate what is happening concerning the main villain.  In the process you learn of the ancient race coming to kill everything and begin trying to stop it as well.

One of the much touted advances in this game was the new dialogue system.  This system allows for 2-6 responses to a branching discussion tree.  The tree is based upon the main characters backstory which was chosen during the character creation.  It is also based on your previous actions in the game.  The last two pieces are whether you have upgraded your character with either charm, intimidation or both.  These allow you to push the conversation using those talents.  The main difference is whether you want to be a paragon (good) or a renegade (bad).  Often times a renegade will choose to beat up or kill someone to get something from them rather than verbally convincing them.  The end result is often the same it is just how you get there and people's reactions to your methods.

The story got better and better as it went I really enjoyed playing through it.  The ending is quite a thrill ride.  The only complaint I have about the ending is that you choose your party members with probably close to 10% of the game remaining.  I hope you choose well.  The ending is obviously left open for sequels which is no surprise since this has been sold as a trilogy all along.  The question is can BioWare get all three out on the 360 before it goes away.  If not it may be a long time before the final part comes out.

This game was assumed to be a game of the year contender prior to release.  After release it wasn't quite so perfect.  For me it is in the top five if not top three for me.  I still think I liked BioShock better simply because it was just as good if not better but it was better paced and more condensed experience.  If you liked KOTOR or other BioWare games you will probably enjoy this one.  Further bang for the buck is really there.  There are even incentives to play through again, which I may try and just do the story only and speed through it.

One of the features of Mass Effect for the Xbox 360 is a very detailed character creator, especially in regards to the face.  I decided to attempt to re-create me.  Looking at the pictures side by side I might have been able to do better, but I think I did ok on my first attempt.  Let me know what you think.  Oh and this a picture of me right about when I beat it after 35 hours of playing it.  I will talk more about the game itself in a later post.

I am not sure if I was tweaking up my eyebrows in my picture or I just got them really wrong on Mass Effect.  Also it appears due to shadows that I have the eyes sunken too much in Mass Effect.  I think the eyes, nose, chin and hair are pretty close though.  I may try again just to see how much closer I can get.  Oh and I needed to tweak the ears closer to head.

One of the greatest video game months for me is coming to a close with Halo 3.  It has been almost 3 years since the release of Halo 2.  There is an assumption that many have waited until now to purchase Xbox 360 consoles, we will see once the September NPD numbers come out or sooner via VG Chartz.  The pre-orders alone for the game top 1 million and may be closer to 2 million.  There is an expectation of 3-4 million copies to be sold in the first week.

The hype machine for Halo 3 has been in full effect since about the E3 timeframe this year.  Hype had been happening even before but it was revved up to full speed this summer.  Everything from TV commercials to branded Pontiac cars and pre-order sales at 7-Eleven stores.  If you want Hal0 3 Slurpees, Mountain Dew, Doritos or several other items you are also covered now.  Also if what is out now isn't enough there is more coming like action figures and other branded merchandise.

The madness will truly start Monday night as people start to lineup for all the midnight launch parties across the country.  I pre-ordered my Legendary Edition just after Thanksgiving last fall.  I got my shipment notice from Best Buy late last Thursday.  Unfortunately it is being shipped via the UPS /USPS combo method.  The last time Best Buy did this it took quite a while to actually get the package, I am hoping to just get it by next weekend.

See you in online on live in Halo 3 multi-player!  Maybe I will actually play a few more games online than I seemed to on Halo 2 according to my stats.

Originally I was going to put this in with my birthday post but I felt it deserved its own post.  Some small spoilers ahead if you haven't played Bioshock.

I didn't think I had time to play Bioshock on my birthday.  I didn't start playing it until the night of Wednesday Sept 12th and kept playing on a day off I had on Sept 13th.  I have played it quite a lot since then until yesterday when I got the last of the achievements I was going to get.  I actually got all but one achievement which is for beating the game on the hard difficulty level.  I did all but 3-5 without any help from a walk through.  In the end there was a few things that I didn't notice or realize.  I went back and found some audio recordings and one upgrade station I missed to get some achievements.  I also had to restore and redo one part because I bumped off a character too early on accident which would have eliminated about 5 different achievements for several reasons.

I have to say Bioshock is one of the best games I have ever played.  At its core it is primarily a shooter with some interesting weapons (powers).  The thing that really makes the game great is how it is all tied together.  The story is really good and well told using numerous methods.  The design and layout of the underwater world of Rapture is quite amazing.  Also little details like sound effects and music seemed to always be there when you expected them.  There were a few powers and weapons I rarely if ever used other than to see how they worked.
My order of most used weapons:

1. Wrench
2. Research Camera (helps you learn how to attack enemies)
3. Grenade Launcher (primary weapon against big daddies)
4. Shotgun
5. Pistol (rarely used)
6. Machine Gun (rarely used)
7. Crossbow (never used)
8. Chemical Thrower (never used)

My order of most used plasmids:

1. Electro Bolt (my favorite by far)
2. Security Bullseye
3. Incinerate
4. Hypnotize Big Daddy
5. Telekinesis (mostly used to get stuff and every once in a while against nitro splicers)
6. Enrage

I never even acquired (bought) Winter Blast, Insect Swarm, Cyclone Trap or Target Dummy.

The story had some pretty good twists in it and made you think about what you had done and why.  The ending boss seemed a little out of place in the way the fight went.  The ending while very short seemed satisfying, there are two primary endings and one slight variation.  I would highly recommend this game if you area shooter fan at all or just want a really well done atmosphere and story.  You can see what others think on Game Rankings, it seems most liked it.  One small hint, don't attack Sander Cohen when you have the chance, it will allow you the chance to get several achievements.

This year my birthday was an all video game one.  First, Kelly got me a Nintendo Wii.  She actually gave it to me in early August.  She says she did this because she was worried I would buy one for myself, I think it was because she wanted to play it herself and beat me in various Wii Sports games.  She also got me Wii Play mostly for the same reason everyone else does it comes with a controller so you get a game for $10 essentially.  She also got me the Wii version of The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess.  It was a very complete package of a system and games to enjoy.  We went out and got an extra Nunchuk which was the only missing piece.

We first played a bunch of Wii Sports and Wii Play.  Kelly seemed to really enjoy virtually punching me in boxing.  Kelly has also had friends come over and play some games with her.  I have spent a while with Zelda already but I am probably only 10-15% done so far.

My brother also got me Super Paper Mario for my birthday.  Lastly, my parents got me Bioshock for the Xbox 360.  I think in both cases Kelly gave some advice on what to get me.  I was surprised she knew I wanted them both.

Less than two weeks ago I posted about ATI bundling in a version of the Valve's Half-life 2 collection called Black Box.  Then today I see this story on IGN that it has been canceled.  Admittedly it is only the retail version, but still ATI has done it again somehow.  Next it will get delayed to next spring or something.

Way back in the Summer of 2003 ATI (now AMD) announced the 9600 PRO / 9800 XT line of graphics card and said they would include Half-Life 2.  Subsequently Half-Life 2 was delayed by Valve from its originally announced release date of 9/30/2003.  As a result ATI simply included a coupon and it was assumed the game would follow shortly.  A story about this is here.  In it ATI details on 10/25/2003 that they are throwing in some older games to make up for the delay.

Fast forward almost a year to 10/18/2004 and the game finally has gone gold as can be seen here.  The game was finally available to those with coupons more than a year after most had bought their video cards.  In the meantime the cards they bought had aged quite a lot for video cards.

Now today ATI/AMD has officially announced that they are bundling Half Life 2 : Episode 2 in the Black Box package which also includes Team Fortress 2 and Portal with their latest graphics cards.  A picture of the voucher is here.  This game has already seen various delays and is currently slated for Quarter 3 2007.  Why ATI is doing this again who knows.

At this point I just hope something doesn't happen to delay the release of HL2: EP2 even further.  It will already have been close to 3 years since the initial release of HL2 and the second of its "episodic" content.  HL2 episodes are even worse than Sopranos in their release schedule.

Since Christmas I have gotten a few games and had a chance to play them.  Who knows at somepoint I might play some of the PC games waiting for me, most likely not until I get a new machine.

Gears of War - This was and still is the best looking game on any console.  Some will say that it is all fluff and no substance but I think that is unfair.  There is a good 1st/3rd person shooter in this game and it has great co-op.  I got to play with Chris a whole bunch and almost completed the whole game co-op.  It is a relatively short game, but full of action.  Hopefully it also shows what we will be coming down the line from Unreal Engine 3 games.  It is a lot of fun if you are into shooters.

Lost Planet: Extreme Condition - I wasn't totally sure what to expect of this game.  It hadn't gotten a lot of good reviews.  It is a fairly simplistic 3rd person run and gun shooter.  It doesn't have a lot of depth but it is just a bunch of fun.  About 60% of the game you are on foot with various weapons.  One of the fun parts is grabbing the guns of mechs and dragging them around.  The other 40% of the game is spent in the aforementioned mechs.  There are quite few different mechs to use some I liked better than others.  You can also modify the weapons on each by grabbing of other mechs you find.  The game wasn't very long but it was almost non-stop action.  There was also a pretty good storyline that was fleshed out via well made cut scenes.  A good straight action shooter.

Crackdown - I have to admit that the game came with an entry into the Halo 3 Beta helped push me to get this game.  However it is a really fun game.  Many will say this game is like GTA or Saints Row and it is in regards to being an open area game, but otherwise I don't think it is that similar.  You play as bionic cop who can upgrade with experience.  As the game goes on you get stronger, faster, better at jumping and better at shooting or explosives.  The game has a really large island to explore and is also very vertical especially compared to other games.  There were points where I had to look away from screen as I jumped since it was giving me vertigo.  Unfortunately the boss battles are a little too easy after a point.  You simply run up and kick them repeatedly.  The game though is just fun, it was the first game in a while that I really wanted to go back to and play for hours (much to Kelly's chagrin).  I definitely recommend this game.

Viva Piñata - For Christmas I attempted to get Kelly into games a little more.  One of my attempts was Viva Piñata.  In this game you create a garden to attract piñatas.  After you get them to your garden you feed them, breed them and generally take care of them.  Kelly seems to really like this game.  Usually she loses all track of time and then yells at me for making (letting) her play for so long.  Usually she gets most frustrated at the game when it interrupts her.  I don't think this is really a kids game since it is a little complex, but it is more a family friendly game than any of the above.

When the 360 was first being announced one of its features that was touted was a changeable faceplate. I must admit when I first heard this I thought is was pretty silly. I just never had any desire to customize previous game systems. As time has gone on there have been some pretty cool faceplates released and even ones that allow someone to make their own. I found one that I even liked so much that I bought it. The picture at the top is of the standard white face plate cover mounted in my rack. The one at the bottom is of the new carbon fiber face plate. It isn't real carbon fiber, just looks like it. I really like how the new faceplate blends in with my rack much better. It would have been much harder and warranty voiding to make this type of change without the console being built to have removable faceplates. Maybe it was a good idea after all.

On Friday August 4th Kelly and I drove down to Wolf Trap in Vienna, VA to go to another non-traditional symphony performance.  We went to see Play! - A Video Game Symphony.  The show was almost sold out, just a few single seats left.  Very much a different crowd than a usual night at the symphony.  The normal conductor came out and mentioned some other shows since the crowd was not a normal one.

The entire National Symphony Orchestra as well as a choral group was on hand for the performance.  There were three large screens setup to show both the performers as well as video from the various games.  The conductor travels with the show so he knows the material very well.

Almost half the show was Square/Enix games and primarily Final Fantasy ones.  The strange thing was that all but one of these games had no video footage.  It was especially odd since this show is a follow-up to one that was only Final Fantasy so one would think that the rights issues would be resolved.  They did show footage of Blue Dragon which is an upcoming game.

The rest of the show was an array of older games such as Super Mario Brothers and Sonic the Hedgehog to newer games like Metal Gear Solid.  The older games had new re-scored pieces since the originals were not very symphonic.  The newer games were more direct renditions of the original game music.  They premiered music from Prey as well as Blue Dragon at Wolf Trap.  I am not sure if they will do them at other shows.

My favorite music was from Halo.  I just never got into the Final Fantasy games so that music didn't do as much for me.  Super Mario Brothers was my second favorite and followed up Sonic.  It is too bad they didn't do some of the older PC music like that from Wing Commander or 7th Guest.

It was a really enjoyable evening.  Wolf Trap is really great place for things like this.  It was a bit warm but otherwise pleasant.