My TV broke last week and it's amazing just how many games and films you desperately want to watch all of a sudden when that happens! Although, in fairness, I actually did! I had been busy with my Open Uni work and had said to myself that once I'd finished I'd give myself some solid gaming time, but the evening before, it broke...
Arg!
My work is getting rid of some of their store TVs, so I should be getting one of those, which is very fortunate timing, but they haven't confirmed yet and I have a feeling they'll go back on their word.
Also, and this is a big one, my brothers had finally sorted their porting issues out last weekend! People should break their TVs more frequently if it's going to inspire this sort of enterprise.
Not having a TV has allowed me to crack on with other projects though. Wastelands is ready to go for the next play test and the draft rules are nearly complete.
Tuesday, 27 November 2012
Sunday, 25 November 2012
Machinarium, Double Fine and Humble Bundle
I have just completed a point and click adventure called Machinarium, where you play a robot, who goes through an adventure to find his girlfriend, foil and evil plot and save the city. You have to solve some quite tricky puzzles and think very laterally to figure out how to progress. I think the game probably didn't take much longer than 5 hours, but it felt so much more than a quick game. When I completed it I felt I'd really experienced something engrossing and fulfilling, like finishing a really well written, thoughtful book.
Point and click adventure games are something that have really passed me by. I remember kids playing them when I was young, but I never really thought much about it as I was much more into RTSs, shooters and RPGs. I remember games such as Sam and Max Hit the Road and Sercrets of Monkey Island being popular, but just never thought about trying them out myself. In some ways I feel like I've missed out on a really interesting and enjoying genre of game and intend to rectify it by checking out some old classics, when I get the opportunity. I know you can get all the Monkey Island games from XBLA. I'll check out the first, then see about the other/rest (can't remember if there's more than 2...).
In the new year Double Fine have a new adventure game coming out called, The Cave. This is more of your more up to date platformer/adventure game - not a point and click jobby. And with multiplayer support I'm looking forward to hopefully getting some mates over to indulge in it when it comes out.
If you have never tried a point and click adventure, or are a big fan and appreciate a great sense of humour, then try Host Master and the Conquest of Humour. I spent a good hour hunting down the various hidden jokes, and laughing and how bad they were, the other day. Well worth a look!
Any finally, if you like sticking it to the system and supporting up coming games and game ideas, then head over to Humble Bundle. They've just finished collecting for their last one, but they'll no doubt have another going soon. Basically you can donate however much you want to the site and divide what you have given to either the developers, charity or the website, in which ever proportion you like. I was drawn to it because Double Fine are doing their Amnesia Fortnight, where they put down all their game development projects and spend 2 weeks making prototype games. If you're interested go over to Humble Bundle and follow the link at the top. There are some really interesting ideas and I look forward to seeing what comes out of it.
Point and click adventure games are something that have really passed me by. I remember kids playing them when I was young, but I never really thought much about it as I was much more into RTSs, shooters and RPGs. I remember games such as Sam and Max Hit the Road and Sercrets of Monkey Island being popular, but just never thought about trying them out myself. In some ways I feel like I've missed out on a really interesting and enjoying genre of game and intend to rectify it by checking out some old classics, when I get the opportunity. I know you can get all the Monkey Island games from XBLA. I'll check out the first, then see about the other/rest (can't remember if there's more than 2...).
In the new year Double Fine have a new adventure game coming out called, The Cave. This is more of your more up to date platformer/adventure game - not a point and click jobby. And with multiplayer support I'm looking forward to hopefully getting some mates over to indulge in it when it comes out.
If you have never tried a point and click adventure, or are a big fan and appreciate a great sense of humour, then try Host Master and the Conquest of Humour. I spent a good hour hunting down the various hidden jokes, and laughing and how bad they were, the other day. Well worth a look!
Any finally, if you like sticking it to the system and supporting up coming games and game ideas, then head over to Humble Bundle. They've just finished collecting for their last one, but they'll no doubt have another going soon. Basically you can donate however much you want to the site and divide what you have given to either the developers, charity or the website, in which ever proportion you like. I was drawn to it because Double Fine are doing their Amnesia Fortnight, where they put down all their game development projects and spend 2 weeks making prototype games. If you're interested go over to Humble Bundle and follow the link at the top. There are some really interesting ideas and I look forward to seeing what comes out of it.
Tuesday, 20 November 2012
Double Fine Adventure and other things
Last week I became a "slacker-backer" for Double Fine's Kickstarter project called Double Fine Adventure. Being a slacker-backer basically means I missed the kickstarter itself but have hopped on the bandwagon before release of the game. For $15 I will get access to a digital download of the game, I have access to the backer's forum and the documentary series, which is being made along side the side by another company. The documentary series was my real motive for pledging.
Since last week I have watched all the documentary videos so far and have found them facinating! Watching how Tim Schafer and co go about constructing their game world through concept art, story boards and test programs is inspiring. I cannot imagine ever working in an environment like that, it seems like a dream world that doesn't actually exist.
My Open Uni work is currently getting in the way of making amendments to Wastelands, which is developing nicely. I was able to play an ENTIRE GAME of it this last weekend with my brother and a mate. There were some trials rules which we discussed when the arose, which I think we resolved pretty well, but the game took less than 2 hours and I think once you get people who know the game it'll be more like an hour to 90 minutes for 4 players - first time through always takes a little longer!
My brother won the game by getting a V10 engine and all the parts within the first 15 minutes of the start!! I think I should have shuffled the cards better, or he has the luck of the devil... But despite this it still took the full amount of time for him to win, as we all fought to win Championship Races and play cards to slow his progress. I came so close to installing a V8, which with my supercharger would have been a match for his V10! But I couldn't get to where I needed to buy a car part I needed before the next Championship Race came around.
I'm so pleased at how Wastelands is going! At the moment though, I must focus on Open Uni work; it is important and once I get through this course I'll be able to start taking some more practical courses, which might lead to the dream...
Since last week I have watched all the documentary videos so far and have found them facinating! Watching how Tim Schafer and co go about constructing their game world through concept art, story boards and test programs is inspiring. I cannot imagine ever working in an environment like that, it seems like a dream world that doesn't actually exist.
My Open Uni work is currently getting in the way of making amendments to Wastelands, which is developing nicely. I was able to play an ENTIRE GAME of it this last weekend with my brother and a mate. There were some trials rules which we discussed when the arose, which I think we resolved pretty well, but the game took less than 2 hours and I think once you get people who know the game it'll be more like an hour to 90 minutes for 4 players - first time through always takes a little longer!
My brother won the game by getting a V10 engine and all the parts within the first 15 minutes of the start!! I think I should have shuffled the cards better, or he has the luck of the devil... But despite this it still took the full amount of time for him to win, as we all fought to win Championship Races and play cards to slow his progress. I came so close to installing a V8, which with my supercharger would have been a match for his V10! But I couldn't get to where I needed to buy a car part I needed before the next Championship Race came around.
I'm so pleased at how Wastelands is going! At the moment though, I must focus on Open Uni work; it is important and once I get through this course I'll be able to start taking some more practical courses, which might lead to the dream...
Tuesday, 13 November 2012
Wastelands v2
I had a brain wave the other week and have completely over-hauled the game mechanics for Wastelands: project rage, which these days I'm just calling Wastelands.
Last wednesday I got a chance to play test the new rule mechanics with my usual play testers and it was a success, but we weren't able to finish the game! We played enough for me to know how I want to push forward and I hope to have a proper play test soon, maybe tomorrow day or evening...
I'm really excited about Wastelands at the moment, I really feel like it can be a work out. I joined Deviant Art just over a week ago, but I just don't know how to approach potential artists without sounding like a weirdo! I'd love to get in touch with some old friends, but I'm apprehensive as to how they would react as I haven't spoken to some of them for years... maybe 5 or more years?! How crazy is that!
How I really want to progress is to get friends together who have the talents or the desire to develope their talents in such a way that we can push the game forward and have fun on the way. The core game is down, or at least very close to being down.
My job list for Wastelands is now:
- playtest, playtest, PLAYTEST!
- finish writing new rules with new mechanics (I'm very close to doing this)
- find art or artist and then get some preliminary black and white sketches to start fitting onto the cards.
- look at ways of producing better quality cards.
- Website...?
So yes, I've still no idea how I'm going to tackle this, along with my Open Uni work (which I enjoy), learning Swedish (which I do out of interest and I enjoy) and my job (which I loath with every fibre of my being).
Here's to progress!
Last wednesday I got a chance to play test the new rule mechanics with my usual play testers and it was a success, but we weren't able to finish the game! We played enough for me to know how I want to push forward and I hope to have a proper play test soon, maybe tomorrow day or evening...
I'm really excited about Wastelands at the moment, I really feel like it can be a work out. I joined Deviant Art just over a week ago, but I just don't know how to approach potential artists without sounding like a weirdo! I'd love to get in touch with some old friends, but I'm apprehensive as to how they would react as I haven't spoken to some of them for years... maybe 5 or more years?! How crazy is that!
How I really want to progress is to get friends together who have the talents or the desire to develope their talents in such a way that we can push the game forward and have fun on the way. The core game is down, or at least very close to being down.
My job list for Wastelands is now:
- playtest, playtest, PLAYTEST!
- finish writing new rules with new mechanics (I'm very close to doing this)
- find art or artist and then get some preliminary black and white sketches to start fitting onto the cards.
- look at ways of producing better quality cards.
- Website...?
So yes, I've still no idea how I'm going to tackle this, along with my Open Uni work (which I enjoy), learning Swedish (which I do out of interest and I enjoy) and my job (which I loath with every fibre of my being).
Here's to progress!
Wednesday, 3 October 2012
3 games I will be buying. Well... I have 1 of them already.
I pre-ordered Doom 3 BFG edition ages ago, but that's not one of them 3 as it's an old classic that I played to death years ago and I couldn't resist spending on an updated fancier version which I can play on my xbox.
The 3 games are Fifa 13, Forza Horizon and Borderlands 2.
Now, I may have mentioned somewhere in my blog, sometime ago, that I'm ultra picky about buying new games. They HAVE to be good. They have to have good reviews, I have to get a good vibe from everything I read about it and friends commend, if they own it or know about it, are also important to me. So to say I'm going to buy these 3 games is a big thing, to me.
Fifa 13 is not a difficult one to be honest. They release them every year and I tend to buy them. I'm not buying it at full price, but I'll pick it up as soon as it drops to £25, which they always do after a couple of months. I love it for the career mode, developing my own player and playing with my mates in our own club. There isn't another football game that can give all of that. Pro Evo 2013 is supposed to be very good this year, potentially even have better gameplay, but I won't buy it because it doesn't have all the official clubs and that's important! If I can't play as Accrington Stanley and venture on the almost impossible quest of getting them to the premiership, then I'm not interested.
Forza Horizon looks like it will be something special. Infact, it's almost coincidentally special as my friend and I were reminiscing about how much we miss a good open world, street racing game, and how there hasn't been a proper one since Need For Speed Underground 2, which came out sometime in the middle ages! That's years ago! And then a week or so after I see the formal public announcement of the imminent release of Forza Horizon! Uncanny! I checked out the car list and it'll have most of the old favourites and more. Forza games have always been very highly rated and xbox 360 is so lucky to have it, because it releases on only that and PC. PS3 owners must be gutted! I cannot wait for this game. Again, I will wait until it drops in price, but I look forward to that day enormously.
Borderlands 2. I bought this game as week or so ago. I'm a recent convert to Borderlands and by almost everything I spout as opinion, I should hate it! But I just don't. Part of me is guilty that I like it, but it is a GREAT game. The sheer amount of customisation, infinitly quantities of different guns, great sense of humour and just great, easy to enjoy gameplay make it a winner all round. I really bought it so quickly because of friends who have done the same and multiplayer is an important part of the game. Working together and sharing loot is great fun and they have really built on the first Borderlands. This game feels comprehensive and I don't think we'll see another until the next-gen consoles come on the scene.
In other news, Project Rage has taken a good step forward and I think the basic mechanics are as near as damnit, sorted.
The 3 games are Fifa 13, Forza Horizon and Borderlands 2.
Now, I may have mentioned somewhere in my blog, sometime ago, that I'm ultra picky about buying new games. They HAVE to be good. They have to have good reviews, I have to get a good vibe from everything I read about it and friends commend, if they own it or know about it, are also important to me. So to say I'm going to buy these 3 games is a big thing, to me.
Fifa 13 is not a difficult one to be honest. They release them every year and I tend to buy them. I'm not buying it at full price, but I'll pick it up as soon as it drops to £25, which they always do after a couple of months. I love it for the career mode, developing my own player and playing with my mates in our own club. There isn't another football game that can give all of that. Pro Evo 2013 is supposed to be very good this year, potentially even have better gameplay, but I won't buy it because it doesn't have all the official clubs and that's important! If I can't play as Accrington Stanley and venture on the almost impossible quest of getting them to the premiership, then I'm not interested.
Forza Horizon looks like it will be something special. Infact, it's almost coincidentally special as my friend and I were reminiscing about how much we miss a good open world, street racing game, and how there hasn't been a proper one since Need For Speed Underground 2, which came out sometime in the middle ages! That's years ago! And then a week or so after I see the formal public announcement of the imminent release of Forza Horizon! Uncanny! I checked out the car list and it'll have most of the old favourites and more. Forza games have always been very highly rated and xbox 360 is so lucky to have it, because it releases on only that and PC. PS3 owners must be gutted! I cannot wait for this game. Again, I will wait until it drops in price, but I look forward to that day enormously.
Borderlands 2. I bought this game as week or so ago. I'm a recent convert to Borderlands and by almost everything I spout as opinion, I should hate it! But I just don't. Part of me is guilty that I like it, but it is a GREAT game. The sheer amount of customisation, infinitly quantities of different guns, great sense of humour and just great, easy to enjoy gameplay make it a winner all round. I really bought it so quickly because of friends who have done the same and multiplayer is an important part of the game. Working together and sharing loot is great fun and they have really built on the first Borderlands. This game feels comprehensive and I don't think we'll see another until the next-gen consoles come on the scene.
In other news, Project Rage has taken a good step forward and I think the basic mechanics are as near as damnit, sorted.
Tuesday, 18 September 2012
Project Rage, progress.
Last week I made a few alterations to the game and printed out a new copy, which I then tested with a copy of new people over the weekend.
They were pleasantly surprised at how enjoyable it was. I think they were a little sceptical before hand. We didn't get a chance to finish the game, as there are still a couple of issues which need to be looked at, and we ran out of time. I really don't want an average game to last much more than an hour, but I definitly want it to least at least 30 minutes, so people can get there teeth into the game a bit before people can go for the win.
The engine changes I have made seemed to work well and allowing people more freedom to chase each other in the wasteland locations really helped to increase the amount of player interaction and fun.
Having the championship race cards made the game winning conditions more exciting and there was more of a feel of anticipation when one was revealed - really pleased with that change!
However, from this last play test I have even MORE to work on than I had previously considered! I also really want to start putting a bit more colour on the cards. I'm playing it over and over and I need something to look at or it's going to drive me crazy!
Time to finally take a proper look at DeviantArt, I think.
They were pleasantly surprised at how enjoyable it was. I think they were a little sceptical before hand. We didn't get a chance to finish the game, as there are still a couple of issues which need to be looked at, and we ran out of time. I really don't want an average game to last much more than an hour, but I definitly want it to least at least 30 minutes, so people can get there teeth into the game a bit before people can go for the win.
The engine changes I have made seemed to work well and allowing people more freedom to chase each other in the wasteland locations really helped to increase the amount of player interaction and fun.
Having the championship race cards made the game winning conditions more exciting and there was more of a feel of anticipation when one was revealed - really pleased with that change!
However, from this last play test I have even MORE to work on than I had previously considered! I also really want to start putting a bit more colour on the cards. I'm playing it over and over and I need something to look at or it's going to drive me crazy!
Time to finally take a proper look at DeviantArt, I think.
Thursday, 6 September 2012
Limbo is half price on XBLA, buy it.
I love this game. It's a black and white, gloomy, side-scrolling puzzle/adventure game where you, controlling a young boy have to find your sister in a treacherous realm of Limbo.
One play through only takes a few hours, but there are secret items to be found and the art and feel of the game just draws me back in. For 600 MS points, which is about £5, it's not much.
If you do enjoy this and/or you like a game with a bit more action, then I can recommend looking into Insanely Twisted Shadow Planet.
One play through only takes a few hours, but there are secret items to be found and the art and feel of the game just draws me back in. For 600 MS points, which is about £5, it's not much.
If you do enjoy this and/or you like a game with a bit more action, then I can recommend looking into Insanely Twisted Shadow Planet.
Sunday, 2 September 2012
A few weeks later
Ok, so it's been a few weeks now since I first pushed out an alpha copy of my new card game and it's been played numerous times. The rules, at the moment, have only been tweaked, but there are some significant changes that I need to make to the decks, adding cards and clarifying text etc.
In regards to a name, well it was always going to be based in the same universe at Ganglands, and both games share a common feature in the "Wastelands Deck", which hides all the locations, items and event cards, so I'm going to title all games in this universe as Wastelands! This particular incarnation is current having the sub-title of Project Rage.
The Rage Racing Association is a greedy collective made up of influencial individuals trying to hold on to power in a post-apocalyptic landscape. To stop the people from realising how miserable their existances are they host violent race events and reward the top drivers. Players in the game take on the role of a driver and have to scavenge the best car parts, while fighting off the violent outcasts from society and the unfortunate victims of radio-active fallout, to be able to compete and win.
Think of the setting as a cross between Nascar, the wild west and Mad Max.
Over the next couple of weeks I'm going to be tweaking the cards and hope to open up play testing.
In regards to a name, well it was always going to be based in the same universe at Ganglands, and both games share a common feature in the "Wastelands Deck", which hides all the locations, items and event cards, so I'm going to title all games in this universe as Wastelands! This particular incarnation is current having the sub-title of Project Rage.
The Rage Racing Association is a greedy collective made up of influencial individuals trying to hold on to power in a post-apocalyptic landscape. To stop the people from realising how miserable their existances are they host violent race events and reward the top drivers. Players in the game take on the role of a driver and have to scavenge the best car parts, while fighting off the violent outcasts from society and the unfortunate victims of radio-active fallout, to be able to compete and win.
Think of the setting as a cross between Nascar, the wild west and Mad Max.
Over the next couple of weeks I'm going to be tweaking the cards and hope to open up play testing.
Wednesday, 15 August 2012
It is good!
Yesterday I tried my new game at the shop with a couple of different people and it seems to be a success so far!
After the first game I made a few minor tweaks on the recommendation of those that played and then the second game was a true classic - the game coming down to one last race between the 2 top players. It was incredibly exciting and the few guys there really seemed to appreciate it.
I can't name it as I've named it after a currently existing game, but I hope to find a name for it and make it a unique entity.
Still struggling to figure out what to do next, but hopefully I can find good advice soon.
After the first game I made a few minor tweaks on the recommendation of those that played and then the second game was a true classic - the game coming down to one last race between the 2 top players. It was incredibly exciting and the few guys there really seemed to appreciate it.
I can't name it as I've named it after a currently existing game, but I hope to find a name for it and make it a unique entity.
Still struggling to figure out what to do next, but hopefully I can find good advice soon.
Sunday, 12 August 2012
New card game, version 1, complete.
I finally did it. Completed a full alpha version of a game that came into my head.
I've got about 6 or 7 different rulesets and works in progress sitting on my computer, but last week I thought of an idea that was so vivid it came straight out of me and onto the computer. The idea was a simplified game based on a previous idea, which I still intend to develop in the future.
The game involves players scouring a post-apocalyptic wasteland for car parts to make them go faster so that they can win the game by winning races in the central town. This is all while fighting wasteland bandits, mutants and each other.
Played a game today with my wonderfully patient other half, who won and enjoyed it! A few points we had to clarify and change as we went. I've made a few corrections and now hope to try again with some more dedicated gamers on tuesday, when I go to the shop.
After this I'll e-mail it off to friends and my bros for them to test and give feed-back. After that I've no idea what to do?! If anyone reads this and has advice I'd be very interested and grateful.
I've got about 6 or 7 different rulesets and works in progress sitting on my computer, but last week I thought of an idea that was so vivid it came straight out of me and onto the computer. The idea was a simplified game based on a previous idea, which I still intend to develop in the future.
The game involves players scouring a post-apocalyptic wasteland for car parts to make them go faster so that they can win the game by winning races in the central town. This is all while fighting wasteland bandits, mutants and each other.
Played a game today with my wonderfully patient other half, who won and enjoyed it! A few points we had to clarify and change as we went. I've made a few corrections and now hope to try again with some more dedicated gamers on tuesday, when I go to the shop.
After this I'll e-mail it off to friends and my bros for them to test and give feed-back. After that I've no idea what to do?! If anyone reads this and has advice I'd be very interested and grateful.
Friday, 3 August 2012
Evolving ideas, a favourite, an old favourite and things to look forward to
It's been too long, as always, since my last post. I intend to write more regularly, but inevitably forget when I actually sit at my computer.
Since my last post I've started writing various ideas for my fantasy football game. In the last week I've actually changed it quite radically due to what I think is a better idea - simplifying the game more, but hopefully making it more workable and potentially more interesting.
I've started designing cards for my fantasy cardgame, which has been an exciting experience. I'm not much of an artist and actually making the stuff doesn't have the same appeal as writing the ideas down, so I've surprised myself a little in how the cards are looking. I hope to have a whole set out within a few weeks for a trial game!
Ganglands and my GFL game have taken a backseat for now, but I ponder them on occasion.
In the land of computer games I've been getting back into RAGE! I love it, it's brilliant, I've ranted about it before. Best £12 I've ever spent on a computer game.
It was my birthday at the end of June and with my birthday money I bought a copy of Talisman, 4th edition. This is an old classic from my childhood, which is also the foundation of my fantasy cardgame idea. I must say I have missed Talisman a lot! I've mostly just played 2 player with a mate, but we managed to rope in Dave from Mondo into a game last Tuesday, and it's so much fun! Big improvement on the Talisman I used to play, which from my research was considered the worst!
My mate has ordered the Reaper expansion already, as a sort of late birthday present for me. Looking forward to picking it up next week and cracking out some more games when friends and family visit over the next couple of months.
Playing Talisman is making me think more about my fantasy cardgame, so this should help to speed up it's development.
Other games I have my eyes on are Project Pandora from Mantic (I am becoming a big fan of them!), FIFA 13 (I'm a sucker for it...), Baldur's Gate re-make for PC (one of my favourite games ever!) and Doom 3 re-make for xbox (one of my favourite games ever!).
Good times ahead I hope!
Since my last post I've started writing various ideas for my fantasy football game. In the last week I've actually changed it quite radically due to what I think is a better idea - simplifying the game more, but hopefully making it more workable and potentially more interesting.
I've started designing cards for my fantasy cardgame, which has been an exciting experience. I'm not much of an artist and actually making the stuff doesn't have the same appeal as writing the ideas down, so I've surprised myself a little in how the cards are looking. I hope to have a whole set out within a few weeks for a trial game!
Ganglands and my GFL game have taken a backseat for now, but I ponder them on occasion.
In the land of computer games I've been getting back into RAGE! I love it, it's brilliant, I've ranted about it before. Best £12 I've ever spent on a computer game.
It was my birthday at the end of June and with my birthday money I bought a copy of Talisman, 4th edition. This is an old classic from my childhood, which is also the foundation of my fantasy cardgame idea. I must say I have missed Talisman a lot! I've mostly just played 2 player with a mate, but we managed to rope in Dave from Mondo into a game last Tuesday, and it's so much fun! Big improvement on the Talisman I used to play, which from my research was considered the worst!
My mate has ordered the Reaper expansion already, as a sort of late birthday present for me. Looking forward to picking it up next week and cracking out some more games when friends and family visit over the next couple of months.
Playing Talisman is making me think more about my fantasy cardgame, so this should help to speed up it's development.
Other games I have my eyes on are Project Pandora from Mantic (I am becoming a big fan of them!), FIFA 13 (I'm a sucker for it...), Baldur's Gate re-make for PC (one of my favourite games ever!) and Doom 3 re-make for xbox (one of my favourite games ever!).
Good times ahead I hope!
Saturday, 23 June 2012
Ideas whirling around in my head
With the Euros on and my current enjoyment of FIFA 12 (I will get Accrington Stanley into the Premiership!) I have been considering how to bring football into the realm of boardgames. I've a pretty good base of an idea, which I have been considering for a few days, but am yet to write anything down. Essentially it'll be set in a similar, or the same world as Blood Bowl (Games Workshop's old specialist game of fantasy gridiron). Players will manage their fantasy medieval-esque squads and develop them and the game mechanics will allow players to "drift" players around the pitch each turn to get into position and then a couple of players to perform special plays, such as making a run, a long pass, a slide slide tackle or a shot on goal. I need to get my ideas onto paper, but I think it could work. Reading this paragraph back to myself I realise it sounds odd, but trust me, I think I've got the germ of an idea that could be developed into a simplish, fun medieval-esque football game.
Another idea came to me very quickly one evening after watching Toy Story 2. A game bidding based card game where players aim to buy the rarest toys to win the game. A simple, short, fun game for a large groups. The game would consist of a stack of cards with duplicate copies of various toys, this is shuffled together and then a certain number of cards are drawn off the top and placed in a seperate pile. Cards from the main pile are then placed face up on the table and one card from the seperated pile is turned face up. The cards from the seperated pile will give players an idea of which cards are now rarer in the main pile, because for each duplicate of a card in the seperated pile, there will be less in the main pile, thus they are rarer and worth more points. This will not be evident from the beginning of the game but will become more so as the game progresses allowing players more insight into what to bid for. That's my quick summary, but I'll get it down properly and maybe wop together a draft version for testing; not sure what to do about money, maybe something similar to High Society...?
Another idea came to me very quickly one evening after watching Toy Story 2. A game bidding based card game where players aim to buy the rarest toys to win the game. A simple, short, fun game for a large groups. The game would consist of a stack of cards with duplicate copies of various toys, this is shuffled together and then a certain number of cards are drawn off the top and placed in a seperate pile. Cards from the main pile are then placed face up on the table and one card from the seperated pile is turned face up. The cards from the seperated pile will give players an idea of which cards are now rarer in the main pile, because for each duplicate of a card in the seperated pile, there will be less in the main pile, thus they are rarer and worth more points. This will not be evident from the beginning of the game but will become more so as the game progresses allowing players more insight into what to bid for. That's my quick summary, but I'll get it down properly and maybe wop together a draft version for testing; not sure what to do about money, maybe something similar to High Society...?
Ok, I need to talk about Battlefield 3
I very disappointed in DICE, the creators or BF3. A few months ago they opened up their servers to be rented out to players so that they could setup and run them. This sounds all well and good but it now means that there are only a very few official servers running and nearly all the servers run by players have ridiculously high amounts of tickets.
The consequence of this is that you can no longer just nip of BF3 for a quick match for 15-20 minutes and then come off again, having satisfied a hunger for some quick killing and objective grabbing; games now tend to run on for an hour at least.
The other big issue is that if you are doing particularly well then there is a strong chance you will be kicked prior to the end of the game so that the people who run the server get the MVP awards - 3 kicks from a server and you are banned. You may not have even done anything wrong!
The consequence of this is that my brothers, friends and I who have all loved the Battlefield games ever since the very original, Battlefield 1942, are now thoroughly disenchanted with the franchise and feel alienated. Once again capitalist money grabbing has destroyed a game!
I must say that we have persisted for a while since the change, which was back in April or March sometime, but our play time has just dwindled. The real nail in the coffin is the "Premium membership", which gives players free and early access to all future expansions plus additional content, all for a cool 4000 microsoft points - that's about £35. Considering we payed ~£25 for the game, plus have already paid out 1200 microsoft points - ~£10 - the prospect of another pay out equal to the total we've already paid seems absolutely ridiculous.
There are other issues, which I breifly touched upon in my earlier post about BF3 when I couldn't compliment it enough! The issue with forming a squad and then trying to join a game together is still there; we get split between the teams and waste the first game trying to get together again.
DICE, please, bring back more official servers, get rid of the server list browser and just make it easy to join a game, as a squad, first time, and if you're going to anounce a premium membership, anounce it upon release so we don't waste money on content we can then get for free once we're premium members!
BF3 has slid down my pile of games and I can't see it becoming an easy favourite again. I hope the community has sense and urges them to move back to the ease of their previous titles - BF: Bad Company 2's menues and squad support was a joy. However, I fear the community loves the way things are changing - I really dislike the modern gamer's mentality.
The consequence of this is that you can no longer just nip of BF3 for a quick match for 15-20 minutes and then come off again, having satisfied a hunger for some quick killing and objective grabbing; games now tend to run on for an hour at least.
The other big issue is that if you are doing particularly well then there is a strong chance you will be kicked prior to the end of the game so that the people who run the server get the MVP awards - 3 kicks from a server and you are banned. You may not have even done anything wrong!
The consequence of this is that my brothers, friends and I who have all loved the Battlefield games ever since the very original, Battlefield 1942, are now thoroughly disenchanted with the franchise and feel alienated. Once again capitalist money grabbing has destroyed a game!
I must say that we have persisted for a while since the change, which was back in April or March sometime, but our play time has just dwindled. The real nail in the coffin is the "Premium membership", which gives players free and early access to all future expansions plus additional content, all for a cool 4000 microsoft points - that's about £35. Considering we payed ~£25 for the game, plus have already paid out 1200 microsoft points - ~£10 - the prospect of another pay out equal to the total we've already paid seems absolutely ridiculous.
There are other issues, which I breifly touched upon in my earlier post about BF3 when I couldn't compliment it enough! The issue with forming a squad and then trying to join a game together is still there; we get split between the teams and waste the first game trying to get together again.
DICE, please, bring back more official servers, get rid of the server list browser and just make it easy to join a game, as a squad, first time, and if you're going to anounce a premium membership, anounce it upon release so we don't waste money on content we can then get for free once we're premium members!
BF3 has slid down my pile of games and I can't see it becoming an easy favourite again. I hope the community has sense and urges them to move back to the ease of their previous titles - BF: Bad Company 2's menues and squad support was a joy. However, I fear the community loves the way things are changing - I really dislike the modern gamer's mentality.
Friday, 1 June 2012
Creative update
I've not posted for a while so I thought I might just put an update on each of my games, which I'm working on at the moment:
Gangland - Haven't really progressed, but ideas are still fresh and a few rules have been amended. I need to push forward with creating beta version to test out new and altered rules.
Fantasy cardgame - I've been working on this one most recently. This was my original game idea from before xmas and ideas have been coming to me for this game so I've been updating my rules and considering new ideas for cards.
Gridiron cardgame - This is the working name I'm giving my secret creation. The idea has pushed forward quite a bit since my last post. The game will feature a drafting system, special dice for the matches and illegal business for raising extra funds, as well as story cards, training cards etc. Pretty excited about this one.
Because my Open Uni course started at the beginning of May I've not had much time to play computer games so not much to say about those at the moment. Skyrim is great though! Maybe I'll rant a bit about that in a day or two.
Gangland - Haven't really progressed, but ideas are still fresh and a few rules have been amended. I need to push forward with creating beta version to test out new and altered rules.
Fantasy cardgame - I've been working on this one most recently. This was my original game idea from before xmas and ideas have been coming to me for this game so I've been updating my rules and considering new ideas for cards.
Gridiron cardgame - This is the working name I'm giving my secret creation. The idea has pushed forward quite a bit since my last post. The game will feature a drafting system, special dice for the matches and illegal business for raising extra funds, as well as story cards, training cards etc. Pretty excited about this one.
Because my Open Uni course started at the beginning of May I've not had much time to play computer games so not much to say about those at the moment. Skyrim is great though! Maybe I'll rant a bit about that in a day or two.
Thursday, 10 May 2012
Creative buzz
Sometime ago I mentioned I had been working on a new creation, which I am calling Ganglands. This has since been played numerous times in it's alpha format, with several different opponents, tweaking the rules each time a little.
Anyway, it has been sometime now since then and the rules have changed a lot! I've been thinking hard, developing ideas and designing new cards on my computer. I'm hoping to get alpha version 2 out soon for testing, and maybe this time I'll be happy enough to go to my local game shop and see what they think.
The thing that is most likely to hold this up though is a new idea I've had, which has been blazing away in my brain for a few days now. I was at work one night and it came to me and as soon as I got home I had to start writing and didn't stop until well after midnight.
The topic is a secret at the moment as it is based on a series of independent novels, but I'm confident in my idea and need to keep working at it. Unlike Ganglands this game will have a game board and I'm hoping to use special dice, but the main bulk of the game will be card based.
I'm just hoping that I don't lose focus on Ganglands as that is really coming together at the moment and is a game that I think has a lot of potential to be expanded, similar to the Living Card Games that Fantasy Flight have released.
Anyway, it has been sometime now since then and the rules have changed a lot! I've been thinking hard, developing ideas and designing new cards on my computer. I'm hoping to get alpha version 2 out soon for testing, and maybe this time I'll be happy enough to go to my local game shop and see what they think.
The thing that is most likely to hold this up though is a new idea I've had, which has been blazing away in my brain for a few days now. I was at work one night and it came to me and as soon as I got home I had to start writing and didn't stop until well after midnight.
The topic is a secret at the moment as it is based on a series of independent novels, but I'm confident in my idea and need to keep working at it. Unlike Ganglands this game will have a game board and I'm hoping to use special dice, but the main bulk of the game will be card based.
I'm just hoping that I don't lose focus on Ganglands as that is really coming together at the moment and is a game that I think has a lot of potential to be expanded, similar to the Living Card Games that Fantasy Flight have released.
Friday, 4 May 2012
An under-rated game and games I should play, but can't find the time to...
Whilst at work the other evening I was thinking about an old game that had unique gameplay and was fantastically addictive for a short period, Endwar.
A mate and I both invested in this game a couple of years back and it was ultra cheap, £6ish, and we both fell in love with it. You don't get many strategy games on consoles because they just don't work, generally speaking, without the use of a mouse and keyboard, but Endwar worked fantastically due to it being mostly controlled by your voice.
The voice given orders are so intuitive and generally well picked up by the game that it flows wonderfully, with only a small amount of navigation being required from your controller.
The game had a reasonable dynamic campaign (something you don't see very much anymore in games, sadly), and a few variations of game type to keep multiplayer ticking over. However, the reason the game was a flop was it's lack of depth. It's so sad to say it, once you get into the flow, every game feels much the same and there was a huge lack in the satisfaction value when you won.
I think this game came within a hair's breadth of becoming a great game, but just lacked that little bit of depth and variation. I still play it once in a blue moon, just for that great voice recognition based gameplay. I've seen rumours of a Endwar 2, but it's been a long time now and I'm not hopeful. Or, at least, not in the near future.
And now for the second topic of this rant, games I want to play, but can't bring myself to.
I think this is a feeling many gamers get; you have been thinking about busting out some time on a game you've not played in a while, you know it's great, but have been too busy or playing newer games, but you really fancy going back to that old game, only to realise that actually I might just play some more FIFA...
Arg! So infuriating!
In my case, I'm talking about Gears of War 3. I haven't played it in so long! But it is a fantastic game. I've been wanting to properly crank out some more online horde mode for a long time, but just can never get the motivation to do it, because I bottle out and take the easy option of some battlefield 3 or FIFA.
Well, I plan to change this! I will play Gears of War 3 this weekend!
Curse you, instant gratification!
A mate and I both invested in this game a couple of years back and it was ultra cheap, £6ish, and we both fell in love with it. You don't get many strategy games on consoles because they just don't work, generally speaking, without the use of a mouse and keyboard, but Endwar worked fantastically due to it being mostly controlled by your voice.
The voice given orders are so intuitive and generally well picked up by the game that it flows wonderfully, with only a small amount of navigation being required from your controller.
The game had a reasonable dynamic campaign (something you don't see very much anymore in games, sadly), and a few variations of game type to keep multiplayer ticking over. However, the reason the game was a flop was it's lack of depth. It's so sad to say it, once you get into the flow, every game feels much the same and there was a huge lack in the satisfaction value when you won.
I think this game came within a hair's breadth of becoming a great game, but just lacked that little bit of depth and variation. I still play it once in a blue moon, just for that great voice recognition based gameplay. I've seen rumours of a Endwar 2, but it's been a long time now and I'm not hopeful. Or, at least, not in the near future.
And now for the second topic of this rant, games I want to play, but can't bring myself to.
I think this is a feeling many gamers get; you have been thinking about busting out some time on a game you've not played in a while, you know it's great, but have been too busy or playing newer games, but you really fancy going back to that old game, only to realise that actually I might just play some more FIFA...
Arg! So infuriating!
In my case, I'm talking about Gears of War 3. I haven't played it in so long! But it is a fantastic game. I've been wanting to properly crank out some more online horde mode for a long time, but just can never get the motivation to do it, because I bottle out and take the easy option of some battlefield 3 or FIFA.
Well, I plan to change this! I will play Gears of War 3 this weekend!
Curse you, instant gratification!
Thursday, 26 April 2012
The Skyrim's the limit!
I finally bought it! I'm so stingy these days I won't buy games until they get to about £25 and Game had it for that amount the other week. Armed with £11 of Game gift cardy goodness I finally acquired my own copy; and how pleased I am that I did!
Skyrim is an epic, open world RPG set in the snowy, mountainous north of Tamriel, the fantasy world in which the Elder Scrolls games set themselves.
Being the land of the Nords, the Elder Scrolls version of the dark age Norse, I had been aching to get my hands on the game since before it came out. However, I was very aware that all the Elder Scrolls games I've played before have always lacked something for me; I play them for a good few hours and then get bored or annoyed at a certain aspect that grates at me, such as stupid magic items or the weird levelling up of creatures in the wilderness, as per Oblivion.
I've been playing Skyrim now for about 10 hours and there seems to be no sign of this random levelling up and, in fact, the player levelling system doesn't create huge leaps in ability as I find in other games.
I'm really taken to the setting, the locations and characters are deep, well thought out and give a real sense of immersion. Being the land of mountains and snow when you climb to the top of mountains the weather worsens around you as you go and if you're lucky to catch some clear weather the view is absolutely staggering!
There's a huge amount to explore inside the game, I am already thinking about what my next character will be and how I can squeeze in more hours of play, without sacrificing my own life?
Ulf Torssen's adventure in his homeland of Skyrim has only just begun! I will let you know how I get on and further thoughts on the game in due time.
Skyrim is an epic, open world RPG set in the snowy, mountainous north of Tamriel, the fantasy world in which the Elder Scrolls games set themselves.
Being the land of the Nords, the Elder Scrolls version of the dark age Norse, I had been aching to get my hands on the game since before it came out. However, I was very aware that all the Elder Scrolls games I've played before have always lacked something for me; I play them for a good few hours and then get bored or annoyed at a certain aspect that grates at me, such as stupid magic items or the weird levelling up of creatures in the wilderness, as per Oblivion.
I've been playing Skyrim now for about 10 hours and there seems to be no sign of this random levelling up and, in fact, the player levelling system doesn't create huge leaps in ability as I find in other games.
I'm really taken to the setting, the locations and characters are deep, well thought out and give a real sense of immersion. Being the land of mountains and snow when you climb to the top of mountains the weather worsens around you as you go and if you're lucky to catch some clear weather the view is absolutely staggering!
There's a huge amount to explore inside the game, I am already thinking about what my next character will be and how I can squeeze in more hours of play, without sacrificing my own life?
Ulf Torssen's adventure in his homeland of Skyrim has only just begun! I will let you know how I get on and further thoughts on the game in due time.
Friday, 30 March 2012
Dark Souls - brutal.
This has been my current LoveFilm game for the past few weeks, since I sent Rage back. I'd had half an eye on it for a while but it was a friend from work who finally gave me the nudge to actually get it and I have to say, it is SO hard!
This is not a AAA top flight game, but it is in the mainstream and has received reviews on XBLA and is quite highly regarded. You get the sense that the game designers have concentrated on making sure the player gets told nothing except for a bit of story to keep them sort of going the right way. There are no hints or tips, no tutorial, you're just thrown in at the deep end and have to figure it out for yourself.
My friend at work warned me about these points so I went in with my eyes open, but I can imagine a lot of people who bought this game must have thought it was broken or bugged, because within 5 minutes of the beginning of the game you're confronted by an epic monster!
I've probably only played this for about 5 hours now, and a lot of that time is highly frustrating as I've died over and over trying to achieve the smallest thing, but after a while I get into the flow, settle my nerves and all of a sudden it comes together and you realise how wonderfully the game has been put together. I love the fact that it is so hard, I love how you don't really know exactly where to go, I love how you have to figure out how to kill that boss monster by yourself through trial and error, it's so refreshing to not have your hand held through a game.
This game gives me the feeling of Advanced Heroquest, an old dungeon crawling boardgame from the late 80s. Everyone thought it was going to be a slightly suped up Heroquest, but the reality was that it was a ruthlessly brutal dungeon crawler where the Adventurer's lives were so fragile and could be ended with one brutal stab of a ratman's sword.
So if you like a challenging, gritty RPG and have very good coordination and twitch reflexes, this is the game for you.
This is not a AAA top flight game, but it is in the mainstream and has received reviews on XBLA and is quite highly regarded. You get the sense that the game designers have concentrated on making sure the player gets told nothing except for a bit of story to keep them sort of going the right way. There are no hints or tips, no tutorial, you're just thrown in at the deep end and have to figure it out for yourself.
My friend at work warned me about these points so I went in with my eyes open, but I can imagine a lot of people who bought this game must have thought it was broken or bugged, because within 5 minutes of the beginning of the game you're confronted by an epic monster!
I've probably only played this for about 5 hours now, and a lot of that time is highly frustrating as I've died over and over trying to achieve the smallest thing, but after a while I get into the flow, settle my nerves and all of a sudden it comes together and you realise how wonderfully the game has been put together. I love the fact that it is so hard, I love how you don't really know exactly where to go, I love how you have to figure out how to kill that boss monster by yourself through trial and error, it's so refreshing to not have your hand held through a game.
This game gives me the feeling of Advanced Heroquest, an old dungeon crawling boardgame from the late 80s. Everyone thought it was going to be a slightly suped up Heroquest, but the reality was that it was a ruthlessly brutal dungeon crawler where the Adventurer's lives were so fragile and could be ended with one brutal stab of a ratman's sword.
So if you like a challenging, gritty RPG and have very good coordination and twitch reflexes, this is the game for you.
Thursday, 29 March 2012
A boardgame, a cardgame and an old game.
I am a relatively recent convert to boardgames and card-based games. I just never really considered them to be in the same league as tabletop wargames and computer games, but how wrong I was!
Over the past few years I've seen my brothers and our group of friends increasingly play more boardgames when we meet up and less wargames.
Anyway, I'm not going to ramble about this now, I want to talk about some games I've been keeping my eye on for a while.
Firstly, Lords of Waterdeep. This is a game of intrigued, set in the Forgotten Realms city of Waterdeep, which is mostly famously associated with Dungeons and Dragons. I'm not a huge fan of D&D, but this game in no way seems to reflect this association at all and is more akin to a classic resource management/allocation game such as Age of Empires 3: the board game. There are no dice to be thrown and appear to be no dragons. This is all good though, because from reading reviews and watching introductory videos it looks great and the mechanics look engrossing and full of strategy. I do also very much like the setting, as it reminds me of when I played Baldur's Gate on the PC and I had to help the Harpers; which are one of the factions in Lords of Waterdeep.
Now I wish to further endulge my love of card-based games. A Game of Thrones: the card game, looks like another deeply strategic game involving politics and warfare to fight for power. I love how each player plays as a house, with distinct differences in play style and how there seem to be so many different ways to go about winning. I also like how it can be played with 2 to 4 players and how in larger games there are extra treats to fight for. The card design and richness of the setting make it very appealing, although I should point out I know nothing about A Game of Thrones! I might have to get the DVDs and learn a bit more about it.
Lastly, while I'm on a rant about boardgames and cardgames I thought I'd bring up an old classic, which I'd love to own (again). Talisman! In contrast to the 2 games listed above this has very little depth and no intrigue, but what made this game so great was the epic sense of adventure you felt as you travelled around the board. I owned a second hand copy of this when I was about 11, but I've no idea what happened to it. I would love to get one of the shiny looking newer copies from Fantasy Flight. Such an easy game to play, with a wonderfully elegant theme, I think this is a great game to pull out when you just want to have a laugh with a few mates when there's nothing much else going on.
Over the past few years I've seen my brothers and our group of friends increasingly play more boardgames when we meet up and less wargames.
Anyway, I'm not going to ramble about this now, I want to talk about some games I've been keeping my eye on for a while.
Firstly, Lords of Waterdeep. This is a game of intrigued, set in the Forgotten Realms city of Waterdeep, which is mostly famously associated with Dungeons and Dragons. I'm not a huge fan of D&D, but this game in no way seems to reflect this association at all and is more akin to a classic resource management/allocation game such as Age of Empires 3: the board game. There are no dice to be thrown and appear to be no dragons. This is all good though, because from reading reviews and watching introductory videos it looks great and the mechanics look engrossing and full of strategy. I do also very much like the setting, as it reminds me of when I played Baldur's Gate on the PC and I had to help the Harpers; which are one of the factions in Lords of Waterdeep.
Now I wish to further endulge my love of card-based games. A Game of Thrones: the card game, looks like another deeply strategic game involving politics and warfare to fight for power. I love how each player plays as a house, with distinct differences in play style and how there seem to be so many different ways to go about winning. I also like how it can be played with 2 to 4 players and how in larger games there are extra treats to fight for. The card design and richness of the setting make it very appealing, although I should point out I know nothing about A Game of Thrones! I might have to get the DVDs and learn a bit more about it.
Lastly, while I'm on a rant about boardgames and cardgames I thought I'd bring up an old classic, which I'd love to own (again). Talisman! In contrast to the 2 games listed above this has very little depth and no intrigue, but what made this game so great was the epic sense of adventure you felt as you travelled around the board. I owned a second hand copy of this when I was about 11, but I've no idea what happened to it. I would love to get one of the shiny looking newer copies from Fantasy Flight. Such an easy game to play, with a wonderfully elegant theme, I think this is a great game to pull out when you just want to have a laugh with a few mates when there's nothing much else going on.
Thursday, 8 March 2012
Ganglands - My latest creation!
I've recently written a set of rules for a card based game, which I'm currently calling Ganglands, and last night my girlfriend and I played the very first game of it, using some make-shift cards I put together just for testing the mechanics. I'm really pleased to say that it worked surprisingly well! There are a couple of areas the game need improvement and I hope to put more detailed news of it on here in the future, but for now I have to work on it further and don't want to give away too much.
Needless to say it is based aroudn gangs, where each player starts with a few gangers and they have to explore the wasteland, in which the game is based, for scrap or locations or other gang members to hire.
My inspiration has come from Necromunda (classic GW tabletop game) and Rage (my latest gaming love affair), but I hope to incorporate a bit of Mad Max post apocalyptic-ness. And there maybe a flavour of Fall Out (one of my Girlfriend's favourite xbox games ever!) in there too.
Needless to say it is based aroudn gangs, where each player starts with a few gangers and they have to explore the wasteland, in which the game is based, for scrap or locations or other gang members to hire.
My inspiration has come from Necromunda (classic GW tabletop game) and Rage (my latest gaming love affair), but I hope to incorporate a bit of Mad Max post apocalyptic-ness. And there maybe a flavour of Fall Out (one of my Girlfriend's favourite xbox games ever!) in there too.
XBLA genius
There have been periods, since I purchased my Xbox 360, when I've probably spent more time playing downloadable arcade games, than playing full-fledged xbox 360 titles. A few of these have been:
- Bomberman Live: a true classic from the good old days of the SNES! My old flat mate absolutely loved this game and we played it for hours! If I managed to coax enough people into the flat we'd even play 4 player, which is when the game is truly brilliant. It is a true classic with excellent gameplay and a simple lay out, which is hard not to enjoy!
- Arcade Ice Hockey: Another fantastic multiplayer experience. Really brought the livingroom gaming back into perspective. No referees to stop play, quirky powerups to annihilate your opposition, all mixed with the wonderfully physical and skillful game of ice hockey. The only thing games like this and it's American Football counterpart missed out on was a tournament mode! Such a small detail would have made this instant party game genius!
- Castle Crashers: this is actually a very highly rated game and has been ever since it was released. Infact it still surprises me to still see it up right near the top of the top rated arcade games! I only played this single player, but the multiplayer looked fantastic and the great cartoony graphics with the simple RPG elements made it so easy to play and utterly absorbing.
With the standard of arcade games getting higher all the time there have been some stunning looking games that have come out, but I've not been grabbed in the same way that I was with the above, which I would still happily play today!
What irritates me though is there is still no decent dungeon crawling arcade game. There are many which aspire to fill thi void, but they're either stupidly quirky, in a way I can't get into, or just level based loot-fests, which has become the norm in this area over the past decade.
I'd love to see a solid, easy to play dungeon crawler, with a basic experience system, random dungeon generator and an engrossing setting. Something you can play with mates in the same room dropping in and out.
- Bomberman Live: a true classic from the good old days of the SNES! My old flat mate absolutely loved this game and we played it for hours! If I managed to coax enough people into the flat we'd even play 4 player, which is when the game is truly brilliant. It is a true classic with excellent gameplay and a simple lay out, which is hard not to enjoy!
- Arcade Ice Hockey: Another fantastic multiplayer experience. Really brought the livingroom gaming back into perspective. No referees to stop play, quirky powerups to annihilate your opposition, all mixed with the wonderfully physical and skillful game of ice hockey. The only thing games like this and it's American Football counterpart missed out on was a tournament mode! Such a small detail would have made this instant party game genius!
- Castle Crashers: this is actually a very highly rated game and has been ever since it was released. Infact it still surprises me to still see it up right near the top of the top rated arcade games! I only played this single player, but the multiplayer looked fantastic and the great cartoony graphics with the simple RPG elements made it so easy to play and utterly absorbing.
With the standard of arcade games getting higher all the time there have been some stunning looking games that have come out, but I've not been grabbed in the same way that I was with the above, which I would still happily play today!
What irritates me though is there is still no decent dungeon crawling arcade game. There are many which aspire to fill thi void, but they're either stupidly quirky, in a way I can't get into, or just level based loot-fests, which has become the norm in this area over the past decade.
I'd love to see a solid, easy to play dungeon crawler, with a basic experience system, random dungeon generator and an engrossing setting. Something you can play with mates in the same room dropping in and out.
Thursday, 1 March 2012
An old favourite I missed: Battlefield 2142
A few days back I wrote a post about my original gaming addictions and I don't intend to contradict or amend anything I said in that post, but as I'm on a roll with posts today and I've just comment on how great Battlefield 3 is I thought I'd give an honourable mention to my favourite Battlefield game of all time, to date: Battlefield 2142.
I played this game on the PC, back when I considered I'd never give in to the dirty, low down consoles, which I now have - completely.
I owned the game and the expansion and this is why it was my favourite Battlefield game:
- Chain of command: in every game one player on each team could become the overall commander, this gave them access to ammunition drops, air strikes, EMP strikes, as well as being the only player with a complete overview of the battlefield and able to give orders to the squad leaders. The squad leaders could be given simple way point orders or told to attack or defend, or a mixture of all of these in one go! The squad leader would then set his objective or waypoint for his team. The squad leaders didn't have to follow the orders, no-one had to be a commander, but when you had a good command with several good squads willing to do as they were told it was remarkable how effectively a team could be and so enjoyable to be part of!
- No all dominating vehicles: I have felt that in recent Battlefield games there has been one or two vehicles that can potentially completely dominate the game. I feel this has become lessened in Battlefield 3, but engineers able to repair helos in flight you do get some ridiculous situations!
- Great variation of game modes: I loved Titan games, where each team had a giant floating space ship thing hovering around the map about 100 metres up. Each team had to activate SAMs to take down the oppossing team's titan's shields. They could use these to then destroy the titan but that was extraordinarily difficult or they could board them! These games moved around so much and fighting on the ground to fighting in the corridors of your titan made for such epic games.
Overall, I wasn't a huge fan of the setting of the game and the graphics and animation wasn't anything special, I just loved the wonderful depth and most of all the chain of command. So wonderful and yet not popular enough to see it return to future Battlefield titles.
I played this game on the PC, back when I considered I'd never give in to the dirty, low down consoles, which I now have - completely.
I owned the game and the expansion and this is why it was my favourite Battlefield game:
- Chain of command: in every game one player on each team could become the overall commander, this gave them access to ammunition drops, air strikes, EMP strikes, as well as being the only player with a complete overview of the battlefield and able to give orders to the squad leaders. The squad leaders could be given simple way point orders or told to attack or defend, or a mixture of all of these in one go! The squad leader would then set his objective or waypoint for his team. The squad leaders didn't have to follow the orders, no-one had to be a commander, but when you had a good command with several good squads willing to do as they were told it was remarkable how effectively a team could be and so enjoyable to be part of!
- No all dominating vehicles: I have felt that in recent Battlefield games there has been one or two vehicles that can potentially completely dominate the game. I feel this has become lessened in Battlefield 3, but engineers able to repair helos in flight you do get some ridiculous situations!
- Great variation of game modes: I loved Titan games, where each team had a giant floating space ship thing hovering around the map about 100 metres up. Each team had to activate SAMs to take down the oppossing team's titan's shields. They could use these to then destroy the titan but that was extraordinarily difficult or they could board them! These games moved around so much and fighting on the ground to fighting in the corridors of your titan made for such epic games.
Overall, I wasn't a huge fan of the setting of the game and the graphics and animation wasn't anything special, I just loved the wonderful depth and most of all the chain of command. So wonderful and yet not popular enough to see it return to future Battlefield titles.
Battlefield 3. My "go to" game.
I think every gamer has one game which they know they will enjoy playing. For me and my gaming mates it's the Battlefield franchise. We've all been fans of it since the original, but since we got xbox 360s it really came together.
The engine with which they build their games with is truly great, the lighting, building destruction and character models are exquisite. The other reason we all love Battlefield so much is because Call of Duty sold out and became an epic piece of arcady rubbish. Again, we were all big fans of the original and Call of Duty 2, but then we lost track of it and ever since Modern Warfare took over the brand they've been rubbish. I, honestly, don't understand how CoD is the top selling game, it doesn't say much for the consumer. I do have complaints about Battlefield games, how they've become a little toned down, but CoD took that too far and any realistic appearances to the game are just a vaneer. This is not to say that I haven't enjoyed playing CoD games (this is where I start contradicting myself). I have spent whole evenings playing split screen online games of CoD with mates and that is a lot of fun, but I get a similar level of enjoyment from Xbox live arcade games! The graphics are rubbish, it's completely unrealistic, but it's a laugh to run around shooting people in a simple, unthinking, sort of way. Nice, quick easy fun, which leaves almost no lasting impression on you once you turn the game off.
Anyway, back to Battlefield! Now, I did just say above that Battlefield games seemed to be becoming more arcading, but I have felt that in it's latest incarnation, Battlefield 3, they have brought back an element of trying to be realistic - the sound, movement and weaponry all feels heightened and more difficult. When you look down the barrel of your gun your sight now wobbles, as it would in reality, and the sound of explosions and nearby gunfire can leave you stunned and disorientated. It's very impressive and makes the game very immersive and tactically challenging.
There are unrealistic elements, obviously, but most I feel are designed to encourage team play. The various different player roles (assault, engineer, support, recon) all have significantly different kit, some of which can compliment bits of kit taken by other roles, so you have to form squads and communicate to get the best out of them - our favourite at the moment is combining the recon classes SOFLAM (don't know what it stands for) with the engineers Javelin missile launcher. When you do this the Javelin can target aircraft, only once the SOFLAM has acquired it, and the missiles it fires are more effective (not realistic, but encourages team work).
The game as a whole feels like a good mix of realism with bits of unrealism to encourage team play and make the game a bit easier and enjoyable.
Now, it's not all roses, I have some serious complaints about the game. Firstly, forming a squad and trying to get into a game is an absolute nightmare! This was easy and worked every time in Battlefield: Bad Company 2, but they seem to have forgotten how to do it in Battlefield 3... Highly irritating and means if 4 of us are on we can't just have a quick blast on one game, it takes at least 10-15 minutes just to be able to get onto the same team and then form a squad in the game! Then sometimes the game crashes as you try to enter a game; this is particularly annoying when you have 4 people as you all need to start from scratch and restart the game. And finally, how can an engineer repair a helicopter when he's sat in the back, while the helo is in flight?! This is one bit of unrealism which is ludicrous and drives me and my friends up the wall!
Overall though, Battlefield 3 is the best multiplayer wargame out there at the moment, and before that it was Battlefield: Bad Company 2, and before that Bad Company 1... etc. You get the picture.
The engine with which they build their games with is truly great, the lighting, building destruction and character models are exquisite. The other reason we all love Battlefield so much is because Call of Duty sold out and became an epic piece of arcady rubbish. Again, we were all big fans of the original and Call of Duty 2, but then we lost track of it and ever since Modern Warfare took over the brand they've been rubbish. I, honestly, don't understand how CoD is the top selling game, it doesn't say much for the consumer. I do have complaints about Battlefield games, how they've become a little toned down, but CoD took that too far and any realistic appearances to the game are just a vaneer. This is not to say that I haven't enjoyed playing CoD games (this is where I start contradicting myself). I have spent whole evenings playing split screen online games of CoD with mates and that is a lot of fun, but I get a similar level of enjoyment from Xbox live arcade games! The graphics are rubbish, it's completely unrealistic, but it's a laugh to run around shooting people in a simple, unthinking, sort of way. Nice, quick easy fun, which leaves almost no lasting impression on you once you turn the game off.
Anyway, back to Battlefield! Now, I did just say above that Battlefield games seemed to be becoming more arcading, but I have felt that in it's latest incarnation, Battlefield 3, they have brought back an element of trying to be realistic - the sound, movement and weaponry all feels heightened and more difficult. When you look down the barrel of your gun your sight now wobbles, as it would in reality, and the sound of explosions and nearby gunfire can leave you stunned and disorientated. It's very impressive and makes the game very immersive and tactically challenging.
There are unrealistic elements, obviously, but most I feel are designed to encourage team play. The various different player roles (assault, engineer, support, recon) all have significantly different kit, some of which can compliment bits of kit taken by other roles, so you have to form squads and communicate to get the best out of them - our favourite at the moment is combining the recon classes SOFLAM (don't know what it stands for) with the engineers Javelin missile launcher. When you do this the Javelin can target aircraft, only once the SOFLAM has acquired it, and the missiles it fires are more effective (not realistic, but encourages team work).
The game as a whole feels like a good mix of realism with bits of unrealism to encourage team play and make the game a bit easier and enjoyable.
Now, it's not all roses, I have some serious complaints about the game. Firstly, forming a squad and trying to get into a game is an absolute nightmare! This was easy and worked every time in Battlefield: Bad Company 2, but they seem to have forgotten how to do it in Battlefield 3... Highly irritating and means if 4 of us are on we can't just have a quick blast on one game, it takes at least 10-15 minutes just to be able to get onto the same team and then form a squad in the game! Then sometimes the game crashes as you try to enter a game; this is particularly annoying when you have 4 people as you all need to start from scratch and restart the game. And finally, how can an engineer repair a helicopter when he's sat in the back, while the helo is in flight?! This is one bit of unrealism which is ludicrous and drives me and my friends up the wall!
Overall though, Battlefield 3 is the best multiplayer wargame out there at the moment, and before that it was Battlefield: Bad Company 2, and before that Bad Company 1... etc. You get the picture.
GTA IV, an observers opinion.
I bought this game, along with Dragon Age: Origins, a few weeks back; £30 for the both, which I thought was a good price for 2 xbox 360 classics.
Since buying the games I have started playing a little Dragon Age and I am enjoying it, but have been hooked on Rage! as you all well know. As for GTA 4, I have been resisting playing this so that I can concentrate on Rage! and will definitly play it in a future sometime when I want some singleplayer open world genius, because from what I have seen of my girlfriend's campaign on it, it is brilliant!
Classic GTA easy gameplay, funny dialogue, great car chases and gun fights. BUT, the thing that has deeply struck me about this game is the depth of detail put into the environment. It is absolutly staggering!
The graphics are now 4 years old, but still look fantastic. You can really get a sense of where Red Dead Redemption came from after Rockstar made GTA 4. Red Dead has some of the best open world graphics I've seen to date. Also, in Liberty City you can get a cab, but only if one is available, you can take the tube, when you walk through a park you'll see people working in it's grounds, as you walk around the city you'll see other criminals stealing cars and cops chasing them. All of this with a logical, real world feel to it. Awe-inspiring.
The story line, as much as I know from my observations, I won't give away, but it has gripped my girlfriend and she's played hours and it seems to get better as it goes, she meets new people, makes new friends, new enemies, moves to different parts of the city. I'm not sure it has the same depth and emotion as Red Dead, but as it's predecessor it's nice to see that their games only seem to get better.
I should state that I have played a little of GTA IV. My girlfriend has kindly let me take part in some races and do a few missions and the controls are wonderful, but suffer from the same irritating turning problem as seen in Red Dead also. Please note this is the ONLY thing I have found bad about the game to date. I don't understand why these games have this problem - when you move around with a weapon you can't seem to turn on the spot?! Once you get used to it you almost completely forget about it though.
When you look back through Rockstars list of games, I am not aware that they've slipped up at all! The original GTA was an instant hit, GTA 2 was wonderful and one of my favourites, a friend of mine was hooked on GTA 3 and vice city for a long time, but I didn't know those games so well, GTA San Andreas was, I believe, Rockstar's best selling game ever. It's staggering that they've not slipped up. Even the games on the side, LA Noir and Red Dead Redemption, are phenomenal - Red Dead being one of my favourite games of all time.
I'm writing this "review" so many years too late, but if anyone reading this hasn't played this game it's an absolute steal at between £10-£15 now. It is essential gaming for anyone who is vaguely serious about their games.
However, and this is a big one for me, Rockstar are moving into territory I hold quite sacred with Max Payne. I'm not sure their style suits the Max Payne title and I'll be intrigued to see if this is the first Rockstar game that goes tits up. I'll be keeping an eye out to see if they can make another gem.
Since buying the games I have started playing a little Dragon Age and I am enjoying it, but have been hooked on Rage! as you all well know. As for GTA 4, I have been resisting playing this so that I can concentrate on Rage! and will definitly play it in a future sometime when I want some singleplayer open world genius, because from what I have seen of my girlfriend's campaign on it, it is brilliant!
Classic GTA easy gameplay, funny dialogue, great car chases and gun fights. BUT, the thing that has deeply struck me about this game is the depth of detail put into the environment. It is absolutly staggering!
The graphics are now 4 years old, but still look fantastic. You can really get a sense of where Red Dead Redemption came from after Rockstar made GTA 4. Red Dead has some of the best open world graphics I've seen to date. Also, in Liberty City you can get a cab, but only if one is available, you can take the tube, when you walk through a park you'll see people working in it's grounds, as you walk around the city you'll see other criminals stealing cars and cops chasing them. All of this with a logical, real world feel to it. Awe-inspiring.
The story line, as much as I know from my observations, I won't give away, but it has gripped my girlfriend and she's played hours and it seems to get better as it goes, she meets new people, makes new friends, new enemies, moves to different parts of the city. I'm not sure it has the same depth and emotion as Red Dead, but as it's predecessor it's nice to see that their games only seem to get better.
I should state that I have played a little of GTA IV. My girlfriend has kindly let me take part in some races and do a few missions and the controls are wonderful, but suffer from the same irritating turning problem as seen in Red Dead also. Please note this is the ONLY thing I have found bad about the game to date. I don't understand why these games have this problem - when you move around with a weapon you can't seem to turn on the spot?! Once you get used to it you almost completely forget about it though.
When you look back through Rockstars list of games, I am not aware that they've slipped up at all! The original GTA was an instant hit, GTA 2 was wonderful and one of my favourites, a friend of mine was hooked on GTA 3 and vice city for a long time, but I didn't know those games so well, GTA San Andreas was, I believe, Rockstar's best selling game ever. It's staggering that they've not slipped up. Even the games on the side, LA Noir and Red Dead Redemption, are phenomenal - Red Dead being one of my favourite games of all time.
I'm writing this "review" so many years too late, but if anyone reading this hasn't played this game it's an absolute steal at between £10-£15 now. It is essential gaming for anyone who is vaguely serious about their games.
However, and this is a big one for me, Rockstar are moving into territory I hold quite sacred with Max Payne. I'm not sure their style suits the Max Payne title and I'll be intrigued to see if this is the first Rockstar game that goes tits up. I'll be keeping an eye out to see if they can make another gem.
I buyed Rage!
That's right. I love this game and felt I had to own it, so I bought it from Amazon for £12.99, free postage. I feel chuffed as it's the Anarchy Edition, so when it arrives I'll have a few extra gadgets to use too.
Considering I've almost completed my copy from LoveFilm I still feel that I want to keep playing this game. I know that in the future I'll want to replay the campaign. This is actually very rare for me, I am ultra stingy when it comes to buying games and generally have a policy that if it's only really a single player game then I just don't bother. This is an exception though and for £13 I couldn't say no!
The other reason is because I do enjoy the co-op multiplayer. It's not extensive, but the missions are well designed and fun to play. I've been doing some of the online racing too and it's not great, but a bit of a laugh and a nice added extra. But really, I bought it because I just LOVE the single player! It is a perfect example of how an FPS should work. The end.
Considering I've almost completed my copy from LoveFilm I still feel that I want to keep playing this game. I know that in the future I'll want to replay the campaign. This is actually very rare for me, I am ultra stingy when it comes to buying games and generally have a policy that if it's only really a single player game then I just don't bother. This is an exception though and for £13 I couldn't say no!
The other reason is because I do enjoy the co-op multiplayer. It's not extensive, but the missions are well designed and fun to play. I've been doing some of the online racing too and it's not great, but a bit of a laugh and a nice added extra. But really, I bought it because I just LOVE the single player! It is a perfect example of how an FPS should work. The end.
Sunday, 26 February 2012
My first gaming addictions
The original Command & Conquer. It was my brothers' game and they would sometimes have a go at me for always playing it, but it was incredible! I think a good year and a half of my life was given up to playing my way through this game several times and some missions I'd play over and over just for the sheer joy of building a base and training my own little armies.
What was so wonderful about C&C was it's simplicity, the lack of restrictions and the character of the forces. I loved playing as the Global Defence Initiative trying to rid the world of NOD forces. Brilliant! I remember, at the time even, thinking that the only thing the game needed to be perfect was a skirmish mode. I never had a chance to play it multiplayer, but I bet that was truly great!
After C&C my brothers and I moved onto C&C: Red Alert. That was fantastic and I played it for much longer, but it all began with the original C&C, so I won't go into it. Oh, and Red Alert DID have a skirmish mode, so they learnt from their mistakes.
My next big adiction, which relates back to my post on where my love for gaming comes from, is Baldurs Gate. This was, for me, the original Dungeons and Dragons master piece! I loved creating different characters and exploring the world, different dungeons and following the dark story over and over again. It had a replayability that I've not seen in games since.
From Baldurs Gate I then went on to play and love Baldurs Gate 2 and it's expansion, Throne of Baal, and even the more open game Icewind Dale, which was really designed for co-op multiplayer.
So C&C was my first addiction, Baldurs Gate was the first game to indulge my deep love for fantasy adventuring, but the first first-person-shooter that got me hooked was Unreal Tournament - the original and still the best! I never got into it's later incarnations. My friends and I must have player UT for 3 years or more, it was so brilliant! Some of the mods that came out for it were fantastic, but just the core game was simple and wonderfully designed, a true pleasure for violent gunnishment.
Other notable games I've been hooked on have been:
Need for Speed: Underground - the drag racing was brilliant, modding cars and racing between traffic was exhilirating and it had me and a mate of mine hooked for many years, if you include it's sequel.
C&C: Generals - IMO this was the original action/strategy game. A fantastic mix of the class C&C base building and resource gathering, with the fast pace, brutally tactical, micromanagement of characterful and vastly different armed forces.
Ultima Online - The original open world, sand box MMO (massively multiplayer online) game. So wonderful. Some of the guilds in the game were enormous, with hundreds of players combining to rule vast tracts of land in the wonderfully constructed, dark world of Ultima. This was 4 years of friendships and adventure that I miss. But it was dangerously addictive and I won't get sucked into a game like this ever again!
Fable 2 - The original Fable was excellent, but didn't quite have the ease of play that Fable 2 had. Fable 3 had the open areas to explore like Fable 2, but lacked the depth of emotion and character which you felt and was just too easy. I have completed Fable 2 twice now and am playing it a third time! I've also played with friends. Such a magical and wonderfully gripping game, which you can play in different ways for different out comes.
Doom 3 - This game was ID Software's finest moment as far as I'm concerned. I loved it and have played it again and again over the years just to get a fix of this perfect example of an FPS.
Red Dead Redemption - The story was emotional, deep and interesting and I achieved 100%. I loved the wild west theme and the multiplayer was innovative and brilliant. I played hours and hours with friends online roaming the wild west fighting bandits and rival player possees. What it lacked in replayability in single player it more than made up for in it's epic multiplayer.
What was so wonderful about C&C was it's simplicity, the lack of restrictions and the character of the forces. I loved playing as the Global Defence Initiative trying to rid the world of NOD forces. Brilliant! I remember, at the time even, thinking that the only thing the game needed to be perfect was a skirmish mode. I never had a chance to play it multiplayer, but I bet that was truly great!
After C&C my brothers and I moved onto C&C: Red Alert. That was fantastic and I played it for much longer, but it all began with the original C&C, so I won't go into it. Oh, and Red Alert DID have a skirmish mode, so they learnt from their mistakes.
My next big adiction, which relates back to my post on where my love for gaming comes from, is Baldurs Gate. This was, for me, the original Dungeons and Dragons master piece! I loved creating different characters and exploring the world, different dungeons and following the dark story over and over again. It had a replayability that I've not seen in games since.
From Baldurs Gate I then went on to play and love Baldurs Gate 2 and it's expansion, Throne of Baal, and even the more open game Icewind Dale, which was really designed for co-op multiplayer.
So C&C was my first addiction, Baldurs Gate was the first game to indulge my deep love for fantasy adventuring, but the first first-person-shooter that got me hooked was Unreal Tournament - the original and still the best! I never got into it's later incarnations. My friends and I must have player UT for 3 years or more, it was so brilliant! Some of the mods that came out for it were fantastic, but just the core game was simple and wonderfully designed, a true pleasure for violent gunnishment.
Other notable games I've been hooked on have been:
Need for Speed: Underground - the drag racing was brilliant, modding cars and racing between traffic was exhilirating and it had me and a mate of mine hooked for many years, if you include it's sequel.
C&C: Generals - IMO this was the original action/strategy game. A fantastic mix of the class C&C base building and resource gathering, with the fast pace, brutally tactical, micromanagement of characterful and vastly different armed forces.
Ultima Online - The original open world, sand box MMO (massively multiplayer online) game. So wonderful. Some of the guilds in the game were enormous, with hundreds of players combining to rule vast tracts of land in the wonderfully constructed, dark world of Ultima. This was 4 years of friendships and adventure that I miss. But it was dangerously addictive and I won't get sucked into a game like this ever again!
Fable 2 - The original Fable was excellent, but didn't quite have the ease of play that Fable 2 had. Fable 3 had the open areas to explore like Fable 2, but lacked the depth of emotion and character which you felt and was just too easy. I have completed Fable 2 twice now and am playing it a third time! I've also played with friends. Such a magical and wonderfully gripping game, which you can play in different ways for different out comes.
Doom 3 - This game was ID Software's finest moment as far as I'm concerned. I loved it and have played it again and again over the years just to get a fix of this perfect example of an FPS.
Red Dead Redemption - The story was emotional, deep and interesting and I achieved 100%. I loved the wild west theme and the multiplayer was innovative and brilliant. I played hours and hours with friends online roaming the wild west fighting bandits and rival player possees. What it lacked in replayability in single player it more than made up for in it's epic multiplayer.
Friday, 24 February 2012
Where it all began...
I have loved playing games all my life. It has been a central focus for as long as I can remember. Although I should say it's not always the playing of the game that is central, it's the interaction with people I am playing with that really gives the buzz of excitment.
I think my deep passion for gaming really started when I was about 6-7 when my brothers and I used to play with a couple of kids who'd visit with their family during the holidays. They owned a holiday home near to where we lived and we'd play much the same games any children 10 and under played. The eldest of the two, however, was also interested in Fighting Fantasy game books and a couple of times he took me, my brothers and his brother on adventures using the Advanced Fighting Fantasy rulebooks, and that was it for me! I was absolutely captivated!
For years I would then try to recreate these adventures with my own friends at school, to some success. When I was about 8 I'd take a few fellow classmates at school on random adventures into dungeons using pieces of paper and a couple of dice. We were all absorbed in it, but it never had the same feel for me.
From then on I started to find different games to play, experienced other peoples opinions on how games should work and I started to make up my own rules and inflict them on my friends!
As we got older they moved onto other things and I started playing in a band so everything sort of died away, but my passion for games never really did. As a 10 year old I remember being asked what I wanted to be when I was older and I said a Games Designers, my teacher didn't know anything about that so he didn't say anymore and I was never asked again! I hope to one day fulfill that dream.
I think my deep passion for gaming really started when I was about 6-7 when my brothers and I used to play with a couple of kids who'd visit with their family during the holidays. They owned a holiday home near to where we lived and we'd play much the same games any children 10 and under played. The eldest of the two, however, was also interested in Fighting Fantasy game books and a couple of times he took me, my brothers and his brother on adventures using the Advanced Fighting Fantasy rulebooks, and that was it for me! I was absolutely captivated!
For years I would then try to recreate these adventures with my own friends at school, to some success. When I was about 8 I'd take a few fellow classmates at school on random adventures into dungeons using pieces of paper and a couple of dice. We were all absorbed in it, but it never had the same feel for me.
From then on I started to find different games to play, experienced other peoples opinions on how games should work and I started to make up my own rules and inflict them on my friends!
As we got older they moved onto other things and I started playing in a band so everything sort of died away, but my passion for games never really did. As a 10 year old I remember being asked what I wanted to be when I was older and I said a Games Designers, my teacher didn't know anything about that so he didn't say anymore and I was never asked again! I hope to one day fulfill that dream.
More Rage!
Played a good chunk of Rage now and still loving it! The story is nothing amazing, but it seems perfect for getting the most out of all the different aspects of the game and gives good justification for your various actions and getting you to speak with various people.
Last night I played the first three co-op missions with a friend on xbox live and they were so much better than I thought they would be! I had expected the one aspected that would let the game down would be the multiplayer, but the missions are well designed, challenging and a great laugh. Me and my mate had no problem redoing the same over and over to try and get a better score or acquire specific achievements.
I'm seriously considering actually buying the game! Especially considering it is so cheap now. My mate bought it a few weeks back for £15, which is a bargain for such a well constructed game. Although, I have heard that the campaign is annoyingly short and considering I'm about 9 hours in I'm really hoping it won't end in the next couple of hours - that could potentially kill my opinion of the game and would definitely put me off purchasing my own copy.
My fingers are crossed there's a good chunk of campaign to get stuck into!
Last night I played the first three co-op missions with a friend on xbox live and they were so much better than I thought they would be! I had expected the one aspected that would let the game down would be the multiplayer, but the missions are well designed, challenging and a great laugh. Me and my mate had no problem redoing the same over and over to try and get a better score or acquire specific achievements.
I'm seriously considering actually buying the game! Especially considering it is so cheap now. My mate bought it a few weeks back for £15, which is a bargain for such a well constructed game. Although, I have heard that the campaign is annoyingly short and considering I'm about 9 hours in I'm really hoping it won't end in the next couple of hours - that could potentially kill my opinion of the game and would definitely put me off purchasing my own copy.
My fingers are crossed there's a good chunk of campaign to get stuck into!
Wednesday, 22 February 2012
Rage!
Rage, the latest game from ID software, came through the post yesterday and I've had a good go on it already and my first impressions are that it's still got that distinctive ID software feel to the movement - it's fluid, yet sharp and feels brilliant!
As you can probably tell already I am a big fan of ID software. Doom, Doom 2 and Doom 3 are 3 of my favourite game ever. I can still play them now and enjoy them thoroughly!
ID software aren't wholly responsible for Rage's production, they worked along side Bethesda and if I was to describe my first impressions of Rage I would say, it is Fallout for people with ADD. You have the post apocalyptic landscape, dotted with towns and settlements, between which there are bandits and mutants and many places to explore.
I feel that the top developers for this game must be keep petrol-heads who played too much Necromunda or even Rogue Trader back in the 90s, and possibly still do!
The game sees you going between settlements in custom built buggies or 4x4s with big V8s, completing missions for the residents, playing games in the bars and/or participating in violent races across the dusty wastelands for extra rewards.
The graphics are beautiful, but then the game does consist of 3 DVDs worth of data?!?! 3! I installed each one of them before starting the game up so I have the best performance. The guns are well designed and feel nice. Everything has a nice, well thought out appearance and seems just right considering the setting.
An aspect of the game I've not explored greatly yet is the engineering. As you wander the wilderness you can pick up bits and pieces which, when you've found a "recipe" you can forge into an extra bit of kit to help you along the way, this could be a more effective healing balm or a sentry gun. They all require different items to be forged and they add a nice extra bit of depth to the combat.
The bad guys I've faced so far are split into bandits and mutants. The bandits are just malicious people trying to take whatever they can from whoever they can, and the mutants, I think, are products of the apocalyptic disaster that struck the earth 100 years before, they're everywhere and wild and crazy people!
Anyway, I'll let you know more when I've played some more, but I already feel like it's going to be a fantastic game and can't wait to get into the meat of the story.
As you can probably tell already I am a big fan of ID software. Doom, Doom 2 and Doom 3 are 3 of my favourite game ever. I can still play them now and enjoy them thoroughly!
ID software aren't wholly responsible for Rage's production, they worked along side Bethesda and if I was to describe my first impressions of Rage I would say, it is Fallout for people with ADD. You have the post apocalyptic landscape, dotted with towns and settlements, between which there are bandits and mutants and many places to explore.
I feel that the top developers for this game must be keep petrol-heads who played too much Necromunda or even Rogue Trader back in the 90s, and possibly still do!
The game sees you going between settlements in custom built buggies or 4x4s with big V8s, completing missions for the residents, playing games in the bars and/or participating in violent races across the dusty wastelands for extra rewards.
The graphics are beautiful, but then the game does consist of 3 DVDs worth of data?!?! 3! I installed each one of them before starting the game up so I have the best performance. The guns are well designed and feel nice. Everything has a nice, well thought out appearance and seems just right considering the setting.
An aspect of the game I've not explored greatly yet is the engineering. As you wander the wilderness you can pick up bits and pieces which, when you've found a "recipe" you can forge into an extra bit of kit to help you along the way, this could be a more effective healing balm or a sentry gun. They all require different items to be forged and they add a nice extra bit of depth to the combat.
The bad guys I've faced so far are split into bandits and mutants. The bandits are just malicious people trying to take whatever they can from whoever they can, and the mutants, I think, are products of the apocalyptic disaster that struck the earth 100 years before, they're everywhere and wild and crazy people!
Anyway, I'll let you know more when I've played some more, but I already feel like it's going to be a fantastic game and can't wait to get into the meat of the story.
Tuesday, 21 February 2012
Dead Island, dead disappointing
I recently rented Dead Island through LoveFilm and was very much looking forward to it. From looking at previews of the game last year my impression had been that it was an open world zombie survival game where the goal was to find one of a multitude of ways off the island.
When I started playing I was very impressed with the melee system, the graphics were excellent and every venture out into onto the island was nerve racking and felt like a huge risk. After several hours of play, once the novelty wore off, I did get a bit bored of it but as the story developed and I moved around and acquired new items I found myself gripped enough to keep going.
Now, I should point out that one thing I hated from the start, and which I knew about before playing, was the fact it is a "level based" game. My that I mean your character gains levels as he/she gains experience. I HATE level based character development - it's crude and old fashioned and unimaginative. What makes this worse, as seen in Dead Island, is that you can't use certain items until you reach a certain level. This is a terrible system! For example, my character was using a crowbar for quite a while, which I enjoyed using as it was very effective, when I then found another, better crowbar I found I couldn't use it because I wasn't a high enough level?! How ridiculous is that?
Another ridiculous aspect to levelling up is that all the monsters levelled up too, so at the beginning of the game you can kill a zombie with a normal, salvaged iron pipe, but once you level up a few times that same iron pipe is utterly useless!
I played through about two thirds of the story before I finally told myself that this really isn't gripping anymore, I'm just playing because I want to find a quick way off the island. So I stopped and looked on the interweb for a walk through and discovered to my dismay that there was only one way off the island and all the other potential routes all funnel into one conclusion! Once I read that I packed the game up and posted it back to LoveFilm, giving it a 2 star rating (out of 5).
What I enjoyed about the game was the environment, the exploration (although there is a negative here too), the intense fights for survival and limited resources.
What I didn't like was the level-based nature of character development, the exploration - the fact that the exact same items would respawn in the exact same position 15 minutes later - and the single track story.
In conclusion I feel they missed the point of a zombie survival, open world game. I liked developing skills on my character as I progressed, but you can do this far more elegantly than by using a levelling up system. Also, instead of the story funnelling into one final conclusion I would have liked to see several potential paths off the island, as I'm sure was originally promised.
I think what enticed them into designing the game this way was the modern gamer. Most big grossing games have cinematic cut scenes, levelling systems and silly names for even basic weapons and stories revolving around "interesting" character relationships. All of which they have tried to do.
I would have liked to have seen them cut out most of the cutscenes, sacrifice the top shelf graphics and see them build an entirely free roam island, with several outposts of survivors, hard to reach areas where precious resources can be gathered and multiple story lines, which lead off into different endings.
When I started playing I was very impressed with the melee system, the graphics were excellent and every venture out into onto the island was nerve racking and felt like a huge risk. After several hours of play, once the novelty wore off, I did get a bit bored of it but as the story developed and I moved around and acquired new items I found myself gripped enough to keep going.
Now, I should point out that one thing I hated from the start, and which I knew about before playing, was the fact it is a "level based" game. My that I mean your character gains levels as he/she gains experience. I HATE level based character development - it's crude and old fashioned and unimaginative. What makes this worse, as seen in Dead Island, is that you can't use certain items until you reach a certain level. This is a terrible system! For example, my character was using a crowbar for quite a while, which I enjoyed using as it was very effective, when I then found another, better crowbar I found I couldn't use it because I wasn't a high enough level?! How ridiculous is that?
Another ridiculous aspect to levelling up is that all the monsters levelled up too, so at the beginning of the game you can kill a zombie with a normal, salvaged iron pipe, but once you level up a few times that same iron pipe is utterly useless!
I played through about two thirds of the story before I finally told myself that this really isn't gripping anymore, I'm just playing because I want to find a quick way off the island. So I stopped and looked on the interweb for a walk through and discovered to my dismay that there was only one way off the island and all the other potential routes all funnel into one conclusion! Once I read that I packed the game up and posted it back to LoveFilm, giving it a 2 star rating (out of 5).
What I enjoyed about the game was the environment, the exploration (although there is a negative here too), the intense fights for survival and limited resources.
What I didn't like was the level-based nature of character development, the exploration - the fact that the exact same items would respawn in the exact same position 15 minutes later - and the single track story.
In conclusion I feel they missed the point of a zombie survival, open world game. I liked developing skills on my character as I progressed, but you can do this far more elegantly than by using a levelling up system. Also, instead of the story funnelling into one final conclusion I would have liked to see several potential paths off the island, as I'm sure was originally promised.
I think what enticed them into designing the game this way was the modern gamer. Most big grossing games have cinematic cut scenes, levelling systems and silly names for even basic weapons and stories revolving around "interesting" character relationships. All of which they have tried to do.
I would have liked to have seen them cut out most of the cutscenes, sacrifice the top shelf graphics and see them build an entirely free roam island, with several outposts of survivors, hard to reach areas where precious resources can be gathered and multiple story lines, which lead off into different endings.
Friday, 17 February 2012
Hello
I've never written a blog before and had never considered it until my girlfriend suggested I should.
I intend to use this blog as a vent for my thoughts on various games I've been playing and ideas I have myself on improvements for existing games or my own, original games.
Another reason for writing a blog is so I can keep track of my thoughts on various games as I am considering a career move and currently looking into programming courses with the hope that one day I might become a Games Designer. Whether that ends up being for computer games or boardgames, I don't actually mind either way.
I intend to use this blog as a vent for my thoughts on various games I've been playing and ideas I have myself on improvements for existing games or my own, original games.
Another reason for writing a blog is so I can keep track of my thoughts on various games as I am considering a career move and currently looking into programming courses with the hope that one day I might become a Games Designer. Whether that ends up being for computer games or boardgames, I don't actually mind either way.
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)