This game was recently free to DL on XBLA and me and a bunch of my mates jumped in on the action and almost instantly invested a whopping £3 something for the expansion.
I want to start by saying this game scratches some serious itches. As I was growing up Mech Warrior 2 (MW2) was a game that seriously imprinted itself on my mind. If I remember rightly we got a copy of MW2 with our GeForce 1 graphics card, back in the day, and it was a game I wished I had played more. Before getting it I remember seeing a computer game/gadget reviewing show back in the 90s which showed off guys playing multiplayer MW in special cockpit style gaming seats.
So Iron Brigade scratches this itch. It's mega arcady, and the story basically involved the development of mechanised trenches used to fight the menace of the "tube" an evil broadcast which is using the power of TV to try and take over the world. Very random and obscure, but very cool and it just works! It's only now I'm typing it that it sounds more bizarre and random.
So how does this link with MW? Well, your walking trench is essentially a different approach to a mech warrior. Players can buy and collect new weapons to strap onto the sides of their "trench" and also aesthetic things like paint jobs and different clothes for your fella, who is pirched a'top your trench.
The next most important aspect of the game is that it is also a tower defence game. So as you run around in your trench, blasting "tubes" with copious firepower, you can also call down turrets to help in your defence. Every mission is basically based around the defence of some building or significant bit of hardware, so the turrets become more and more essentially as enemies start pouring round you from all directions.
So the game is basically an arcade style mech warrior game with a hefty dose of tower defence. Well worth buying for it's full price! And definitely get the expansion if you do decide to get it. You won't regret it! And convince your mates to join you - this game is MADE for co-operative play. The only mild negative is that the boss battles are a bit lame. But the survival mode, which is the games version of horde mode, will keep you satisfied for many many hours!
It's also very funny!
Wednesday, 18 December 2013
Tuesday, 3 December 2013
Sorry for my absence
I'm not sure who I'm apologising to, probably mostly to myself.
My motivation levels have been at a pretty devastating low in the last couple of months. I've had numerous ideas I've wanted to write about, but haven't found the energy or desire to actually do it.
Anyway, here's a brief overview of some of the stuff I've been doing and wanted to write about:
1. Fable II - I went back and played this for a good while after playing Fable III and it quickly reminded me how much better it is than it's successor. How could Lionhead have got it so wrong?!
2. Tabletop gaming - my brothers are getting very interested in various historic tabletop game systems at the moment and I'm following their progress with a little envy, I must admit.
3. Wastelands - I've recently done a couple of play tests for my game with a few minor tweaks. It feels more complete as ever as a ruleset, but without art or artist I don't know how to push it forward. I need to find artists and knuckle down.
4. Writing - my own writing these days have dwindled to nothing. I'm having a damp spell, not being able to articulate ideas very well. That's not to say I've run out of ideas, I am just lacking enthusiasm.
5. Iron Brigade - this game from Double Fine was free on XBLA for a couple of weeks and my friends and I have played it to death, although I am still greatly enjoying it! It's too easy to just burn hours and hours on this at the moment. But it is a fantastic mix of tower defence and mech warrior style combat.
That's all for now. I'll try to put more ranty type posts up soon. Got to go to work now.
My motivation levels have been at a pretty devastating low in the last couple of months. I've had numerous ideas I've wanted to write about, but haven't found the energy or desire to actually do it.
Anyway, here's a brief overview of some of the stuff I've been doing and wanted to write about:
1. Fable II - I went back and played this for a good while after playing Fable III and it quickly reminded me how much better it is than it's successor. How could Lionhead have got it so wrong?!
2. Tabletop gaming - my brothers are getting very interested in various historic tabletop game systems at the moment and I'm following their progress with a little envy, I must admit.
3. Wastelands - I've recently done a couple of play tests for my game with a few minor tweaks. It feels more complete as ever as a ruleset, but without art or artist I don't know how to push it forward. I need to find artists and knuckle down.
4. Writing - my own writing these days have dwindled to nothing. I'm having a damp spell, not being able to articulate ideas very well. That's not to say I've run out of ideas, I am just lacking enthusiasm.
5. Iron Brigade - this game from Double Fine was free on XBLA for a couple of weeks and my friends and I have played it to death, although I am still greatly enjoying it! It's too easy to just burn hours and hours on this at the moment. But it is a fantastic mix of tower defence and mech warrior style combat.
That's all for now. I'll try to put more ranty type posts up soon. Got to go to work now.
Monday, 21 October 2013
How important is winning?
This is a hugely important question to me. Whenever I look at buying a new board game, card game or dice game, I also think to myself, will I (or the other players) enjoy this when I (they) lose?
The satisfaction I feel when I win is nearly always just the feeling that I was better than someone or, on this occasion, I out smarted them. I have always been a deeply competitive person, I hate being second best if I feel I should be the best; I'm happy to feeling second best if I know the other person is better, but then I also feel like I need to improve.
When I play sports I'm happy with my natural inclinations to be competitive because it drives me to become better, but when I play a game I loath it! I essentially quit our old Blood Bowl league because I found it much too stressful! I felt like I was one of the best coaches in the league and therefore went into every game with the pressure of feeling that I must win, mixed with the feeling that it's just a game, reeelaaax. But I could never really relax and it just wasn't worth it. It really saddens me that I left the league as it was a great way to stay close to friends, which I don't see as much because I left.
I think it was at this time when the title of this post really began to become important to me. So what IS most important to me?
Solid, interactive game mechanics
When I play a game I want to feel free to unleash on the other players without feeling like I'm picking on anyone or that I'm somehow exploiting a game mechanic. Zombies!!! is a great example of this, it's a game where everyone goes out of their way to ruin everyone else's life, but you know it'll come straight back at you, so you just have to persist and get stuck in.
Story
I love games which create epic stories, which stick in your memory! Where it's almost worth holding off victory just to make another players life miserable, or to have a go at fighting that crazy powerful dragon, because you might just win and the reward would be great! Talisman is my prime example of this. It's a game built around writing stories. No-one should ever play that game competitively; it should be played to see how the story un-ravels and to make the other players lives as interestingly painful as possible. The number of times I feel I've been ultra powerful and then been systematically stripped of everything by my vengeful co-players goes to show that a healthy, unspoken agreement on mutual destruction, leads to great games.
Strategy/pushing your luck
This sort of goes against some of my previous points and starts to get back into the competitiveness, but when games become too luck orientated they lose the satisfying feeling of destroying an opponent or appreciating how you have been beaten. Also, allowing players to try something crazy is a great way to build tension or create moments of great excitement, like playing the Do or die card in Escape from Colditz or making a well planned but very daring dash for a last turn goal in Dreadball!
The satisfaction I feel when I win is nearly always just the feeling that I was better than someone or, on this occasion, I out smarted them. I have always been a deeply competitive person, I hate being second best if I feel I should be the best; I'm happy to feeling second best if I know the other person is better, but then I also feel like I need to improve.
When I play sports I'm happy with my natural inclinations to be competitive because it drives me to become better, but when I play a game I loath it! I essentially quit our old Blood Bowl league because I found it much too stressful! I felt like I was one of the best coaches in the league and therefore went into every game with the pressure of feeling that I must win, mixed with the feeling that it's just a game, reeelaaax. But I could never really relax and it just wasn't worth it. It really saddens me that I left the league as it was a great way to stay close to friends, which I don't see as much because I left.
I think it was at this time when the title of this post really began to become important to me. So what IS most important to me?
Solid, interactive game mechanics
When I play a game I want to feel free to unleash on the other players without feeling like I'm picking on anyone or that I'm somehow exploiting a game mechanic. Zombies!!! is a great example of this, it's a game where everyone goes out of their way to ruin everyone else's life, but you know it'll come straight back at you, so you just have to persist and get stuck in.
Story
I love games which create epic stories, which stick in your memory! Where it's almost worth holding off victory just to make another players life miserable, or to have a go at fighting that crazy powerful dragon, because you might just win and the reward would be great! Talisman is my prime example of this. It's a game built around writing stories. No-one should ever play that game competitively; it should be played to see how the story un-ravels and to make the other players lives as interestingly painful as possible. The number of times I feel I've been ultra powerful and then been systematically stripped of everything by my vengeful co-players goes to show that a healthy, unspoken agreement on mutual destruction, leads to great games.
Strategy/pushing your luck
This sort of goes against some of my previous points and starts to get back into the competitiveness, but when games become too luck orientated they lose the satisfying feeling of destroying an opponent or appreciating how you have been beaten. Also, allowing players to try something crazy is a great way to build tension or create moments of great excitement, like playing the Do or die card in Escape from Colditz or making a well planned but very daring dash for a last turn goal in Dreadball!
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I'm always interested to hear other people's perspectives. One of the game types that I feel really hasn't ever excited me, because they don't really fulfil the above catergories, is "euro" style games. I often find them a little dry and too mathematical, with a severe lack of meaningful interaction. I know I'd get an enormous amount of criticism for saying this and people who disagree, but thankfully hardly anyone reads this blog, it's more for my brain to unload.
That said I have played Agricola and it is rightfully regarded as a great game and I enjoyed it, but I never felt compelled to own it. Euro games are amazingly well designed! They are just generally a little too serious for me. I haven't played many deck building games, but I've found them to be similar, they just don't excite me that much. I'd love to be proved wrong!
Oh, and I think table top games are starting to creep back into fashion with my bros and people around me, so maybe I'll have some thoughts about that and maybe bring up memories of my days of playing Warhammer!
Friday, 11 October 2013
I actually enjoyed Fable III!
My girlfriend and I just finished playing through the main story for Fable III and honestly, we enjoyed it. At first I was just going to have another go at the game just because I wanted to see what is was like to be evil, then my girlfriend got drawn in and we played together, sharing the quests between us as we went.
By the end of the game we were properly enjoying choosing the fortunes of Albion, as the king, and running around completing the various quests leading up to the end of the game. When it ended I considered that it had been a fun and interesting story and it felt worthwhile.
Nearly everyone who played Fable III hated on it, including me, but I felt I should put a record up on the net of someone who found enjoyment in it. So there you have it.
Might spend some more time to have a gander for the keys, chests and various other collectibles and quests. We'll see.
By the end of the game we were properly enjoying choosing the fortunes of Albion, as the king, and running around completing the various quests leading up to the end of the game. When it ended I considered that it had been a fun and interesting story and it felt worthwhile.
Nearly everyone who played Fable III hated on it, including me, but I felt I should put a record up on the net of someone who found enjoyment in it. So there you have it.
Might spend some more time to have a gander for the keys, chests and various other collectibles and quests. We'll see.
Sunday, 6 October 2013
Fable III - it does have a charm and maybe not quite as bad as I remember
This is a fairly old topic as Fable III was destroyed by online communities all over because it just failed to live up to anyone's expectations. The only reason I'm bringing it up now is because I've been playing it again and am sort of liking it...
Lets get back to where I started with Fable. The first fable game I played for Fable II and I've mentioned on my blog before as it's one of my all time favourite games. I love the beauty and charm of the world, the graphics are so nice to look at and the feeling of adventure as you quest through the story is something I have played through and loved many times. In addition to the story, just working and doing side quests is joyous too! I can't say how many hours I've spent just chopping wood in Oakfield?!
Fable III... I really wanted to put something on here because I have deeply conflicting feelings about it. On the one hand, they stripped out all the emotional interaction, actually fun jobs (which don't suffer horribly from fps issues also). Fable III essentially turned into a game where you hold A then release to active objects, enter a building, talk to someone, pick, choose, everything! The second "half" of the game was a shambolic attempt to make players be a ruler of a kingdom, choosing which promises to keep and such. This completely fell down because if you sat on your arse long enough you'd easily have enough money to do whatever you needed/wanted.
Finally, I'll mention why I'm playing again and enjoying it. The main reason I started playing again was because I really wanted to see the evil side of ruling the kingdom. Also, the fighting is actually quite fun! I've banned myself from using ranged weapons, which were a bit broken in the game, but using magic and a sword is quite fun and some of the fights are pretty epic! And then there's just the charm of the world, it's still there, what the minions of albion say to you and each other, the gorgeous graphics and the variety of environments. That's pretty much all there is in the game, it's a bit shallow, but I'll play it through with my GF and just take it as it is, then go back to Fable II and realise why I originally traded Fable III; I downloaded Fable III for free when Microsoft were giving it away on xbox live.
Lets get back to where I started with Fable. The first fable game I played for Fable II and I've mentioned on my blog before as it's one of my all time favourite games. I love the beauty and charm of the world, the graphics are so nice to look at and the feeling of adventure as you quest through the story is something I have played through and loved many times. In addition to the story, just working and doing side quests is joyous too! I can't say how many hours I've spent just chopping wood in Oakfield?!
Fable III... I really wanted to put something on here because I have deeply conflicting feelings about it. On the one hand, they stripped out all the emotional interaction, actually fun jobs (which don't suffer horribly from fps issues also). Fable III essentially turned into a game where you hold A then release to active objects, enter a building, talk to someone, pick, choose, everything! The second "half" of the game was a shambolic attempt to make players be a ruler of a kingdom, choosing which promises to keep and such. This completely fell down because if you sat on your arse long enough you'd easily have enough money to do whatever you needed/wanted.
Finally, I'll mention why I'm playing again and enjoying it. The main reason I started playing again was because I really wanted to see the evil side of ruling the kingdom. Also, the fighting is actually quite fun! I've banned myself from using ranged weapons, which were a bit broken in the game, but using magic and a sword is quite fun and some of the fights are pretty epic! And then there's just the charm of the world, it's still there, what the minions of albion say to you and each other, the gorgeous graphics and the variety of environments. That's pretty much all there is in the game, it's a bit shallow, but I'll play it through with my GF and just take it as it is, then go back to Fable II and realise why I originally traded Fable III; I downloaded Fable III for free when Microsoft were giving it away on xbox live.
Thursday, 12 September 2013
My evenings my own. For a while at least.
Since starting my new job I've felt liberated in the evenings and weekends! It's actually taken a little getting use to, but I now find myself painting models, taking time to read, learn Swedish, as well as frequently enjoying games with mates.
My Dreadball team have never seen so much attention! I've almost finished them, although I will probably want to put a bit more detail on them in time, just need to get some highlighting done to get them to a reasonable playable state though. I'm hoping my gaming group can get a small league going in a couple of weeks after we finish our current Pathfinder campaign.
Monday night is becoming a regular gaming evening for me and my mates. Currently, we're playing Pathfinder, which is my first ever proper delve into the world of pen-and-paper RPGing. I'm thoroughly enjoying playing a grizzly warrior-like cleric. Would like to have another crack at being a warrior, as I had one when we first started but he died in our first adventure!
Computer game wise, as I mentioned in my last post, my girlfriend and I have been enjoying LEGO Lord of the Rings, running around finding all the collectables in all the levels. We're so close now to 100%!! I really enjoy using all the other characters and just roaming around a lego version of the greatest fantasy world ever! My opinion of Forza 4 is growing with time. I'm really enjoying building different cars for different purposes, doing hot laps and just racing for the sheer joy of it. Finally in the land of computer games, Mine Craft is still a favourite late night game for my friends and I, mining and crafting away, building huge towers and delving deep into the depths of the world looking for precious resources.
My next Open Uni course starts in October so my free time will significantly reduce then, but I'm really looking forward to getting stuck into it. Can't wait to start learning Java.
Other things I'm trying to get back into are playing my guitar, which I'm enjoying again, and getting back into Wastelands. Wastelands really just needs to be play tested as I've still only played the latest version once!
Anyway, really enjoying my various hobbies at the moment, will try to check in again soon.
My Dreadball team have never seen so much attention! I've almost finished them, although I will probably want to put a bit more detail on them in time, just need to get some highlighting done to get them to a reasonable playable state though. I'm hoping my gaming group can get a small league going in a couple of weeks after we finish our current Pathfinder campaign.
Monday night is becoming a regular gaming evening for me and my mates. Currently, we're playing Pathfinder, which is my first ever proper delve into the world of pen-and-paper RPGing. I'm thoroughly enjoying playing a grizzly warrior-like cleric. Would like to have another crack at being a warrior, as I had one when we first started but he died in our first adventure!
Computer game wise, as I mentioned in my last post, my girlfriend and I have been enjoying LEGO Lord of the Rings, running around finding all the collectables in all the levels. We're so close now to 100%!! I really enjoy using all the other characters and just roaming around a lego version of the greatest fantasy world ever! My opinion of Forza 4 is growing with time. I'm really enjoying building different cars for different purposes, doing hot laps and just racing for the sheer joy of it. Finally in the land of computer games, Mine Craft is still a favourite late night game for my friends and I, mining and crafting away, building huge towers and delving deep into the depths of the world looking for precious resources.
My next Open Uni course starts in October so my free time will significantly reduce then, but I'm really looking forward to getting stuck into it. Can't wait to start learning Java.
Other things I'm trying to get back into are playing my guitar, which I'm enjoying again, and getting back into Wastelands. Wastelands really just needs to be play tested as I've still only played the latest version once!
Anyway, really enjoying my various hobbies at the moment, will try to check in again soon.
Sunday, 1 September 2013
LEGO Forza Minecraft
Sounds like a dream game? Maybe...
As I said in my previous post I have been playing a few games over the last month and they've been some real crackers!
For my birthday a mate of mine gave me LEGO Lord of the Rings. He's massively into all the LEGO games and I've played a few minutes round his on some of the old ones, but I was never totally sold until I saw that a LotRs version was coming out. When the demo came out I knew it was going to be good so I waited until it dropped in price.
If you're not familiar with the LEGO games then basically they take a theme, mildly spoof, simplify the humour and put in hordes of collectables, side quests and take the players through levels that follow the scenes from films or comics. The controls are always very simple and ever level is crammed with platforming genius and puzzles to solve. They are ideal games for cooping with a mate in split screen mode.
My girlfriend and I have thoroughly enjoyed playing our way through the whole game together, playing in the brilliantly designed free-roam world between levels. Now we've completed the main story the game has really just begun! We've been re-playing levels to find all the treasure chests, unlocking and playing other characters (my girlfriend even decided to play as Grishnak in a level where he was the main bad guy?!).
Before I owned the game I read a review that said it believed LEGO's version of LotRs was the best put into computer game form. Not sure I totally agree with that, but it certainly is an excellent game and I would strongly recommend it to any LotRs lovers. My favourite LotRs game is probably Battle for Middle Earth 2... But my memories might be a little rose tinted.
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Next game is Forza 4. I got bored of Forza Horizon pretty quickly really. No simulated damage, no tuning and no easy racing mode. Multiplayer was ok, but I wanted more depth and it just wasn't in this game. So I went down to game, traded it in for £11, paid £1.50 from a reward card I had lying around and then topped it off with 49p of my hard earned cash to purchase Forza 4.
Seriously, I've never looked back. I don't play in ultra simulation mode of doom, but I do have simulated damage on and reasonably realistic controls. I love buying and tuning cars, putting different components in and then seeing how it affects the performance. It even has a split screen mode, stock cars and Nascar tracks!
My favourite car is my classic Toyota Supra, but I have a Holden, Alpha Romeo 8C and a Honda NSX, which I love to drive in.
Online is much more competitive as everyone's cars are tuned differently.
My advice: get rid of that copy of Forza Horizon! Use the £11 trade-in price (if it's still that value) and get a different game!
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Lastly, I want to talk briefly about Minecraft. It's a game which I've had a look at every now and then ever since it came out, but never really thought I'd ever buy it, or no any time soon.
What changed my mind was when I heard the xbox 360 version was really good. I had assumed it would be a bit rubbish and I might as well wait until I had a half decent PC, which won't be any time soon, so I wasn't going to bother.
The Microsoft points I had lingering from last year were just enough to make the purchase and I was instantly hooked! I find it such a calming, therapeutic game. Mining into the depths of the world, gathering resources and then constructing great towers atop mountains or underground fortresses. The best part has been playing online with friends, inviting them into my world for them to build there own constructions on their own patch of land and then for us to all go adventuring into the depths.
Minecraft's randomly generated worlds always hold surprises and are different every time. The joy of entering a world with nothing and then building something beautiful, all the time while fighting to survive against zombies and creepers, farming to produce enough food to live and seeking shelter at night. Brilliant.
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Well, that's all for now. Plan to paint my Dreadball minis this afternoon and maybe get my guitar out too (yes, Tom, I might actually do it!!!)
As I said in my previous post I have been playing a few games over the last month and they've been some real crackers!
For my birthday a mate of mine gave me LEGO Lord of the Rings. He's massively into all the LEGO games and I've played a few minutes round his on some of the old ones, but I was never totally sold until I saw that a LotRs version was coming out. When the demo came out I knew it was going to be good so I waited until it dropped in price.
If you're not familiar with the LEGO games then basically they take a theme, mildly spoof, simplify the humour and put in hordes of collectables, side quests and take the players through levels that follow the scenes from films or comics. The controls are always very simple and ever level is crammed with platforming genius and puzzles to solve. They are ideal games for cooping with a mate in split screen mode.
My girlfriend and I have thoroughly enjoyed playing our way through the whole game together, playing in the brilliantly designed free-roam world between levels. Now we've completed the main story the game has really just begun! We've been re-playing levels to find all the treasure chests, unlocking and playing other characters (my girlfriend even decided to play as Grishnak in a level where he was the main bad guy?!).
Before I owned the game I read a review that said it believed LEGO's version of LotRs was the best put into computer game form. Not sure I totally agree with that, but it certainly is an excellent game and I would strongly recommend it to any LotRs lovers. My favourite LotRs game is probably Battle for Middle Earth 2... But my memories might be a little rose tinted.
---------------------------------------------
Next game is Forza 4. I got bored of Forza Horizon pretty quickly really. No simulated damage, no tuning and no easy racing mode. Multiplayer was ok, but I wanted more depth and it just wasn't in this game. So I went down to game, traded it in for £11, paid £1.50 from a reward card I had lying around and then topped it off with 49p of my hard earned cash to purchase Forza 4.
Seriously, I've never looked back. I don't play in ultra simulation mode of doom, but I do have simulated damage on and reasonably realistic controls. I love buying and tuning cars, putting different components in and then seeing how it affects the performance. It even has a split screen mode, stock cars and Nascar tracks!
My favourite car is my classic Toyota Supra, but I have a Holden, Alpha Romeo 8C and a Honda NSX, which I love to drive in.
Online is much more competitive as everyone's cars are tuned differently.
My advice: get rid of that copy of Forza Horizon! Use the £11 trade-in price (if it's still that value) and get a different game!
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Lastly, I want to talk briefly about Minecraft. It's a game which I've had a look at every now and then ever since it came out, but never really thought I'd ever buy it, or no any time soon.
What changed my mind was when I heard the xbox 360 version was really good. I had assumed it would be a bit rubbish and I might as well wait until I had a half decent PC, which won't be any time soon, so I wasn't going to bother.
The Microsoft points I had lingering from last year were just enough to make the purchase and I was instantly hooked! I find it such a calming, therapeutic game. Mining into the depths of the world, gathering resources and then constructing great towers atop mountains or underground fortresses. The best part has been playing online with friends, inviting them into my world for them to build there own constructions on their own patch of land and then for us to all go adventuring into the depths.
Minecraft's randomly generated worlds always hold surprises and are different every time. The joy of entering a world with nothing and then building something beautiful, all the time while fighting to survive against zombies and creepers, farming to produce enough food to live and seeking shelter at night. Brilliant.
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Well, that's all for now. Plan to paint my Dreadball minis this afternoon and maybe get my guitar out too (yes, Tom, I might actually do it!!!)
Saturday, 24 August 2013
I'm still here!
It's been a quiet month for gaming, sadly. But there are several games and things I'd like to talk about on here.
During the last month I have got a new job! I start on Tuesday and I'm excited at the prospect of actually earning a reasonable amount of monies. There is another job, which I'm yet to hear about, which I would really like to get, but hopefully I'll hear something in the next week or two.
I've not played any Wastelands for a long time now. Very keen to get back into it. Now that I don't have to be looking for working constantly I'm hoping to move my thoughts more and more across to it and get some inspiration to push it forward.
There are a few games I've been playing a little over the last month: Forza 4, Minecraft and LEGO Lord of the Rings. All fantastic and I'll let you know more soon! I promise!
During the last month I have got a new job! I start on Tuesday and I'm excited at the prospect of actually earning a reasonable amount of monies. There is another job, which I'm yet to hear about, which I would really like to get, but hopefully I'll hear something in the next week or two.
I've not played any Wastelands for a long time now. Very keen to get back into it. Now that I don't have to be looking for working constantly I'm hoping to move my thoughts more and more across to it and get some inspiration to push it forward.
There are a few games I've been playing a little over the last month: Forza 4, Minecraft and LEGO Lord of the Rings. All fantastic and I'll let you know more soon! I promise!
Sunday, 28 July 2013
Fantasy worlds and what I grew up with
As I grew up there were certain fantasy worlds that connected with me more than others, so I thought I'd list them here and what I loved about them so much.
Fighting Fantasy
I think a lot of people my age can remember the fighting fantasy books where you'd read a paragraph and then it would give you some options and instruct you which page to move to and so on; sometimes having to fight monsters on the route or solve puzzles.
These were the only books I could ever read as an 8 year old. I was a late developer when it came to reading and I'm still not the best reader now, but there were certain books or subject matters that would instantly click and I'd happily read them all day long.
It was when I was introduced to Advanced Fighting Fantasy that my obsession really stuck in. Being taken on those first adventures, with my brothers and 2 friends whose family had a holiday home near our house. The eldest of these two friends would take us on adventures through the grimy streets of Blacksand or into a Warlocks tower. It was all, what I now consider, classic medieval fantasy; wizards, warriors, rogues; magic swords, amulets and healing potions.
The Old World
When my brothers and I first started exploring Games Workshop and it's games we first went towards the futuristic Warhammer 40k. Our first game was Space Crusade and then we went into 2nd edition 40k. At the time I remember enjoying it, but I never really understood it, or rather, it didn't really grab me. I remember really wanting Heroquest, but we went into 40k and my brothers grew up playing that throughout their teenage years.
Once I got a little older and started to become a little more independent my friends and I quickly made the switch to Warhammer Fantasy and it became our lives! We instantly fell in love with the kingdoms of High Elves, The Empire, Bretonnia; each of us finding our own little space on the map to engross ourselves in its armies units, history and feel.
The Warhammer world probably appealed so much because it's development lie in the hands of the people who wrote the Fighting Fantasy books! So the dark, grim fantasy world instantly appealed to us.
Star Wars
In one of the many arguments we had as kids between Star War and Star Trek, I was always a Star Wars fanatic! I watched some Star Trek, because it was on and my brothers enjoyed it. But the Star Wars universe was the first Sci Fi that really gripped me.
I cannot say how many times I've watched the original three films, but it's got to be well over 10 times each (and embarrassingly, probably nearer 20...). I had a Star Wars encyclopaedia and knew almost every planet and variant of the star destroyer there were - even the ones not shown in the films!
Tolkien's Middle Earth
I actually came quite late to this. It was my mum who introduced me properly to it when she lent me a copy of The Hobbit and then I left it sat on a book shelf somewhere for a few years before finally reading it.
The Hobbit, if I remember rightly, was the first proper novel I ever read. I think I was 18, or maybe nearer 20. Either way, it was a break through moment for me. I had never thought I could enjoy a set story so much. Previously, one of my reasons for not wanting, or being able to, read a novel was because I felt I would get frustrated at the lack of interaction and control I had over the outcome. I always wanted to play inside a world, not be led through a story. But The Hobbit showed me how good good literature was.
I now recognised how significant Tolkien was to everything based in medieval fantasy. I've read The Lord of the Rings and have really enjoyed books edited and published latterly, by J.R.R. Tolkien's son, Christopher Tolkien.
Fighting Fantasy
I think a lot of people my age can remember the fighting fantasy books where you'd read a paragraph and then it would give you some options and instruct you which page to move to and so on; sometimes having to fight monsters on the route or solve puzzles.
These were the only books I could ever read as an 8 year old. I was a late developer when it came to reading and I'm still not the best reader now, but there were certain books or subject matters that would instantly click and I'd happily read them all day long.
It was when I was introduced to Advanced Fighting Fantasy that my obsession really stuck in. Being taken on those first adventures, with my brothers and 2 friends whose family had a holiday home near our house. The eldest of these two friends would take us on adventures through the grimy streets of Blacksand or into a Warlocks tower. It was all, what I now consider, classic medieval fantasy; wizards, warriors, rogues; magic swords, amulets and healing potions.
The Old World
When my brothers and I first started exploring Games Workshop and it's games we first went towards the futuristic Warhammer 40k. Our first game was Space Crusade and then we went into 2nd edition 40k. At the time I remember enjoying it, but I never really understood it, or rather, it didn't really grab me. I remember really wanting Heroquest, but we went into 40k and my brothers grew up playing that throughout their teenage years.
Once I got a little older and started to become a little more independent my friends and I quickly made the switch to Warhammer Fantasy and it became our lives! We instantly fell in love with the kingdoms of High Elves, The Empire, Bretonnia; each of us finding our own little space on the map to engross ourselves in its armies units, history and feel.
The Warhammer world probably appealed so much because it's development lie in the hands of the people who wrote the Fighting Fantasy books! So the dark, grim fantasy world instantly appealed to us.
Star Wars
In one of the many arguments we had as kids between Star War and Star Trek, I was always a Star Wars fanatic! I watched some Star Trek, because it was on and my brothers enjoyed it. But the Star Wars universe was the first Sci Fi that really gripped me.
I cannot say how many times I've watched the original three films, but it's got to be well over 10 times each (and embarrassingly, probably nearer 20...). I had a Star Wars encyclopaedia and knew almost every planet and variant of the star destroyer there were - even the ones not shown in the films!
Tolkien's Middle Earth
I actually came quite late to this. It was my mum who introduced me properly to it when she lent me a copy of The Hobbit and then I left it sat on a book shelf somewhere for a few years before finally reading it.
The Hobbit, if I remember rightly, was the first proper novel I ever read. I think I was 18, or maybe nearer 20. Either way, it was a break through moment for me. I had never thought I could enjoy a set story so much. Previously, one of my reasons for not wanting, or being able to, read a novel was because I felt I would get frustrated at the lack of interaction and control I had over the outcome. I always wanted to play inside a world, not be led through a story. But The Hobbit showed me how good good literature was.
I now recognised how significant Tolkien was to everything based in medieval fantasy. I've read The Lord of the Rings and have really enjoyed books edited and published latterly, by J.R.R. Tolkien's son, Christopher Tolkien.
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As always there is a reason I wanted to write this post, I wasn't just being self indulgent chatting about what I loved and grew up with. The reason I wanted to write about it was because I often wonder why my preferences are the way they are.
Anyone who might have read anything in my blog before would know that I really hate level based systems and I hated games that thrive off "loot" and crazy magical super power weapons and such. These, I feel, I perpetuations of aspects that were really important in all the stories and worlds that I do enjoy. It was finding a magical sword in Fighting Fantasy that we all craved, but would never happen! When it did it was something amazing and satisfying. In Star Wars, the fact that Luke Skywalker was a Jedi and had amazing powers was very cool, but only because he was essentially an ultra rare freak with a sensitivity to an invisible force. Gandalf was one of only a few wizards in all of Middle Earth.
When Star Wars Galaxy gave way to class based "balancing" and was then re-hashed into a new MMO where everyone could be a Jedi, it was no longer a game trying to give people a chance to experience the Star Wars universe. Games where you find magic items in every loot drop have no depth in my opinion. Massive customisation in games without needing to give any regard to the a world's lore is pandering to modern wants. We all have too much and we all want more, and this is something that I feel has a massive negative effect on nearly all fantasy and sci fi RPGs.
Monday, 22 July 2013
Wastelands v2.3
A week ago I finished my latest Wastelands update. After almost 6 months away from it I have loved getting back into designing more stuff for it!
Tried a first play through with mates last Wednesday and all seemed to go really well. The big new addition is the raceway which now dominates the middle of the table; 2 cards x 2 cards in size, with Motor City sitting in the middle of it and surrounded by 8 deadlands.
The new championship racing was exciting and more engrossing, but definitely needs some tweaking. Will hopefully play again this week.
I'm also looking now to push up a couple of expansion ideas, which my friends and chatted about a long time ago!
It's so good having a functioning printer again and time to push this forward!
Tried a first play through with mates last Wednesday and all seemed to go really well. The big new addition is the raceway which now dominates the middle of the table; 2 cards x 2 cards in size, with Motor City sitting in the middle of it and surrounded by 8 deadlands.
The new championship racing was exciting and more engrossing, but definitely needs some tweaking. Will hopefully play again this week.
I'm also looking now to push up a couple of expansion ideas, which my friends and chatted about a long time ago!
It's so good having a functioning printer again and time to push this forward!
Sunday, 21 July 2013
Gears of War: Judgement - my judgement
For my birthday a mate bought me Gears Judgement and for his, I bought it for him. Usual deal every year, but it means we can properly enjoy some coop gaming together, as a sort of birthday present to each other.
Anyway, we spent a whole afternoon plowing through the Gears Judgement campaign in 2 player coop, which is the best way to enjoy any of the Gears of War campaigns!
I'm not going to go into the nitty-gritty about graphics and fiddly bits, as I'm sure they've been covered many times in proper reviews and I don't really care too much about that stuff. Needless to say they're not much different to other Gears of War games. I read somewhere that they'd made this iteration more colourful, but I didn't really notice much difference.
Game mechanics
Gears Judgement plays totally differently to any of the other Gears games. I feels like they've mixed in a bit of generic shoot-em-up (CoD, Rage etc...) into the classic Gears cover-based shooter to create a faster paced Gears of War experience. It was very strange to not spend most of our time sat in cover. I found myself using cover as I would in Battlefield or any other shooter, without needing to use the actual cover game mechanics.
To go with these changes in game mechanics the developers have also made the weapons more powerful, so you no longer need to empty a whole magazine of ammo into an enemies head to bring him down. I don't want to imply the "classic" Gears mechanics are bad, but I really appreciate this change. My friend and I really appreciated the fact that other weapons seemed to be more functional and attractive to use in different situations. I think in previous Gears games it was pretty clear that the Lancer was the best weapon and everything else was there for when you ran out of Lancer ammo.
Story
The story of the campaign revolves around a court case, where Kilo squad, led by Lt. Baird, are being charged for there previous actions. After each scene of the court case the players go through a retrospective memory sequence, playing through what Kilo squad experienced. This is the whole game basically and has a nice feel to it, but it didn't give me the sense of emersion I normally get from a Gears game. You basically knew what was going to happen from the very beginning.
The whole campaign had a very arcady feel to it, which I think progressed even more from Gears 3. The levels were great self contained experiences and I'm quite keen to replay some of them for the great game play they involved, but as an overall story it didn't really leave me feeling very satisfied.
Multiplayer
I can't really talk about this in any length, but they removed horde mode and replaced it with survival mode, where players work together to defend an objective. It really lacks the sandbox feel which I think horde mode gave players, but it feels suitable considering the faster paced action in this game. I need to play it more and see how it progresses at higher levels.
Overall
As a prequel to the first Gears of War it's ok. It doesn't give too much away and it's nice to learn a little more about the Gears universe, prior to the events of Gears 1. However, the campaign doesn't feel complete, it feels like an expansion.
I don't think I'll be getting rid of Gears of War 2, because of it's great campaign, or Gears of War 3, for the epic horde mode. But I will happily keep Gears Judgement for now, because I like the game mechanics and I look forward to exploring the multiplayer more.
Anyway, we spent a whole afternoon plowing through the Gears Judgement campaign in 2 player coop, which is the best way to enjoy any of the Gears of War campaigns!
I'm not going to go into the nitty-gritty about graphics and fiddly bits, as I'm sure they've been covered many times in proper reviews and I don't really care too much about that stuff. Needless to say they're not much different to other Gears of War games. I read somewhere that they'd made this iteration more colourful, but I didn't really notice much difference.
Game mechanics
Gears Judgement plays totally differently to any of the other Gears games. I feels like they've mixed in a bit of generic shoot-em-up (CoD, Rage etc...) into the classic Gears cover-based shooter to create a faster paced Gears of War experience. It was very strange to not spend most of our time sat in cover. I found myself using cover as I would in Battlefield or any other shooter, without needing to use the actual cover game mechanics.
To go with these changes in game mechanics the developers have also made the weapons more powerful, so you no longer need to empty a whole magazine of ammo into an enemies head to bring him down. I don't want to imply the "classic" Gears mechanics are bad, but I really appreciate this change. My friend and I really appreciated the fact that other weapons seemed to be more functional and attractive to use in different situations. I think in previous Gears games it was pretty clear that the Lancer was the best weapon and everything else was there for when you ran out of Lancer ammo.
Story
The story of the campaign revolves around a court case, where Kilo squad, led by Lt. Baird, are being charged for there previous actions. After each scene of the court case the players go through a retrospective memory sequence, playing through what Kilo squad experienced. This is the whole game basically and has a nice feel to it, but it didn't give me the sense of emersion I normally get from a Gears game. You basically knew what was going to happen from the very beginning.
The whole campaign had a very arcady feel to it, which I think progressed even more from Gears 3. The levels were great self contained experiences and I'm quite keen to replay some of them for the great game play they involved, but as an overall story it didn't really leave me feeling very satisfied.
Multiplayer
I can't really talk about this in any length, but they removed horde mode and replaced it with survival mode, where players work together to defend an objective. It really lacks the sandbox feel which I think horde mode gave players, but it feels suitable considering the faster paced action in this game. I need to play it more and see how it progresses at higher levels.
Overall
As a prequel to the first Gears of War it's ok. It doesn't give too much away and it's nice to learn a little more about the Gears universe, prior to the events of Gears 1. However, the campaign doesn't feel complete, it feels like an expansion.
I don't think I'll be getting rid of Gears of War 2, because of it's great campaign, or Gears of War 3, for the epic horde mode. But I will happily keep Gears Judgement for now, because I like the game mechanics and I look forward to exploring the multiplayer more.
Thursday, 18 July 2013
My top 5 xbox 360 games... serious this time!
I'm back! I've been away for a month working hard at finishing my Open Uni modules for this year and then going on holiday to Finland with my Girlfriend. I have several ideas for posts I want to talk about, but I thought I'd start by rectifying my previous indecision.
Ok, so a mate of mine told me to grow a pair and put down my top 5 xbox 360 games properly, without moving away from the point.
So here are my top 5 games:
1. Red Dead Redemption - as stated before. It's just all round awesome.
2. Fable 2 - it's a bit of a toss up between this and RAGE, but overall I think this one had the longest hold on me and I could still play it today and enjoy it! I'm half way through my third play through, and probably my fifth or sixth play through when you factor in playing with friends.
3. RAGE!!! - as stated above, it was a toss up but I think this just comes in behind Fable 2. But as this blog will testify, I love this game. Well worth getting, as long as you invest in all the expansions. Although that doesn't cost very much these days, probably about £15 for everything.
4. Battlefield: Bad Company 2 - as per my previous "top 5" post, the reason I didn't write a top 5 was because I just couldn't really think of anything that came close to the feeling of emersion that I got from the top 3 I've put down here. But Bad Company 2 was so enjoyable as an online game, which I played with my brothers and mates for so long, it just has to be put in my top 5. It was so easy to connect with mates and get into stable servers, as a single squad. It didn't have the desperately annoying player owned servers and stupid inability to connect to a game as a squad with friends that Battlefield 3 has. But it should be noted the single player was TOILET! Battlefield single player is always toilet, they should concentrate on multiplayer and stop pissing around with it.
5. Gears of War 2 - this was very difficult to choose because I got a lot of enjoyment out of FIFA games and have played many meaningful and excellently written single player campaigns. But I think this takes my fifth spot because I think it is the best Gears of War campaign. It was made extra special because I played it all the way through for the first time in a 12 hour marathon with a good mate, and at the end of it we both felt so fulfilled by the strength and diversity of the excellent 10 hour long campaign - we still use it as our measuring post for all other single and co-operative campaigns. Add in good horde mode and some reasonable multiplayer and it was a brilliant game.
It feels a bit of a weak top 5 to me. Apart from the top 3, no games on the xbox 360 have left very lasting impressions on me; you might say, "well, what about Gears of War 2?", but there's something inside me that says I shouldn't play through it again, because I'll find out that it wasn't that good.
I'm looking forward more and more to the next generation, but, as I've said in an early blog post, I'm still quite sceptical as to how well the next generation will do and I think good gaming PCs are so reasonably priced these days that I just really want to get back into it!
Ok, so a mate of mine told me to grow a pair and put down my top 5 xbox 360 games properly, without moving away from the point.
So here are my top 5 games:
1. Red Dead Redemption - as stated before. It's just all round awesome.
2. Fable 2 - it's a bit of a toss up between this and RAGE, but overall I think this one had the longest hold on me and I could still play it today and enjoy it! I'm half way through my third play through, and probably my fifth or sixth play through when you factor in playing with friends.
3. RAGE!!! - as stated above, it was a toss up but I think this just comes in behind Fable 2. But as this blog will testify, I love this game. Well worth getting, as long as you invest in all the expansions. Although that doesn't cost very much these days, probably about £15 for everything.
4. Battlefield: Bad Company 2 - as per my previous "top 5" post, the reason I didn't write a top 5 was because I just couldn't really think of anything that came close to the feeling of emersion that I got from the top 3 I've put down here. But Bad Company 2 was so enjoyable as an online game, which I played with my brothers and mates for so long, it just has to be put in my top 5. It was so easy to connect with mates and get into stable servers, as a single squad. It didn't have the desperately annoying player owned servers and stupid inability to connect to a game as a squad with friends that Battlefield 3 has. But it should be noted the single player was TOILET! Battlefield single player is always toilet, they should concentrate on multiplayer and stop pissing around with it.
5. Gears of War 2 - this was very difficult to choose because I got a lot of enjoyment out of FIFA games and have played many meaningful and excellently written single player campaigns. But I think this takes my fifth spot because I think it is the best Gears of War campaign. It was made extra special because I played it all the way through for the first time in a 12 hour marathon with a good mate, and at the end of it we both felt so fulfilled by the strength and diversity of the excellent 10 hour long campaign - we still use it as our measuring post for all other single and co-operative campaigns. Add in good horde mode and some reasonable multiplayer and it was a brilliant game.
It feels a bit of a weak top 5 to me. Apart from the top 3, no games on the xbox 360 have left very lasting impressions on me; you might say, "well, what about Gears of War 2?", but there's something inside me that says I shouldn't play through it again, because I'll find out that it wasn't that good.
I'm looking forward more and more to the next generation, but, as I've said in an early blog post, I'm still quite sceptical as to how well the next generation will do and I think good gaming PCs are so reasonably priced these days that I just really want to get back into it!
Wednesday, 12 June 2013
My first ever PC game
When my dad bought our first PC, he let my brothers and I pick a game each. This was xmas '94, I think, because the game I chose was Dragon Lore (which came out in '94).
The reason I wanted to mention it on this blog is because I vividly remember it, or as much as I managed to play. As an 9 year old I didn't understand how to solve the puzzles and we took the game back a few weeks later and got another game, Dawn Patrol.
I've just been doing a little research into Dragon Lore and I remember the beginning of the game and the first areas you could explore so well! Despite only having it for such a short time. I was amazed by the capability of computer games, the graphics were incredible for the time and I loved being able to pick objects up and use them to interact with the environment. I also distinctly remember being killed over and over again by a skeleton armed with a grisly looking ax in a dungeon. The visuals were dark and jagged and they reminded me of old skool GW fantasy undead armies, which always looked great.
There's not much more I can say about this game. It was sad I was too young to really appreciate it, but I did eventually get a great dark fantasy title when I was a bit older in Stone Keep. Again though, I was still too young and not really good enough to get through the whole game, but I did enjoy it greatly and explored it a fair bit, but that's a game I'll talk about another time. Oh, and Dawn Patrol might be worth talking about, particularly because it was a prime example of amazing old skool computer game boxes and massive manuals!
Anyway, here's to Dragon Lore!
The reason I wanted to mention it on this blog is because I vividly remember it, or as much as I managed to play. As an 9 year old I didn't understand how to solve the puzzles and we took the game back a few weeks later and got another game, Dawn Patrol.
I've just been doing a little research into Dragon Lore and I remember the beginning of the game and the first areas you could explore so well! Despite only having it for such a short time. I was amazed by the capability of computer games, the graphics were incredible for the time and I loved being able to pick objects up and use them to interact with the environment. I also distinctly remember being killed over and over again by a skeleton armed with a grisly looking ax in a dungeon. The visuals were dark and jagged and they reminded me of old skool GW fantasy undead armies, which always looked great.
There's not much more I can say about this game. It was sad I was too young to really appreciate it, but I did eventually get a great dark fantasy title when I was a bit older in Stone Keep. Again though, I was still too young and not really good enough to get through the whole game, but I did enjoy it greatly and explored it a fair bit, but that's a game I'll talk about another time. Oh, and Dawn Patrol might be worth talking about, particularly because it was a prime example of amazing old skool computer game boxes and massive manuals!
Anyway, here's to Dragon Lore!
Saturday, 8 June 2013
My favourite XBOX 360 games
I was going to do a top 5, but when I was planning the post and putting together lists of all the games I've played, the games I've played the most and the games that I thought were the most interesting, I found different games on nearly every list.
When I considered just putting a top 5 games that meant the most to me I couldn't find enough. So instead, I'm going to be a bit more abstract, talk about the games that would have been on my top 5, if I'd been able to put one together, but then I'll talk about a few other games that were great for different reasons.
So, now onto my, not top 5, but as many as I feel comfortable listing, favourite xbox 360 games:
1. Red Dead Redemption
This is a no brainer. This game blow peoples' expectations out of the water. With an engrossing story and open world game play, the single player was the best single player campaign I can remember playing.
The graphics were stunning and seamless. No loading screens ever appeared, to my knowledge, even when you traversed deserts, to scrub land and then into the snowy north, you never saw a load screen.
The multiplayer "lobby" area was an entire free-roam single player map, where up to 16 players could form possees, get bounties on their heads, fight bandits and just live in the world. From this massive, open playground players could then start co-op games, deathmatches, capture the flags and all the other classic multiplayer stuff, as well as cowboy themed shoot-outs and money grabbing games.
-----------------------------
So there we have it! That's all I managed on my top 5 list I'm afraid. Now I'll list some other games I've thoroughly enjoyed for various other reasons.
Best hanging out with friends and brothers games:
1. Battlefield: Bad Company 2 - my brothers and friends and I played this forever. We were new to XBOX 360 when we were playing this and marvelled at how easy it was to chat together, get into games together and just enjoy fighting in this brilliant, arcade-ified, modern day, squad shooter. Battlefield 3 lost out love through annoyingly rubbish and awkward squad forming mechanics and the money grabbing tactics of the developers (if only they'd released information about the season pass when the game came out...)
2. Fifa 10, 11 & 12 - I'm not missing the other FIFAs off because they were bad in anyway, these are just the ones my friends and I really enjoyed the most. Making our own personas in the game and then forming our own team to play online was inspired and the most fun I've ever had, to date, from a sports game.
3. Joy Ride Turbo - This just scrapes in as being a little more than a honourable mention. I bent everyone's arms to get this game, but we did have a lot of fun racing, shooting and laughing at each other in this game. A great, casual arcade racer. I think the most people we had on at once was 6...? Wish we could have filled all 8 spots on the grid, but we were never able to get that organised.
Best co-op experience:
1. Gears of War 2 campaign - This was the first, proper, all-day online co-op action I enjoyed on my 360, and it stands as the most memorable. My friend and I spent about 12 hours, with a 1 hour break, going all the way through the story. I've played the original Gears of War and Gears of War 3 and neither have felt as epic as number 2.
2. Gears of War 3 horde - The Gears of War franchise is built on co-op play. Gears of War 3 horde is comprehensive and when my friends and I talk about it we always come back to the GoW3 horde mode. It's just so complete, so challenging and a true emotional rollacoaster - we've still not defeated wave 50.
Honourable mention - Left 4 Dead; it lacked a bit of staying power, due to a lack of depth, but an old flat mate of mine and I would play through the campaigns endlessly! L4D2 didn't add very much and so doesn't really warrant more than this mention.
Best single player experience (I'm not going to rank them, just list the ones that really stuck with me):
Alan Wake - 3rd person, horror. Brilliant story and simple, effective game mechanics.
Dante's Inferno - I rented it on LoveFilm years ago. I still crave playing through it again. It's the only hack'n'slash game that's ever really grabbed me. This is almost entirely due to the theme and the visuals.
Rage!!! - People may not have picked this up from reading my blog, but I love this game. I think it's the balls.
Fable II - Pretty much the first game I got for my 360, after L4D. I have played through the campaign 3 times now and I still love it. A beautiful, tongue-in-cheek, fantasy realm, with a great story. Fable III failed horribly and Fable I didn't grab me, probably because I played it retrospectively. I could happily play this game again and again.
Games with the most interesting mechanics that I wish had more in them, but didn't, so never became classics, but I wish they had, because I think they would have:
Tom Clancy's: End War - This game showed how to make an RTS on a console. A friend and I sat and played this game endlessly for a week and then sporadically for a while after. It's voice command system was brilliant. DYNAMIC CAMPAIGNS are the way forward and visually it looked very cool. It just lacked depth and it felt like after they'd finished making the brilliant mechanics and gameplay they forgot to put any effort into developing more variation.
Brutal Legend - similar to End War, this game had really inventive mechanics, which were fantastic, but the single player campaign seemed to end much too quickly and I wish Double Fine had been given a chance to make Brutal Legend 2! We wanted more!!! But I know it wasn't their fault.
Best sofa games (this is what console gaming has always been about to me!):
Bomberman - it's an old skool reboot with a face lift, but I can't think of any other game 4 players, sat on a sofa can play that would be more fun than this? Maybe worms?
Worms - Not my favourite style of game, but an absolute classic. It's worth investing in later iterations as they just get better and better!
Joyride Turbo - second mention. I'm a sucker for arcade racers.
-------------------------
This post is enormous, so I'm going to stop listing and conclude.
I was surprised, when planning this post, that I didn't have a top 5. And I should mention that Red Dead Redemption is the only game that enters the "top 5" because it can easily be mentioned in any of the below lists, except the sofa games list or interesting mechanics list. But it should be said that Red Dead Redemption would make my top 5 games of all time list. Can't wait to see what Rockstar do with GTA V!
I was also thinking again how Fallout 3 and Skyrim didn't make any of my lists. But this is because of my person feelings towards those games. If this was a more reasoned, academic list, they would both be massive contenders, but to me those games just lacked something, which I think I've mentioned in this blog in the past? I think I'll make a post sometime about why Bethesda games seem to run dry with me.
When I considered just putting a top 5 games that meant the most to me I couldn't find enough. So instead, I'm going to be a bit more abstract, talk about the games that would have been on my top 5, if I'd been able to put one together, but then I'll talk about a few other games that were great for different reasons.
So, now onto my, not top 5, but as many as I feel comfortable listing, favourite xbox 360 games:
1. Red Dead Redemption
This is a no brainer. This game blow peoples' expectations out of the water. With an engrossing story and open world game play, the single player was the best single player campaign I can remember playing.
The graphics were stunning and seamless. No loading screens ever appeared, to my knowledge, even when you traversed deserts, to scrub land and then into the snowy north, you never saw a load screen.
The multiplayer "lobby" area was an entire free-roam single player map, where up to 16 players could form possees, get bounties on their heads, fight bandits and just live in the world. From this massive, open playground players could then start co-op games, deathmatches, capture the flags and all the other classic multiplayer stuff, as well as cowboy themed shoot-outs and money grabbing games.
-----------------------------
So there we have it! That's all I managed on my top 5 list I'm afraid. Now I'll list some other games I've thoroughly enjoyed for various other reasons.
Best hanging out with friends and brothers games:
1. Battlefield: Bad Company 2 - my brothers and friends and I played this forever. We were new to XBOX 360 when we were playing this and marvelled at how easy it was to chat together, get into games together and just enjoy fighting in this brilliant, arcade-ified, modern day, squad shooter. Battlefield 3 lost out love through annoyingly rubbish and awkward squad forming mechanics and the money grabbing tactics of the developers (if only they'd released information about the season pass when the game came out...)
2. Fifa 10, 11 & 12 - I'm not missing the other FIFAs off because they were bad in anyway, these are just the ones my friends and I really enjoyed the most. Making our own personas in the game and then forming our own team to play online was inspired and the most fun I've ever had, to date, from a sports game.
3. Joy Ride Turbo - This just scrapes in as being a little more than a honourable mention. I bent everyone's arms to get this game, but we did have a lot of fun racing, shooting and laughing at each other in this game. A great, casual arcade racer. I think the most people we had on at once was 6...? Wish we could have filled all 8 spots on the grid, but we were never able to get that organised.
Best co-op experience:
1. Gears of War 2 campaign - This was the first, proper, all-day online co-op action I enjoyed on my 360, and it stands as the most memorable. My friend and I spent about 12 hours, with a 1 hour break, going all the way through the story. I've played the original Gears of War and Gears of War 3 and neither have felt as epic as number 2.
2. Gears of War 3 horde - The Gears of War franchise is built on co-op play. Gears of War 3 horde is comprehensive and when my friends and I talk about it we always come back to the GoW3 horde mode. It's just so complete, so challenging and a true emotional rollacoaster - we've still not defeated wave 50.
Honourable mention - Left 4 Dead; it lacked a bit of staying power, due to a lack of depth, but an old flat mate of mine and I would play through the campaigns endlessly! L4D2 didn't add very much and so doesn't really warrant more than this mention.
Best single player experience (I'm not going to rank them, just list the ones that really stuck with me):
Alan Wake - 3rd person, horror. Brilliant story and simple, effective game mechanics.
Dante's Inferno - I rented it on LoveFilm years ago. I still crave playing through it again. It's the only hack'n'slash game that's ever really grabbed me. This is almost entirely due to the theme and the visuals.
Rage!!! - People may not have picked this up from reading my blog, but I love this game. I think it's the balls.
Fable II - Pretty much the first game I got for my 360, after L4D. I have played through the campaign 3 times now and I still love it. A beautiful, tongue-in-cheek, fantasy realm, with a great story. Fable III failed horribly and Fable I didn't grab me, probably because I played it retrospectively. I could happily play this game again and again.
Games with the most interesting mechanics that I wish had more in them, but didn't, so never became classics, but I wish they had, because I think they would have:
Tom Clancy's: End War - This game showed how to make an RTS on a console. A friend and I sat and played this game endlessly for a week and then sporadically for a while after. It's voice command system was brilliant. DYNAMIC CAMPAIGNS are the way forward and visually it looked very cool. It just lacked depth and it felt like after they'd finished making the brilliant mechanics and gameplay they forgot to put any effort into developing more variation.
Brutal Legend - similar to End War, this game had really inventive mechanics, which were fantastic, but the single player campaign seemed to end much too quickly and I wish Double Fine had been given a chance to make Brutal Legend 2! We wanted more!!! But I know it wasn't their fault.
Best sofa games (this is what console gaming has always been about to me!):
Bomberman - it's an old skool reboot with a face lift, but I can't think of any other game 4 players, sat on a sofa can play that would be more fun than this? Maybe worms?
Worms - Not my favourite style of game, but an absolute classic. It's worth investing in later iterations as they just get better and better!
Joyride Turbo - second mention. I'm a sucker for arcade racers.
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This post is enormous, so I'm going to stop listing and conclude.
I was surprised, when planning this post, that I didn't have a top 5. And I should mention that Red Dead Redemption is the only game that enters the "top 5" because it can easily be mentioned in any of the below lists, except the sofa games list or interesting mechanics list. But it should be said that Red Dead Redemption would make my top 5 games of all time list. Can't wait to see what Rockstar do with GTA V!
I was also thinking again how Fallout 3 and Skyrim didn't make any of my lists. But this is because of my person feelings towards those games. If this was a more reasoned, academic list, they would both be massive contenders, but to me those games just lacked something, which I think I've mentioned in this blog in the past? I think I'll make a post sometime about why Bethesda games seem to run dry with me.
Thursday, 6 June 2013
Completed RAGE!!! on ultra-nightmare.
Took almost 12 hours, but I was savouring every minute.
It wasn't as hard as I had thought it would be. If anyone remembers what DOOM was like on nightmare difficulty, this was not impossible.
Really, and I've said this many times to mates over the past week, this felt like the difficulty the game really should be played at. It wasn't too hard by any means, but it forces the player to use cover more, use tactics to fight their way through opponents, use the right weapon for the right job and have to think pragmatically.
I really want to play through again now! But firstly I'd like to finish all the achievements, which would be a first for me! I only have to finish the last round of the five-finger-fillet mini game and then get $750 in one episode of Bash TV.
I've said before that its the first half of the game, or the first disc, that is the best bit. This time round was no different, but I took note of the time and it took me 8 hours to finish the first "half", then only a few hours once I was in Subway Town. It really does feel like they ran out of impetus after building the first half of the game and it's so sad. Fighting the Gearheads is one of the best parts of the game and I really enjoyed venturing into Jackal Canyon, but there just wasn't enough variation outside this - infact, there wasn't any!
Still love this game though. I'll do my top 5 xbox 360 games soon, seeing as the next-gen is coming out end of this year and all games from then on will be classed in that console's catergory.
It wasn't as hard as I had thought it would be. If anyone remembers what DOOM was like on nightmare difficulty, this was not impossible.
Really, and I've said this many times to mates over the past week, this felt like the difficulty the game really should be played at. It wasn't too hard by any means, but it forces the player to use cover more, use tactics to fight their way through opponents, use the right weapon for the right job and have to think pragmatically.
I really want to play through again now! But firstly I'd like to finish all the achievements, which would be a first for me! I only have to finish the last round of the five-finger-fillet mini game and then get $750 in one episode of Bash TV.
I've said before that its the first half of the game, or the first disc, that is the best bit. This time round was no different, but I took note of the time and it took me 8 hours to finish the first "half", then only a few hours once I was in Subway Town. It really does feel like they ran out of impetus after building the first half of the game and it's so sad. Fighting the Gearheads is one of the best parts of the game and I really enjoyed venturing into Jackal Canyon, but there just wasn't enough variation outside this - infact, there wasn't any!
Still love this game though. I'll do my top 5 xbox 360 games soon, seeing as the next-gen is coming out end of this year and all games from then on will be classed in that console's catergory.
Tuesday, 4 June 2013
Next-gen consoles. Am I interested?
Well I'm not sure yet. Sony and Microsoft have had their reveal events, which in both cases were pretty rubbish and, if anything, did them more harm than good.
The reviewers have been attacking both companies for their terrible announcements and what looks like a rather mis-guided future for the games console industry. But is this really the case?
In regards to the Xbox One (who thought of that name?!) and PS4, yes, I'm yet to see anything exciting about them. I'm fairly certain at the moment that I'll be moving back to becoming an almost exclusive PC gamer once again. Infact, the hardware which each console contains is now so close to that of a pretty standard gaming PC, I'm not sure what will be special about them at all?!
But, I think console gaming WILL evolve. I don't think sony or Microsoft will sell as many of their consoles as they have in the past, and I am going to predict now that they are on a downhill slope in the game console market. Or rather, that the console gaming market as we have known it, is on a downhill slope.
PC gaming is becoming very cheap. Gaming PCs can be put together for a few hundred pounds and many great games bought for less than a tenner. Even new releases often come out at the £25 mark and rarely over £30. So I wouldn't be surprised to see hardcore console gamers moving towards PC gaming.
I think consoles like the OUYA will be the future. I saw this when it was on Kickstarter last year sometime and was very excited about it. It's very cheap, compact, easy to develop for, open source and easy to use. It won't have the power of top end games consoles, but it'll target what people have always loved about consoles: easy to pick up and play fun. But it'll be more than that, with easier access for independent studios and easy internet connectivity, I think a console like this could revolutionise the market. And I hope it does!
The reviewers have been attacking both companies for their terrible announcements and what looks like a rather mis-guided future for the games console industry. But is this really the case?
In regards to the Xbox One (who thought of that name?!) and PS4, yes, I'm yet to see anything exciting about them. I'm fairly certain at the moment that I'll be moving back to becoming an almost exclusive PC gamer once again. Infact, the hardware which each console contains is now so close to that of a pretty standard gaming PC, I'm not sure what will be special about them at all?!
But, I think console gaming WILL evolve. I don't think sony or Microsoft will sell as many of their consoles as they have in the past, and I am going to predict now that they are on a downhill slope in the game console market. Or rather, that the console gaming market as we have known it, is on a downhill slope.
PC gaming is becoming very cheap. Gaming PCs can be put together for a few hundred pounds and many great games bought for less than a tenner. Even new releases often come out at the £25 mark and rarely over £30. So I wouldn't be surprised to see hardcore console gamers moving towards PC gaming.
I think consoles like the OUYA will be the future. I saw this when it was on Kickstarter last year sometime and was very excited about it. It's very cheap, compact, easy to develop for, open source and easy to use. It won't have the power of top end games consoles, but it'll target what people have always loved about consoles: easy to pick up and play fun. But it'll be more than that, with easier access for independent studios and easy internet connectivity, I think a console like this could revolutionise the market. And I hope it does!
Monday, 20 May 2013
Why have I never written about X3: re-union?
With all the excitement surrounding space games at the moment, with FTL, Star Command and Kerbal Space Program, it brought memories of X3 back to me and a friend of mine. I couldn't believe I'd not written about it before on this blog?! Or not in any great length, if I have and just missed it.
X3: reunion was a very big phase in my computer gaming life. I really only played the game for a month or two, but I literally played for that entire period. Seriously. After a couple of weeks I'd clocked up 60+ hours and I was completely hooked. This was back in 2006, when I was finishing my degree, and really when I was cracking on pretty well as I led up to finishing Uni.
One of the main explanations for the amount of hours I clocked up playing X3 is because I'd have it almost constantly on in the background while I was working or sleeping in my room. It's one of those games where it doesn't always require your attention.
Essentially the X games are sandbox space games. They have a story mode, but it's really just a fraction of the game. The universe in which you play is as near to 100% dynamic as is reasonably possible; each race in the galaxy has an ever changing political status to the others, the market prices and resources will change as trade routes open up or you as a player build your trade empire, if you decide to do that at all? Wars will flare up, sectors will change hands and if you start a new game it WILL be completely different after 10-20 hours of gameplay.
Ever ship or station in the game is controllable by you, as the player. Even big capital ships can be bought by the player and then equipped with fighters and repaired by player controlled freighters and installations. I never got this far, even after 100 hours of play! But I did build a large trading network and had several mining and power stations all feeding into the galactic economy. So immersive it was amazing.
I want to briefly state that the flight and ship vs ship combat was amazing too! Detailed and tactical with a huge variety of weaponry, and so slick.
X3 stands as one of the greatest games I've ever experienced. I can only think that the reason I didn't put it down when I was first listing my old favourites was because I only played it for such a short time.
X3: reunion was a very big phase in my computer gaming life. I really only played the game for a month or two, but I literally played for that entire period. Seriously. After a couple of weeks I'd clocked up 60+ hours and I was completely hooked. This was back in 2006, when I was finishing my degree, and really when I was cracking on pretty well as I led up to finishing Uni.
One of the main explanations for the amount of hours I clocked up playing X3 is because I'd have it almost constantly on in the background while I was working or sleeping in my room. It's one of those games where it doesn't always require your attention.
Essentially the X games are sandbox space games. They have a story mode, but it's really just a fraction of the game. The universe in which you play is as near to 100% dynamic as is reasonably possible; each race in the galaxy has an ever changing political status to the others, the market prices and resources will change as trade routes open up or you as a player build your trade empire, if you decide to do that at all? Wars will flare up, sectors will change hands and if you start a new game it WILL be completely different after 10-20 hours of gameplay.
Ever ship or station in the game is controllable by you, as the player. Even big capital ships can be bought by the player and then equipped with fighters and repaired by player controlled freighters and installations. I never got this far, even after 100 hours of play! But I did build a large trading network and had several mining and power stations all feeding into the galactic economy. So immersive it was amazing.
I want to briefly state that the flight and ship vs ship combat was amazing too! Detailed and tactical with a huge variety of weaponry, and so slick.
X3 stands as one of the greatest games I've ever experienced. I can only think that the reason I didn't put it down when I was first listing my old favourites was because I only played it for such a short time.
Kerbal Space Program
Anyone who reads this blog will know that I love independent games developers. They are the only ones with the guts to release novel game designs or new games which focus on good gameplay and not cinematic cut-sequences *gasps with shock* I know, it's crazy stuff!
Anyway, check out Kerbal Space Program. This is an incredibly ambitious project, which is already showing mind boggling results.
The game won't work on my laptop, but a friend of mine has purchased it and I look forward to hearing how he gets on. I believe he's managed to get one thing into orbit. I wonder how soon until he builds a capital class interplanetary spaceship? A few weeks maybe... I'll await news and update you soon.
I should speak a little about the game, or at least what I've seen of it from youtube clips, which there are many and they are insanely incredible!
Kerbal Space Program gives the player access to all the various components that can be used to make shuttles, rockets, satellites, space stations, jet aircraft, anything that flies really with space travel in mind - their are jet engines for atmospheric flight, so people have used them for atmospheric aircraft. The game engine uses a remarkably realistic physics engine and actually getting a basic satellite into orbit will require a player to construct quite a complex and powerful rocket to get it there!
I don't think I can really do it justice by being descriptive, just take a look at the website and then go straight to youtube. People have built massive space stations, bases on other planets, capital ships, all launched in whole or parts from a single space base on the home planet, which I've forgotten the name of.
Take a look!
Anyway, check out Kerbal Space Program. This is an incredibly ambitious project, which is already showing mind boggling results.
The game won't work on my laptop, but a friend of mine has purchased it and I look forward to hearing how he gets on. I believe he's managed to get one thing into orbit. I wonder how soon until he builds a capital class interplanetary spaceship? A few weeks maybe... I'll await news and update you soon.
I should speak a little about the game, or at least what I've seen of it from youtube clips, which there are many and they are insanely incredible!
Kerbal Space Program gives the player access to all the various components that can be used to make shuttles, rockets, satellites, space stations, jet aircraft, anything that flies really with space travel in mind - their are jet engines for atmospheric flight, so people have used them for atmospheric aircraft. The game engine uses a remarkably realistic physics engine and actually getting a basic satellite into orbit will require a player to construct quite a complex and powerful rocket to get it there!
I don't think I can really do it justice by being descriptive, just take a look at the website and then go straight to youtube. People have built massive space stations, bases on other planets, capital ships, all launched in whole or parts from a single space base on the home planet, which I've forgotten the name of.
Take a look!
Thursday, 16 May 2013
Is an idea shared, an idea lost?
Since starting this blog I've embraced my childhood dream of becoming a game designer; whether that is just as an eternal hobby or eventually as a professional, it doesn't really matter. What matters to me is that I want to put my name on something I've created that I can feel proud of and know that there are some people that enjoy it. To that extent I've often chatted to friends and interested people about game design, my own ideas and their ideas. As time has gone by I've noticed a trend, when I've shared ideas early it doesn't end up moving forward, the idea gets crowded or lost in a sea of speculation and then dies out. However, when I've kept an idea to myself and built it in my head or in a note pad, it's normally developed into something, even if that is just something to take up again in the future I feel like there is more to that idea than if I had shared it and tried to push it forward through discussion.
The prototypes for Wastelands and Ganglands were made very quickly, in both cases I never mentioned anything to anyone until it was done. I even made a prototype of a kids game, based in the Redwall universe, over a weekend after spending time with my Girlfriend's brother and his young son. None of these prototypes were very good and in all cases they had pretty glaring holes and flaws, but having something solid to move on from, I feel, has allowed other people to then get involved in a positive capacity. I think that if I hadn't made the prototype and instead chatted to people about it or wrote concept ideas to share with people, in all cases, the prototypes would have never been made.
Tim Schafer, of Double Fine, in one of his interviews by 2 player productions, during the early stages of the development of their Kickstarter project, Double Fine Adventure (or as it's now known, Broken Age) said that he had to wait before sharing his first game design document with his friend and mentor, Ron Gilbert. He felt he had to form his idea and get enough of it onto paper before he could even mention it to anyone. Because as soon as you share an idea you lose a little bit of it, you start to worry about what that other person thinks or whether it's actually a good idea at all. If you wait until you've given it enough form that it can stand on it's own, even just a little, then exposure to other people's thoughts and opinions will possibly help it to grow.
The short version of this rant is: if you have an idea, do it, then share it; don't share it first, because chances are you'll never do it. At least, that's how I feel like. I'm interested to hear if anyone else has thoughts on this?
The prototypes for Wastelands and Ganglands were made very quickly, in both cases I never mentioned anything to anyone until it was done. I even made a prototype of a kids game, based in the Redwall universe, over a weekend after spending time with my Girlfriend's brother and his young son. None of these prototypes were very good and in all cases they had pretty glaring holes and flaws, but having something solid to move on from, I feel, has allowed other people to then get involved in a positive capacity. I think that if I hadn't made the prototype and instead chatted to people about it or wrote concept ideas to share with people, in all cases, the prototypes would have never been made.
Tim Schafer, of Double Fine, in one of his interviews by 2 player productions, during the early stages of the development of their Kickstarter project, Double Fine Adventure (or as it's now known, Broken Age) said that he had to wait before sharing his first game design document with his friend and mentor, Ron Gilbert. He felt he had to form his idea and get enough of it onto paper before he could even mention it to anyone. Because as soon as you share an idea you lose a little bit of it, you start to worry about what that other person thinks or whether it's actually a good idea at all. If you wait until you've given it enough form that it can stand on it's own, even just a little, then exposure to other people's thoughts and opinions will possibly help it to grow.
The short version of this rant is: if you have an idea, do it, then share it; don't share it first, because chances are you'll never do it. At least, that's how I feel like. I'm interested to hear if anyone else has thoughts on this?
Tuesday, 7 May 2013
Are consoles good for computer game development?
I want to bring this up because I've not mentioned it before on this blog and because with next gen consoles on the horizon I'm pondering whether it's going to be worthwhile to stay with console gaming or go back to PC gaming.
Until just a few years ago I was a pure PC gamer and I always thought console gaming was a bit of a joke for most gaming genres; the notable exceptions being fighting games and sports games. When I eventually did change to console gaming I was so pleasantly surprised how easy multiplayer gaming was and the lack of worrying about hardware capability seemed very refreshing. However, I also became more aware of how much was being cut out of mainstream titles so that they could be sold on consoles.
I find it very depressing to think that newer releases of games such as Command & Conquer, XCOM and Flash Point have been deliberately toned down so they could be sold on consoles. And it's not just like they've been toned for the console release, every version is toned down, PC included. Features which were expected and greatly loved in the original PC only versions have been stripped away so they function on all platforms in a similar way.
This leads onto the next part of my argument; has the evolution of game development been slowed due to game consoles? Game consoles are where the big money is, so all the big publishers develop for them, and because consoles maintain the same hardware for years the developers are restricted to this limitation until the next console comes out. We all know that PC versions of games are generally better, but how much better could they be is the publishers committed all their resources to pushing the limits on a single product, for a single, ever advancing platform?
The counter argument, as I see it, is that consoles have brought gaming to the masses, thus bringing more money into the industry and allowing them to invest far more into developing new games. So maybe without console gaming the publishers wouldn't be as rich and resourceful as they are and so development would be basically as it is at the moment anyway, or worse?
It's an old argument, it was just on my mind. What do you think?
Until just a few years ago I was a pure PC gamer and I always thought console gaming was a bit of a joke for most gaming genres; the notable exceptions being fighting games and sports games. When I eventually did change to console gaming I was so pleasantly surprised how easy multiplayer gaming was and the lack of worrying about hardware capability seemed very refreshing. However, I also became more aware of how much was being cut out of mainstream titles so that they could be sold on consoles.
I find it very depressing to think that newer releases of games such as Command & Conquer, XCOM and Flash Point have been deliberately toned down so they could be sold on consoles. And it's not just like they've been toned for the console release, every version is toned down, PC included. Features which were expected and greatly loved in the original PC only versions have been stripped away so they function on all platforms in a similar way.
This leads onto the next part of my argument; has the evolution of game development been slowed due to game consoles? Game consoles are where the big money is, so all the big publishers develop for them, and because consoles maintain the same hardware for years the developers are restricted to this limitation until the next console comes out. We all know that PC versions of games are generally better, but how much better could they be is the publishers committed all their resources to pushing the limits on a single product, for a single, ever advancing platform?
The counter argument, as I see it, is that consoles have brought gaming to the masses, thus bringing more money into the industry and allowing them to invest far more into developing new games. So maybe without console gaming the publishers wouldn't be as rich and resourceful as they are and so development would be basically as it is at the moment anyway, or worse?
It's an old argument, it was just on my mind. What do you think?
Thursday, 2 May 2013
Forced break from Wastelands
I'm annoyed to say I'm going to have to take about a months break from Wastelands. Version 2.2 is ready to go, and has been for a few weeks now. The problem is that I am yet to get a replacement for my printer and this month I have my end of module assessment for one of my Open Uni courses and it's also the start of another OU module; this time only a very light weight one. But with this cross over and also my desire to really swat up on Swedish for a holiday in Finland in mid-June means I can't devote any significant time to Wastelands.
By beginning of June I should be free enough to crack back into Wastelands and I hope to also have my printer situation sorted by then! Whether I buy another cheap Epson so I can use the spare cartridges I currently have, or I cut my losses and go for something a little more sturdy in the hope it'll last for a few years.
This time will also give my artists a chance to build up a collection of artwork that I can hopefully put onto more cards, thus giving the next version a more appealing look!
Sorry to all those I said I was going to give test copies to, but you'll have to wait a while longer.
By beginning of June I should be free enough to crack back into Wastelands and I hope to also have my printer situation sorted by then! Whether I buy another cheap Epson so I can use the spare cartridges I currently have, or I cut my losses and go for something a little more sturdy in the hope it'll last for a few years.
This time will also give my artists a chance to build up a collection of artwork that I can hopefully put onto more cards, thus giving the next version a more appealing look!
Sorry to all those I said I was going to give test copies to, but you'll have to wait a while longer.
Monday, 22 April 2013
I still love Rage!
This weekend, while working on Wastelands with one of the artists, we decided to fire up the xbox and have a crack on Rage, just so I could illustrate the feel and atmosphere I would like in Wastelands. As soon as it fired up there was a small game update and when I returned to the game on Sunday I realised there was DLC!
Before I go onto the DLC, I would like to say that my mate had owned/does own Rage for his PS3 (and it's on 1 disc - I am jealous; Microsoft, sort it out with the next xbox!), but never really got into it. I was stunned, so watched him playing the beginning of the game and it brought back how much I love it! The first half of Rage is spectacular! And the opening missions, apart from a few to-and-fro collection missions, are fantastic introductions to the world in which Rage is set. I love the Ghost's hideout and the two little settlements you move between.
My mate, I think, really enjoyed it to. Coming back to the game with fresh eyes and being involved with Wastelands I think had enlightened him to the glory of the run-and-gun style of gameplay, the stunning graphics and stylisation of this post-apocalyptic world.
Anyway, the DLC. The first lot of DLC for Rage was cheap and added extra sewer clearance missions, where you could go down various sewer hatches in the world and then enjoy mowing down hordes of mutants in winding missions under the surface. This second DLC, which is also very cheap at 400 MS points, has added a brilliant mini story to run through, during the first half of the campaign.
Like with the first DLC everything is just added into the world and you can choose to do it, or not, as you please. There is also the addition of a nailgun (ID software just couldn't help themselves, putting in an old Quake classic!), which has 2 additional attachments, which turn it into a railgun (for shooting through walls) and a kebar launcher, which is like a iron rod, which you can fire out to pin enemies to walls and just generally inflict massive damage.
My favourite new feature in Rage, though, is the addition of a scenario selection screen in the main menu! I don't think you need any DLC for this, but being able to run through any of the main story missions over and over, without having to play the whole campaign again, is brilliant! I love just re-running Mutant Bash TV and seeing how high I can get my score, or tearing through the Ghost hideout again. Brilliant!
The reasons for why Rage didn't become a big hit are slowly being chipped away by the additions. I really hope they bring out another 1 before giving up on it...
Before I go onto the DLC, I would like to say that my mate had owned/does own Rage for his PS3 (and it's on 1 disc - I am jealous; Microsoft, sort it out with the next xbox!), but never really got into it. I was stunned, so watched him playing the beginning of the game and it brought back how much I love it! The first half of Rage is spectacular! And the opening missions, apart from a few to-and-fro collection missions, are fantastic introductions to the world in which Rage is set. I love the Ghost's hideout and the two little settlements you move between.
My mate, I think, really enjoyed it to. Coming back to the game with fresh eyes and being involved with Wastelands I think had enlightened him to the glory of the run-and-gun style of gameplay, the stunning graphics and stylisation of this post-apocalyptic world.
Anyway, the DLC. The first lot of DLC for Rage was cheap and added extra sewer clearance missions, where you could go down various sewer hatches in the world and then enjoy mowing down hordes of mutants in winding missions under the surface. This second DLC, which is also very cheap at 400 MS points, has added a brilliant mini story to run through, during the first half of the campaign.
Like with the first DLC everything is just added into the world and you can choose to do it, or not, as you please. There is also the addition of a nailgun (ID software just couldn't help themselves, putting in an old Quake classic!), which has 2 additional attachments, which turn it into a railgun (for shooting through walls) and a kebar launcher, which is like a iron rod, which you can fire out to pin enemies to walls and just generally inflict massive damage.
My favourite new feature in Rage, though, is the addition of a scenario selection screen in the main menu! I don't think you need any DLC for this, but being able to run through any of the main story missions over and over, without having to play the whole campaign again, is brilliant! I love just re-running Mutant Bash TV and seeing how high I can get my score, or tearing through the Ghost hideout again. Brilliant!
The reasons for why Rage didn't become a big hit are slowly being chipped away by the additions. I really hope they bring out another 1 before giving up on it...
Friday, 19 April 2013
Wastelands is taking over my brain - when was the last time I played my xbox?!
It's been a very busy few weeks. The two artists I've got on board for Wastelands have started producing bits and pieces and getting more and more familiar with the game and the universe it's set in.
We've now got a game logo and a few snippets of mutants and race logos and such. The art standard is fantastic and I can't wait to see more and start getting more onto the cards!
Right now I've sorted all the card backs, with the logo, and I've put one of the race logos onto some of the championship race cards. Need to wait for the mutants to start to become usable, but hopefully that won't be too long!
I've done a lot more work on card text and formatting, and another friend and I have been working on new card ideas and possible expansions. It's so exciting at the moment that I haven't actually played any other games in weeks!
The last time I played my xbox properly was a few weeks ago, playing horde mode with a mate of mine.
This weekend I think I'll take a short break from Wastelands and just relax on the xbox and maybe watch a film, but I'm keen to get v2.2 out soon.
Oh! And my cursed printer has broken, or to be specific, the black ink head is broken. So the prototype for v2.2 is going to be delayed until I buy a new printer or can borrow a friends.
Not long now though!!!
We've now got a game logo and a few snippets of mutants and race logos and such. The art standard is fantastic and I can't wait to see more and start getting more onto the cards!
Right now I've sorted all the card backs, with the logo, and I've put one of the race logos onto some of the championship race cards. Need to wait for the mutants to start to become usable, but hopefully that won't be too long!
I've done a lot more work on card text and formatting, and another friend and I have been working on new card ideas and possible expansions. It's so exciting at the moment that I haven't actually played any other games in weeks!
The last time I played my xbox properly was a few weeks ago, playing horde mode with a mate of mine.
This weekend I think I'll take a short break from Wastelands and just relax on the xbox and maybe watch a film, but I'm keen to get v2.2 out soon.
Oh! And my cursed printer has broken, or to be specific, the black ink head is broken. So the prototype for v2.2 is going to be delayed until I buy a new printer or can borrow a friends.
Not long now though!!!
Wednesday, 3 April 2013
Foundest table top gaming memory
I was awake in the early hours a few nights ago mulling over a memory that has always stuck with me and thinking about whether table top gaming will ever produce another, such memorable event.
The event I'm referring to was a small, impromptu tournament I took part in between my brothers, a friend of ours, his cousin, me and another person, who I can't recall (maybe it was just between 5 of us?). I was about 13 or 14 at the time and we were playing 2nd edition Warhammer 40k.
The reason I remember it so fondly is because we managed to fit in a round-robin tournament in an afternoon, we all kept the same forces between each game, no-one had any "beardy" armies (that I remember, anyway) and every game was fun! I borrowed some orks from our mate and I absolutely loved my small band of space orks, led by a mega-armoured boss and his squad of mega-armoured nobz.
I'm not sure if I won a single game, but the action and gameplay was so memorable it still stands as my fondest memory of table top gaming, which I've tried to replicate since with almost no success. Why is this?! We've had small, "fun" tournaments since but with later additions of Warhammer 40k and there was never that sense of meaningfulness or fun gameplay. It always seemed a bit dry and mathematical, with players getting annoyed at other peoples forces and accusations of armies being too good or under-powered.
Maybe the problem is that we were all older and couldn't help but design armies that we designed to win, and adults brains work differently to kids brains, so a lot of the magic I remember could be because I was young and naïve.
I have had some great table top gaming experiences since. When my friends and I got hooked on playing 1000 point Warhammer Fantasy armies, we had great joy in the development of our heroes names and stories, and their small bands. I had a Dwarf hero by the name of Skalf Greybeard and his Grudgebearers; a friend of mine had a Imperial force under the command of the enigmatic Lucius von Brunhof (probably spelt that wrong...). We had rules over the army composition, so no-one could really make an all-dominating force. They were great games. But even they got dry eventually.
Maybe it was our unquestioning desire to play the "current" ruleset which killed the fun. Later editions of 40k and fantasy didn't seem to really help to re-invigorate our passion for the game and probably only helped to confuse some of us.
Well, that was what kept me up the other night, all these thoughts.
Maybe we should just play 2nd edition 40k again?
The event I'm referring to was a small, impromptu tournament I took part in between my brothers, a friend of ours, his cousin, me and another person, who I can't recall (maybe it was just between 5 of us?). I was about 13 or 14 at the time and we were playing 2nd edition Warhammer 40k.
The reason I remember it so fondly is because we managed to fit in a round-robin tournament in an afternoon, we all kept the same forces between each game, no-one had any "beardy" armies (that I remember, anyway) and every game was fun! I borrowed some orks from our mate and I absolutely loved my small band of space orks, led by a mega-armoured boss and his squad of mega-armoured nobz.
I'm not sure if I won a single game, but the action and gameplay was so memorable it still stands as my fondest memory of table top gaming, which I've tried to replicate since with almost no success. Why is this?! We've had small, "fun" tournaments since but with later additions of Warhammer 40k and there was never that sense of meaningfulness or fun gameplay. It always seemed a bit dry and mathematical, with players getting annoyed at other peoples forces and accusations of armies being too good or under-powered.
Maybe the problem is that we were all older and couldn't help but design armies that we designed to win, and adults brains work differently to kids brains, so a lot of the magic I remember could be because I was young and naïve.
I have had some great table top gaming experiences since. When my friends and I got hooked on playing 1000 point Warhammer Fantasy armies, we had great joy in the development of our heroes names and stories, and their small bands. I had a Dwarf hero by the name of Skalf Greybeard and his Grudgebearers; a friend of mine had a Imperial force under the command of the enigmatic Lucius von Brunhof (probably spelt that wrong...). We had rules over the army composition, so no-one could really make an all-dominating force. They were great games. But even they got dry eventually.
Maybe it was our unquestioning desire to play the "current" ruleset which killed the fun. Later editions of 40k and fantasy didn't seem to really help to re-invigorate our passion for the game and probably only helped to confuse some of us.
Well, that was what kept me up the other night, all these thoughts.
Maybe we should just play 2nd edition 40k again?
Sunday, 24 March 2013
Gears of War horde mode
I had an hour long blast of Gears of War 2 horde mode yesterday morning, with one of my brothers, before cracking into some OU work, and it got me thinking about how developers can often get over excited about popular/good ideas and take them too far. I'm not saying that horde mode 2.0, in Gears 3, is worse than horde mode in Gears 2, but what I mean to say is there is a purity in the original horde mode, as bought out in Gears 2.
My brother and I spent our hour long stint moving from room to room, defensive position to next defensive position, naturally working our way around the map to defeat the waves of on coming enemies in the best way possible. At no point did we have to worry about leaving our established defences or have to repair damaged wire; we just moved away from our enemies and found the best bottle-necks we could, when we needed them.
In Gears 2 you don't have any currency, the ammo crates re-spawn after a set amount of time, so you just have to make do with what you have and take opportunities as they arise. We often had to change weapons as our old weapons ran out of ammo, with no immediate ammo refills, and according to our position sometimes flamers worked best, sometimes a sniper rifle was the gun of the moment. I really enjoyed the freedom to explore and move around.
The horde mode in Gears 3 is better though. There is more depth, more to think about, more different enemies and the boss battles bring a whole lot of pain and require good team work to defeat. But it is generally more static, just because of the fact that it makes sense to focus your investment in making one place as strongly defended as possible.
I really enjoy the Gears of War mythology and appearance. They've managed to make a graphically stunning game using various shades of grey! It's so grim and all the small details in every map, like falling leaves or rubbish, make it so immersive.
It's brilliant.
My brother and I spent our hour long stint moving from room to room, defensive position to next defensive position, naturally working our way around the map to defeat the waves of on coming enemies in the best way possible. At no point did we have to worry about leaving our established defences or have to repair damaged wire; we just moved away from our enemies and found the best bottle-necks we could, when we needed them.
In Gears 2 you don't have any currency, the ammo crates re-spawn after a set amount of time, so you just have to make do with what you have and take opportunities as they arise. We often had to change weapons as our old weapons ran out of ammo, with no immediate ammo refills, and according to our position sometimes flamers worked best, sometimes a sniper rifle was the gun of the moment. I really enjoyed the freedom to explore and move around.
The horde mode in Gears 3 is better though. There is more depth, more to think about, more different enemies and the boss battles bring a whole lot of pain and require good team work to defeat. But it is generally more static, just because of the fact that it makes sense to focus your investment in making one place as strongly defended as possible.
I really enjoy the Gears of War mythology and appearance. They've managed to make a graphically stunning game using various shades of grey! It's so grim and all the small details in every map, like falling leaves or rubbish, make it so immersive.
It's brilliant.
Saturday, 23 March 2013
I found some artists for Wastelands!
Yes, it is true.
A couple of the guys I work with and I like to chat with every now and then turned out to be keen artists. They are big into computer gaming, but are open to trying other games and after a play test of the current version of Wastelands, they were quite taken by it and agreed to try and put pen to paper and help get some art into the game!
Really looking forward to seeing what they come up with! They had some ideas for the game as well, which is a big help and will help improve version 2.2, which I'm hoping to get out in a couple of weeks. Doubt that version will have any pictures, but I'm hoping there might be a few drafts I can put on them in black and white.
A couple of the guys I work with and I like to chat with every now and then turned out to be keen artists. They are big into computer gaming, but are open to trying other games and after a play test of the current version of Wastelands, they were quite taken by it and agreed to try and put pen to paper and help get some art into the game!
Really looking forward to seeing what they come up with! They had some ideas for the game as well, which is a big help and will help improve version 2.2, which I'm hoping to get out in a couple of weeks. Doubt that version will have any pictures, but I'm hoping there might be a few drafts I can put on them in black and white.
Dungeon Roll - Kickstarter project
I had really intended to put this up a few weeks back when I made my pledge, but I've been caught up in uni work and Wastelands, so it kept slipping my mind.
Dungeon Roll is a dice based, "push your luck" game, where players compete to get the most points by surviving as many levels dungeon crawling and finding as many treasures as possible. Each player gets 3 goes at going into the dungeon and the whole game is supposed to take no longer than 30 minutes, but typically about 15-20.
I was drawn to it as I like dungeon crawlers, I like dice games, and I don't have a short "filler" game yet, which I can pull out between games or for a quick go before or after doing something else.
For $29 (~£20) I get the game, shipping to the UK, extra free dice, character cards and some other stuff. Should get it in August/September time.
Dungeon Roll is a dice based, "push your luck" game, where players compete to get the most points by surviving as many levels dungeon crawling and finding as many treasures as possible. Each player gets 3 goes at going into the dungeon and the whole game is supposed to take no longer than 30 minutes, but typically about 15-20.
I was drawn to it as I like dungeon crawlers, I like dice games, and I don't have a short "filler" game yet, which I can pull out between games or for a quick go before or after doing something else.
For $29 (~£20) I get the game, shipping to the UK, extra free dice, character cards and some other stuff. Should get it in August/September time.
Board games wishlist
Relic, a dark future version of Talisman, set in the Warhammer 40k universe, was released a week or so ago. I've known about it for a while now, but hadn't seriously considered it, but now it is out I've had a look at reviews and gameplay videos and it actually looks like a good game. Talisman is one of my favourite board games, if not my favourite... maybe. So having an alternate setting with a few different rules mechanics would actually be really nice. I can't see it being better than Talisman, in my eyes, or being as epically expandable and adaptable, but as a one off, stand alone game, I am very tempted.
Gears of War: The Board Game. This is a couple/few years old now and a pretty negative review from the Dice Tower has diverted my attention from it. But recently I looked at other reviews and again at Tom Vasel's analysis and it does seem like a game I would enjoy. Firstly, it's co-op, and I love co-op! But it also seems like a good, hard game which you is a real challenge for a group of people to battle through for a few hours. I also love the setting, which really helps to get that feeling of suspended belief. I would like to have a go at it once before buying, I guess.
Zpocalypse is a zombie survival game where each player (2-4 players) takes control of their own gang of survivors and competes to be the most successful over the first few days of the apocalypse. The game is a pseudo co-operative game, in that you need to work together to actually survive at all, but in the process of working together, you need to be the most successful and get the best kit and recruit the best survivors.
Zpocalypse was a very successful Kickstarter project last year and I looked at it then, but held off. A year later and I'm quite keen to at least get the core game. There are several expansions already, which look very good and are highly recommended, but if I ever get the game I'll think about it then.
Gears of War: The Board Game. This is a couple/few years old now and a pretty negative review from the Dice Tower has diverted my attention from it. But recently I looked at other reviews and again at Tom Vasel's analysis and it does seem like a game I would enjoy. Firstly, it's co-op, and I love co-op! But it also seems like a good, hard game which you is a real challenge for a group of people to battle through for a few hours. I also love the setting, which really helps to get that feeling of suspended belief. I would like to have a go at it once before buying, I guess.
Zpocalypse is a zombie survival game where each player (2-4 players) takes control of their own gang of survivors and competes to be the most successful over the first few days of the apocalypse. The game is a pseudo co-operative game, in that you need to work together to actually survive at all, but in the process of working together, you need to be the most successful and get the best kit and recruit the best survivors.
Zpocalypse was a very successful Kickstarter project last year and I looked at it then, but held off. A year later and I'm quite keen to at least get the core game. There are several expansions already, which look very good and are highly recommended, but if I ever get the game I'll think about it then.
Wednesday, 6 March 2013
FTL
I can't believe I've not taken the time to write about this before on here, but for the last couple of weeks much of my "between doing things" time, and post-work free time has been taken up by this game.
FTL: faster than light is an independently published game, which was funded through Kickstarter. Two guys designed and created the entire game, with the exception of the music, for which they enlisted another guy, and anyone can download the game directly from their website for $10 (about £6).
It's an old school style, 2D space adventure game, in which you take your ship and a small crew through various randomly generated systems, to the "last stand" where you meet up with your home fleet and must destroy the rebel's mother ship.
Lets get one thing down straight away, you WILL lose this game 9 times out of 10. If not more. To survive you need to micro-manage your crew and ship systems, and make hard choices to maximise from the constant risks you need to take to progress. A game generally takes about an hour, but sometimes you'll be destroyed within 10 minutes and sometimes it'll string out to almost 2 hours. It's this short game time, mixed with the randomly generated nature that makes it so addictive.
This morning I completed the game for the first time on normal difficulty and had a look at my overall game stats afterwards. I've had 37 play throughs of the game, most of which have been on easy, and I have completed the game twice. Once on easy, once of normal. There is no hard difficulty. I can only think that they didn't think it was necessary.
If you like strategic adventure games, where the odds are stacked against you, there is no save/load function and you're mostly flying by the seat of your pants, this is the game for you.
FTL: faster than light is an independently published game, which was funded through Kickstarter. Two guys designed and created the entire game, with the exception of the music, for which they enlisted another guy, and anyone can download the game directly from their website for $10 (about £6).
It's an old school style, 2D space adventure game, in which you take your ship and a small crew through various randomly generated systems, to the "last stand" where you meet up with your home fleet and must destroy the rebel's mother ship.
Lets get one thing down straight away, you WILL lose this game 9 times out of 10. If not more. To survive you need to micro-manage your crew and ship systems, and make hard choices to maximise from the constant risks you need to take to progress. A game generally takes about an hour, but sometimes you'll be destroyed within 10 minutes and sometimes it'll string out to almost 2 hours. It's this short game time, mixed with the randomly generated nature that makes it so addictive.
This morning I completed the game for the first time on normal difficulty and had a look at my overall game stats afterwards. I've had 37 play throughs of the game, most of which have been on easy, and I have completed the game twice. Once on easy, once of normal. There is no hard difficulty. I can only think that they didn't think it was necessary.
If you like strategic adventure games, where the odds are stacked against you, there is no save/load function and you're mostly flying by the seat of your pants, this is the game for you.
Tuesday, 5 March 2013
Forza Horizon and other xbox games
I bought Forza Horizon the other week, which I might have mentioned on here before... can't remember. Anyway, it's a bit different to what I thought it'd be, but I am enjoying it.
I had expected it to be more akin to the previous Forza titles, with damage to the cars having an effect on your cars performance, but it seems they've gone for a more arcady style, which I'm slightly disappointed at.
I also find the requirement to HAVE to use lots of different types of cars a bit annoying. I did know to expect it though, so you just live with it, and in some ways, it has opened my eyes to the joys of some cars, which I really didn't think I'd enjoy driving.
My latest fad is to build 1970s stock cars, styling them with the little rear spoiler and front splitter and finding a paint scheme in the in-game store with the most sponsors and garrish colours. They're actually proving to be quite capable racers though. With some really fat, slick tires and a beefed up, naturally aspirated engine, I've been doing well in the mid-level races. I wish there was a Nascar style track in the game and I'm a little surprised there isn't anything even close to it...
I'd like to get the rally expansion at some point, but it's 1600 microsoft points, and I'm in no rush, so I'll probably wait until the end of the year when it'll no doubt drop in price.
Other games of note that I've been enjoying in small bursts are Borderlands 2. I've almost got my first character to level 50, but it's hard work! On true vault hunter mode the game become much more challenging!
Brutal Legend. I love this game. I love it in a similar way to Rage! It's only a short campaign and in the grand scheme of things I have probably played games I don't like anywhere near as much a lot more. But I love the setting, the feel, the characters and the mechanics. I have a lot of respect for Double Fine and this is a game that shows their willingness to try something out of the ordinary. They could have made just another action adventure hack'n'slash, but they brought a whole strategy game element into it! It's crazy! And very cool.
I had expected it to be more akin to the previous Forza titles, with damage to the cars having an effect on your cars performance, but it seems they've gone for a more arcady style, which I'm slightly disappointed at.
I also find the requirement to HAVE to use lots of different types of cars a bit annoying. I did know to expect it though, so you just live with it, and in some ways, it has opened my eyes to the joys of some cars, which I really didn't think I'd enjoy driving.
My latest fad is to build 1970s stock cars, styling them with the little rear spoiler and front splitter and finding a paint scheme in the in-game store with the most sponsors and garrish colours. They're actually proving to be quite capable racers though. With some really fat, slick tires and a beefed up, naturally aspirated engine, I've been doing well in the mid-level races. I wish there was a Nascar style track in the game and I'm a little surprised there isn't anything even close to it...
I'd like to get the rally expansion at some point, but it's 1600 microsoft points, and I'm in no rush, so I'll probably wait until the end of the year when it'll no doubt drop in price.
Other games of note that I've been enjoying in small bursts are Borderlands 2. I've almost got my first character to level 50, but it's hard work! On true vault hunter mode the game become much more challenging!
Brutal Legend. I love this game. I love it in a similar way to Rage! It's only a short campaign and in the grand scheme of things I have probably played games I don't like anywhere near as much a lot more. But I love the setting, the feel, the characters and the mechanics. I have a lot of respect for Double Fine and this is a game that shows their willingness to try something out of the ordinary. They could have made just another action adventure hack'n'slash, but they brought a whole strategy game element into it! It's crazy! And very cool.
Wastelands v2.1
It's been a few months since I last did any proper work on Wastelands. During that time I've thought of many different ways to fix version 2, which I now admit was sort of broken and a bit rubbish.
v2.1 is now almost ready. Just a few cards to figure out and I can give it a proper test.
Biggest changes have been:
- reduced the number of decks, so it's just Encounter cards and Wasteland cards.
- all speed checks are now fundamentally the same.
- revised combat to be a mix of v1, which was too lengthy and annoying, and v2, which was too easy and too many dice.
Almost every card in the game has been re-written. But, I really hope that this, or the next iteration will be satisfactory enough to print off a few copies and give to people to test.
I hope to test it this thursday, but still the quite lengthy process of actually printing and cutting the cards to get through, so fingers crossed!
v2.1 is now almost ready. Just a few cards to figure out and I can give it a proper test.
Biggest changes have been:
- reduced the number of decks, so it's just Encounter cards and Wasteland cards.
- all speed checks are now fundamentally the same.
- revised combat to be a mix of v1, which was too lengthy and annoying, and v2, which was too easy and too many dice.
Almost every card in the game has been re-written. But, I really hope that this, or the next iteration will be satisfactory enough to print off a few copies and give to people to test.
I hope to test it this thursday, but still the quite lengthy process of actually printing and cutting the cards to get through, so fingers crossed!
Tuesday, 12 February 2013
Been playing some good games recently
I finally bought Forza Horizon at the weekend. I spent £3 on it, plus some money I had left over from trade-ins a while back and I got £9 for GTA 4, which I was chuffed about; especially when you consider it's over 4 years old!
It doesn't seem as hardcore as I thought it'd be, but that's sort of a good thing. It definitely feels like an up to date version of NFS Underground 2. I love the cars, the upgrading and sheer amount of personalisation. I was expecting there to be tuning and car damage, but both of these don't seem to be present.
First car I bought was a Toyota Supra, which was my pet love when I first got into NFS Underground. Not sure why, I just loved it! Still has a great feel and there's something about it that I still like. But since I found a 1971 Plymouth Cuda in a "barn find" mission, within the game, I've fallen in love with the old american muscle cars. I've been a big kid, spending my in-game money on old muscle cars and then sticking a massive super-charger onto the engine, without doing anything about actually important things like brakes and suspension, and then watching it roar in a straight line straight into a tree! Haven't got bored of that yet, but when I do there's only about a million other cars and aspects to the game to get my mitts into.
Another good game, which I've been looking forward to for a while, is The Cave. A Double Fine production available on XBLA for 1200 points. It's a platform puzzle adventure game, where you take 3 characters through a talking cave, each character searching for their deepest desire. There are 7 characters to choose from so to completely complete the game you've got 3 play throughs, each will be slightly different as the different combinations of characters bring up different challenges.
Overall I'm a little disappointed with The Cave, but I did have very high hopes! It only takes about 4 hours to complete and you could probably do it quicker if you don't enjoy exploring all the different areas and try to find secret rooms and things. But the story is good, the dialogue is humourous and the puzzles make for a great sofa game to play with mates. Would be best played with 3 people, each having their own character. I have played through the game twice with my girlfriend and we always have to swap to the third character, which can be a little frustrating sometimes.
There are a lot of good games coming this year, which I'm looking forward to. First of which is Gears of War Judgement! Before that comes out I'm hoping to finally crack horde mode on Gears of War 3! Will need to gather the forces soon!
It doesn't seem as hardcore as I thought it'd be, but that's sort of a good thing. It definitely feels like an up to date version of NFS Underground 2. I love the cars, the upgrading and sheer amount of personalisation. I was expecting there to be tuning and car damage, but both of these don't seem to be present.
First car I bought was a Toyota Supra, which was my pet love when I first got into NFS Underground. Not sure why, I just loved it! Still has a great feel and there's something about it that I still like. But since I found a 1971 Plymouth Cuda in a "barn find" mission, within the game, I've fallen in love with the old american muscle cars. I've been a big kid, spending my in-game money on old muscle cars and then sticking a massive super-charger onto the engine, without doing anything about actually important things like brakes and suspension, and then watching it roar in a straight line straight into a tree! Haven't got bored of that yet, but when I do there's only about a million other cars and aspects to the game to get my mitts into.
Another good game, which I've been looking forward to for a while, is The Cave. A Double Fine production available on XBLA for 1200 points. It's a platform puzzle adventure game, where you take 3 characters through a talking cave, each character searching for their deepest desire. There are 7 characters to choose from so to completely complete the game you've got 3 play throughs, each will be slightly different as the different combinations of characters bring up different challenges.
Overall I'm a little disappointed with The Cave, but I did have very high hopes! It only takes about 4 hours to complete and you could probably do it quicker if you don't enjoy exploring all the different areas and try to find secret rooms and things. But the story is good, the dialogue is humourous and the puzzles make for a great sofa game to play with mates. Would be best played with 3 people, each having their own character. I have played through the game twice with my girlfriend and we always have to swap to the third character, which can be a little frustrating sometimes.
There are a lot of good games coming this year, which I'm looking forward to. First of which is Gears of War Judgement! Before that comes out I'm hoping to finally crack horde mode on Gears of War 3! Will need to gather the forces soon!
Friday, 8 February 2013
Thoughts of Wastelands
Over the past month I've put a lot of thought into moving Wastelands forward, which has stalled for various reasons. I've discussed ideas with friends and thought radically about new mechanics and future elements to go into the game, but it's occurred to me that this is sort of moving away from my original brief for the game, which is that it should be a simple, exploration, survival racing game, which is easy to learn and perfectly playable while slightly drunk. To this end I've thought that I should really get back to the basics and refine that before getting too excited.
My plans for moving forward are to refine the decks and keep the mechanics simple. I'll move all the engines and vehicle upgrades into the scrap deck and re-write the encounter cards to keep each of them interesting, even as individual encounters.
My plans for moving forward are to refine the decks and keep the mechanics simple. I'll move all the engines and vehicle upgrades into the scrap deck and re-write the encounter cards to keep each of them interesting, even as individual encounters.
Thursday, 7 February 2013
My pad is wonderful!
A while back I supported Double Fine Adventure and ever since I have enjoyed watching the update vides, reading the articles about how they've been developing the game, designing and doing art work and such. One of the key points Tim Schafer pointed out in one of the first videos was that if you want to write or design you need to get it down on paper. He urged all those aspiring to this to go out and buy a "project book" and a pen and just start writing nonsense. The more you do this the more you will find rare gems appearing on your pages. Tim described it as emptying your thoughts onto the page to make space for new ideas in your brain.
So, I did this. Well, not quite to the extent of scribbing nonsense, but on busses and trains and during the day, if I feel an urge, I scrawl ideas down inside it. I'm now finding that I look back at some of these ideas and it gets me excited about developing them and thinking of MORE ideas!
I realise I'm sort of repeating myself from a post a few weeks back, but this is a development from then! I didn't have the big pad then! The big pad important to me.
So, I did this. Well, not quite to the extent of scribbing nonsense, but on busses and trains and during the day, if I feel an urge, I scrawl ideas down inside it. I'm now finding that I look back at some of these ideas and it gets me excited about developing them and thinking of MORE ideas!
I realise I'm sort of repeating myself from a post a few weeks back, but this is a development from then! I didn't have the big pad then! The big pad important to me.
A rare pleasure
Last week I had a chance to spend a whole week down south with friends and family. On the saturday some old friends, my brothers and I spent the whole day gaming!
We played 2 games of Battlestar Galactica the boardgame, 3 games of 7 Wonders, learned the rules to Dreadball, a few games of Magic with my mate who got me into it and capped it all off with some tasty indian take-away.
The highlight for me, and I think most of us(?), was the first game of Battlestar Galactica. This is one of the best heavy weight boardgames out there! In our first game it went to-and-frow, the cylon players played very well and stayed relatively unknown for most of the game and it came down to the wire at the end! I felt playing a 2nd game, even after a fair gap, was a bit of a mistake, but it's such a good game that we couldn't help ourselves.
I've played 7 Wonders once before, but playing a few more times just made me fall in love with it. Every game seemed to get better and better as all 7 of us got to grips with the game and started to be more aware of each other's actions and tried to sabotage each other's development. By the third game we were finished inside 30 minutes, grinning like fools and eagerly totting up the scores to see who'd come out on top. I felt very satisfied to win the first game, which I thought I'd done quite cleverly, but it really didn't matter that much. The well designed mechanics meant it was fun to play and try different things inside the game.
Really hope it's not another 2 years before we meet like this again! And next time I'll try to fit Game of Thrones in my bag.
We played 2 games of Battlestar Galactica the boardgame, 3 games of 7 Wonders, learned the rules to Dreadball, a few games of Magic with my mate who got me into it and capped it all off with some tasty indian take-away.
The highlight for me, and I think most of us(?), was the first game of Battlestar Galactica. This is one of the best heavy weight boardgames out there! In our first game it went to-and-frow, the cylon players played very well and stayed relatively unknown for most of the game and it came down to the wire at the end! I felt playing a 2nd game, even after a fair gap, was a bit of a mistake, but it's such a good game that we couldn't help ourselves.
I've played 7 Wonders once before, but playing a few more times just made me fall in love with it. Every game seemed to get better and better as all 7 of us got to grips with the game and started to be more aware of each other's actions and tried to sabotage each other's development. By the third game we were finished inside 30 minutes, grinning like fools and eagerly totting up the scores to see who'd come out on top. I felt very satisfied to win the first game, which I thought I'd done quite cleverly, but it really didn't matter that much. The well designed mechanics meant it was fun to play and try different things inside the game.
Really hope it's not another 2 years before we meet like this again! And next time I'll try to fit Game of Thrones in my bag.
Thursday, 10 January 2013
How I write
I'm trying to get back into writing again, as I said I would after I finished my Open Uni assignment. I remember a friend telling me that if I wanted to write, and in this instance we were talking about writing fiction, just to WRITE. It doesn't matter if it's rubbish, at least you can then look at it and see how to improve. If you never write anything, then you have nothing to work from. I've not spoken properly to this friend in a few years now, but I hope that I can sometime soon and that I can show him what I have written. It may not be fiction, I found that I really couldn't get to grips with it, but it's hugely liberated to vent ideas onto a page, which won't judge you unless you give it to someone else to read.
Today I sat down with the intention of starting to write my own rules for a fantasy dungeon crawler and what I actually ended up writing were rules for a futuristic table top wargame?! The reason being that, for no apparent reason, an idea came into my head a few days ago about the basic mechanics of a table top game and over these last few days they've over taken my thoughts about how I was going to get my dungeon crawler to work, so I had to get it down.
The rules I am writing at the moment could well be rubbish, infact I'm not really sure where I'm going with them, but the core mechanics seemed to make sense in my head so I thought I'd explore it. If it ends up being rubbish then at least I won't have to worry about them clouding my mind; if they end up sort of working then I can explore them further.
My aim is to get back into writing Wastelands v2 and I will. Soon. I promise!
Today I sat down with the intention of starting to write my own rules for a fantasy dungeon crawler and what I actually ended up writing were rules for a futuristic table top wargame?! The reason being that, for no apparent reason, an idea came into my head a few days ago about the basic mechanics of a table top game and over these last few days they've over taken my thoughts about how I was going to get my dungeon crawler to work, so I had to get it down.
The rules I am writing at the moment could well be rubbish, infact I'm not really sure where I'm going with them, but the core mechanics seemed to make sense in my head so I thought I'd explore it. If it ends up being rubbish then at least I won't have to worry about them clouding my mind; if they end up sort of working then I can explore them further.
My aim is to get back into writing Wastelands v2 and I will. Soon. I promise!
Wednesday, 9 January 2013
Gears of War 3 is £10
Go and buy it!
The horde mode alone is easily worth this poultry sum.
I play with a friend relatively regularly and we can't get past wave 20, with just the two of us. Another body or two and I reckon we can crack a big run, maybe get all the way to the 50th wave.
It gives such a brilliant sense of achievement when you struggle past the next wave, clawing for survival, repairing your hammered defences, re-arming your turrets and scavenging for weapon ammunition amongst the dead enemies.
The campaign didn't feel as epic as Gears of War 2, but it is good and worth playing, and as the game has the capability for 4 player co-op, it's another big tick in the plus column.
I wish I hadn't bought the game when it first came out, but I'd have happily paid £25 for it.
The horde mode alone is easily worth this poultry sum.
I play with a friend relatively regularly and we can't get past wave 20, with just the two of us. Another body or two and I reckon we can crack a big run, maybe get all the way to the 50th wave.
It gives such a brilliant sense of achievement when you struggle past the next wave, clawing for survival, repairing your hammered defences, re-arming your turrets and scavenging for weapon ammunition amongst the dead enemies.
The campaign didn't feel as epic as Gears of War 2, but it is good and worth playing, and as the game has the capability for 4 player co-op, it's another big tick in the plus column.
I wish I hadn't bought the game when it first came out, but I'd have happily paid £25 for it.
Tuesday, 8 January 2013
The joys of an old game
One of my brothers bought me the enhanced re-release of Baldurs Gate for xmas and I've been taking some time out to play it for an hour or two for the last couple of weeks. For a game that is coming up to 15 years old, it is still brilliant! The enhanced-ness seems to relate to an updating of graphics and the inclusion of the more extensive character creation options that became available in Baldurs Gate II, so you can now properly play 1 character all the way through the story, without having to compromise on your original character selection. There are some other changes, but the game feels as wonderous and full of adventure as the original.
I'm hoping to now peer pressure some friends into buying it, for the modest price of just over £12 ($20), as the game has improved multiplayer facilities, which should run better than the original game did.
It's classic AD&D 2nd edition, which, despite being level based, feels gritty and more like a dark, low fantasy setting, than the newer D&Ds. I had forgotten how hard it is to get started! You only have a handful of hit points and one hit and you're dead, or very near it! I've just got my character to level 2 and a full party around him.
The character I have gone for is a classic cleric, which became my staple character in D&D games, as I enjoy the heavy armour, hammer wielding, healer/buffer role when playing in a party. I think it's interesting to consider which characters friends and family would be/choose. I hope some of them get the game and we can enjoy adventuring around Faerun together.
I'm hoping to now peer pressure some friends into buying it, for the modest price of just over £12 ($20), as the game has improved multiplayer facilities, which should run better than the original game did.
It's classic AD&D 2nd edition, which, despite being level based, feels gritty and more like a dark, low fantasy setting, than the newer D&Ds. I had forgotten how hard it is to get started! You only have a handful of hit points and one hit and you're dead, or very near it! I've just got my character to level 2 and a full party around him.
The character I have gone for is a classic cleric, which became my staple character in D&D games, as I enjoy the heavy armour, hammer wielding, healer/buffer role when playing in a party. I think it's interesting to consider which characters friends and family would be/choose. I hope some of them get the game and we can enjoy adventuring around Faerun together.
Monday, 7 January 2013
No progress
December was a frustrating month.
After a great play test at the end of November I was set to crack on with pushing Wastelands v2 forward, but with Open Uni work and other commitments I wasn't able to do anything!
Still, it's the new year now and I've been scribbling ideas down. I'm hoping to be able to commit some proper time to developing Wastelands v2 more and really keen to at least get a fresh copy made soon for further play testing.
My new years resolution is to get one game fully designed. Wastelands is still going through some changes, but as I've said so many times, it now needs some art work and nicer quality cards to be made for it.
I hope to start getting back into the flow of writing here more often again.
Happy New Year.
After a great play test at the end of November I was set to crack on with pushing Wastelands v2 forward, but with Open Uni work and other commitments I wasn't able to do anything!
Still, it's the new year now and I've been scribbling ideas down. I'm hoping to be able to commit some proper time to developing Wastelands v2 more and really keen to at least get a fresh copy made soon for further play testing.
My new years resolution is to get one game fully designed. Wastelands is still going through some changes, but as I've said so many times, it now needs some art work and nicer quality cards to be made for it.
I hope to start getting back into the flow of writing here more often again.
Happy New Year.
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