Games: Rate and Discuss

The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion 5th Anniversary Edition

With the release of Skyrim fast approaching, I knew I had to get Oblivion before November arrived. Luckily, Bethesda released the Fifth Anniversary Edition in July and I decided to go ahead and pick it up. These are its contents:

$10.00 coupon on Skyrim - I'll never use it. You have to make a purchase of at least $59.89 on the game between November 11 and December 11. You also have to buy the strategy guide and mail in the receipt, the UPC symbols, and a certificate. Yeah, I'll pass.

Map of Oblivion - Wonderful. It's a semi-vinyl map of Cyrodiil and the Shivering Isles with all the towns, roads, and landmarks labeled appropriately. It's nice to have around.

Making of Oblivion DVD - It was interesting to see how they made Oblivion into what it is today, but I'll probably never watch it again.

Steelbook - Lovely. It's decorated with Daedric symbols on the front and back and has two angry fellows on the inside. However, at the moment, it's collecting dust in my closet.

Oblivion - 8/10

A very detailed and enticing experience, but the story could've been better and some gameplay elements were flawed.

The beginning of the story had me confused. I don't understand why Uriel Septim bestows upon a random prisoner the Amulet of Kings, the most important artifact in all of Cyrodiil, and entrusts me to bring it to a friend of his in Chorrol. Something felt odd about that, and the fact that Baurus doesn't stop me is even stranger. But after making my way out of the sewers, I forgot about it, ignored the main plot, and went in search of side quests to do and guilds to join. I spent a few hours getting acquainted with the lore of Cyrodiil and entering caves, forts, and Ayleid ruins before I decided to finally make my way to Weynon Priory, home of Jauffre. This was where the story began to pick up. I was sent to Kvatch to find the last living heir of Uriel Septim, a man named Martin. Went ahead and saved him, fought off the surprise attack at Weynon Priory, and did some research on the Mythic Dawn cult, ultimately infiltrating their shrine and retrieving the Mysterium Xarxes.

Then, the main story took a nose dive because of how repetitive it becomes. In order to retrieve the Amulet of Kings that was stolen and brought to Mankar's Paradise, I had to embark on a 'collect-the-pieces' quest for four items. Oh, and I also had to close around seven Oblivion gates along the way in order to gain support for Bruma. Seven. Yeah, the first time I closed an Oblivion gate, it was an exciting new experience for me, but that effect wore off after the second or third time I had to do it. It was a poor way to advance the plot.

After retrieving the Amulet of Kings from Paradise, I became completely unimportant to the story. I got to stand by and watch as Martin saved the world from utter destruction. I guess that was how it was meant to be, but I should've had more involvement in the final battle.

As for gameplay, there are a few issues. I became so irritated by the UI and huge font that I had to install a mod to make everything smaller. I also decided to install a mod to keep track of my skill increases because of the unusual leveling system in this game. You'll never be stronger than your enemies and it's actually easier to beat the game on a lower level. I've never seen anything like it.

Other than that, everything is great. Combat is fine, graphics are splendid, the voice acting is exceptional, and the world is unbelievably realistic. The trees sway, the clouds move, the moons rise, the weather effects provide rain and snow, and all the characters in the game have something to say. All of this comes together to form an unprecedented experience that should have your attention for quite some time if you haven't played it already.
 
Plants Vs Zombies GOTY Edition 9/10

Very fun game, addictive, somewhat challenging, and light hearted. I love games like this in the summer because I don't devote too much time to more hardcore games during the warmer months.
 
It's quiet in here -- let's spice things up a bit.

God of War (PS3) - 9.5/10

A classic. A masterpiece. A game so technically superb that all others tremble before it. A plot so compelling that all others yearn for such creativity. These are what video game developers should strive for -- an all-around perfect game with a balance of fighting and puzzle-solving that is fueled by a satisfactory plot and an array of interesting characters. This is why God of War is one of the best games I've played. Perhaps it's because I love Greek mythology. Perhaps it's because I like a good challenge every now and then. I don't know, but I'm sure of one thing: I'm a sucker for great games. God of War is a great game.

And we all know that great games have their sequels, so here it is

God of War II (PS3) - 9.25/10

So, the theme of God of War was revenge. Kratos was haunted by the nightmares of his past and thought that he would be relieved of those dreams if he killed Ares. In God of War II, the theme is... still revenge. Nice. Kratos discontinues his service to the Gods and sets his target on Zeus with the help of the Titans. Time plays an important role in this chapter of the story. Slow down time, go back in time, whatever. God of War II retains the formula of the original game by having the same level of difficulty and the same balance of combat and puzzles as the previous installment, but God of War is still slightly better. Don't get me wrong, though, for God of War II is also a masterpiece and is far better than many of the games you see nowadays. Now, if only I could get my hands on God of War III... we'll see, my friends.

In conclusion: bravo, Santa Monica. Bravo.
 
Oh yeah um.

Assassin's Creed 2

It's really long and easy but also fun. That's pretty much it. :)
 
From Dust - 1/10...

Short as **** and I absolutely hated the controls.
But, it was visually pleasing.
 
Uplink

Meh. I liked Darwinia a lot more. Uplink was fun, but having to clear logs after everything you do gets really tedious -- especially if you're just clearing them on the same computer every time. Then you just wish they'd let you make a button to perform that so you could do it in 1 click instead of 10. Carpal tunnel syndrome?
I made it to "Skilled", then I think I forgot to delete logs so I got caught. Now, as far as I can tell, I'd have to start over from scratch because you can't save your game. Maybe this is to build tension, but it's pretty frustrating if you just screwed up something small. Do I like this game enough to start over again just because I forgot to delete logs one time? Probably not.

Also, graphical issues -- maybe this is just because I'm playing on a laptop, but the text seemed extraordinarily tiny. I would've liked an option for a bigger font size.

I can't really complain too much as this game was just made by a couple of dudes, maybe before they got popular, so in that respect, it was well done; just could've used some more player-friendly options.
 
You can actually back up your Uplink saved games and thus 'save your game' without it corrupting when you make a mistake.
 
Ah, good idea. I'll get back around to playing it or give Codelink a run, eventually. I referred to carpal tunnel syndrome earlier because my wrists really are aching right now :eek: though not entirely from Uplink.
 
Shem said:
Oblivion - 8/10

A very detailed and enticing experience, but the story could've been better and some gameplay elements were flawed.

The beginning of the story had me confused. I don't understand why Uriel Septim bestows upon a random prisoner the Amulet of Kings, the most important artifact in all of Cyrodiil, and entrusts me to bring it to a friend of his in Chorrol. Something felt odd about that, and the fact that Baurus doesn't stop me is even stranger. But after making my way out of the sewers, I forgot about it, ignored the main plot, and went in search of side quests to do and guilds to join. I spent a few hours getting acquainted with the lore of Cyrodiil and entering caves, forts, and Ayleid ruins before I decided to finally make my way to Weynon Priory, home of Jauffre. This was where the story began to pick up. I was sent to Kvatch to find the last living heir of Uriel Septim, a man named Martin. Went ahead and saved him, fought off the surprise attack at Weynon Priory, and did some research on the Mythic Dawn cult, ultimately infiltrating their shrine and retrieving the Mysterium Xarxes.

Then, the main story took a nose dive because of how repetitive it becomes. In order to retrieve the Amulet of Kings that was stolen and brought to Mankar's Paradise, I had to embark on a 'collect-the-pieces' quest for four items. Oh, and I also had to close around seven Oblivion gates along the way in order to gain support for Bruma. Seven. Yeah, the first time I closed an Oblivion gate, it was an exciting new experience for me, but that effect wore off after the second or third time I had to do it. It was a poor way to advance the plot.

After retrieving the Amulet of Kings from Paradise, I became completely unimportant to the story. I got to stand by and watch as Martin saved the world from utter destruction. I guess that was how it was meant to be, but I should've had more involvement in the final battle.

As for gameplay, there are a few issues. I became so irritated by the UI and huge font that I had to install a mod to make everything smaller. I also decided to install a mod to keep track of my skill increases because of the unusual leveling system in this game. You'll never be stronger than your enemies and it's actually easier to beat the game on a lower level. I've never seen anything like it.

Other than that, everything is great. Combat is fine, graphics are splendid, the voice acting is exceptional, and the world is unbelievably realistic. The trees sway, the clouds move, the moons rise, the weather effects provide rain and snow, and all the characters in the game have something to say. All of this comes together to form an unprecedented experience that should have your attention for quite some time if you haven't played it already.
Click to expand...


Thing is, Oblivion is hard to get into as it drops you in this hu-huuuge world and basically pats you on the back as you walk out the sewer.

You can sink hundreds of hours into it and never touch the main quest line.

Dear god, Skyrim is apparently bigger and filled with more to do. So much for buying any more games for a year. Skyrim, BF3 and Rage...should hold me over.
 
Deus Ex: Human Revolution

Just for clarity I played the PC version on highest difficulty with highlights and cover notifications turned off and cover mode set to toggle.

This game is very good. Lets start with that. Everything works very well. I thought the cover system and jumping between first and third person constantly would annoy be but it didn't at all. The cover system is smooth. Transitions around corners and between different covers works perfectly. I have no complaints about it. Similarly for the takedowns. At first the idea seemed stupid but to be honest they're just fun. Many of them are pretty funny or just cool (especially the double takedowns) and the way it uses power prevents spamming them. A much more fun system than standard melee attacks.

Regenerating health is thankfully not the wait five seconds for near-instant recovery sort and it actually takes some time to heal you back from the bring. Not something you want to be relying on in the middle of a fight, especially against tougher enemies. It does mean you don't have to run around looking for med kit if you screwed up and used all of yours and have 15 torso health as happened to many first-time Deus Ex players and it's worth noting that if you use health items in Human Revolution you can bring yourself up to 200 health while you'll only regenerate to 100, meaning regeneration only bring you to half your effective total health.

I don't want to go into detail about stealth or shooting gameplay. They're both good and both provide a decent challenge. A higher difficulty setting might have been nice but for "Give me Deus Ex" gave me a fun challenge for a first playthrough.

Hacking is great fun. Certainly the best hacking mini-game I've played in a game. Blows Fallout 3 and Bioshock out of the water. I hacked most stuff I came across (except the alarm panels, too many of those to bother with) and the emails on the PCs are sometimes pretty interesting and sometime quiet funny.

Exploration is cool and rewarding and the city areas are pretty lively and well-populated. Unfortunately very few characters have unique interactions though. You can overhear a lot of conversations but you can't go up to the people in question and talk to them about whatever they were discussing. There are no small one-objective sidequests for random people. You can't question the civilian population for info on places you're going into. The lack of significant interaction with small NPCs is unfortunate but it is made up for by the great interaction you have with the important ones. The dialogue system is very good. The tone and flow of the conversation also changes in different playthroughs so choosing the same options as you did before in the same order may not work so you actually have to pay attention to what the person is saying and respond accordingly. Dialogue choices and non-trivial and failing to persuade people will result in you having to take a more difficult route or may even prevent you from doing certain sidequests.

The augmentations are implemented well. You really feel upgraded at the end of the game compared to how you started and the option to pick any augmentation at any time is actually pretty cool. Simplicity is often better and I like that nothing is withheld until the end game. They're also pretty well balanced. They all give significant advantages and none of the upgrades are useless. In fact, pretty much nothing in this game is useless. All of the weapons are very powerful when used and upgraded properly. The pistol and be upgraded to ignore all armour (while being silenced) and the revolver can be upgraded with exploding rounds. Nothing in the game becomes obsolete, you just have to choose what to focus on. Weapons take up a significant portion of your inventory and ammo takes up space too so choosing to carry and use any weapon is a significant choice so you're best off choosing your favourites and upgrading the hell out of them.

I do think though that
A) Radar should have been an upgrade, rather than given at the start
B) You should have started with an upgrade point or two with Sarif or someone else advising you on what you should buy depending on your playstyle, i.e., armour if you say you want to go in guns blazing or radar if you want to sneak.


So now here are the problems I have with the game:

One problem I do have is the lack of variety in enemies. Standard enemies do come in the augmented variety but the only augs they actually have is damage resistance, stealth and the Icarus landing system in one cutscene. No one has a sprint upgrade, no one uses melee takedown moves on you, no one has the tracking target aug (which would stop you being able to hide in the middle of firefights), no one has the x-ray vision aug (which would certainly put an interesting twist on stealth gameplay), no one has gas immunity (not even bosses) and no one will attempt to un-hack bots and turrets after you reprogrammed them (no one seems to have EMP grenades either) and there are some of the heavy weapons go unused by any enemies for some reason.

Enemies also have that annoying ability to be able to tell the difference between their friends footsteps and my footsteps for no good reason. Even if I'm walking in an area where they should expect to hear footsteps they'll be alerted by mine in particular. But of course moving boxes around they barely notice. It's an annoying AI quirk and I wish someone would make AI that can't distinguish between player noise and other noise to make it make more sense.

I also think the game could have used more sidequests and particularly some sidequests that are impossible to complete with certain playstyles. The main story can be finished using any combination of lethal and non-lethal force (or no force), whether you bought hacking or not etc. but as far as I know there is only one sidequest that requires you to have an aug (level 2 hacking) and none that require you to kill anyone (though there are some that request non-lethal force, which you can ignore and get shouted at, but you still complete the sidequest). I honestly thing there should have been a sidequest that is a straight-up assassination. You have to kill someone and if you don't like it your only other option is to talk to your target and convince them to flee the city, making you fail the mission. I think there should have been one that requires level 4 or 5 hacking and one that required you to be completely stealthy; not being seen, not tripping an alarm and not knocking out or killing a single person or you fail the mission instantly.

Bosses are also a problem and seem to be the most frequent complaint. Yes the original had boss battles and killing one person was mandatory but even then it was possible to kill Anna simply by hacking to find her kill phrase and saying it to her, avoiding the fight completely. Human Revolution offers no such options. Even if they just fleshed out the boss arenas a bit it would have been something like having a hackable security system you could turn on one of them or some way to flood part of the arena with gas (which you can buy immunity to), denying the boss access to it. There is one element like this in one of the boss battles but that's it. There's also a glitch that lets you do an instant takedown on one of the bosses but that's unintentional and completely broken. The bosses are also all pretty dumb. They'll repeatedly run into mines thrown in plain sight and will not adapt to the strategies you are using. They could really have used a lot of work to make them more open in how you're able to defeat them and make them less susceptible to repeating cheap tactics to beat them.

Some stuff towards the end of the game seems a bit unfinished too. There are a few jarring moments and stuff that seems to have been stitched together quickly to finish the game off. I wish they had been able to spend a bit more time polishing this stuff out. If only Valve made these sorts of games!


As a comparison to the original game. The gameplay and general mechanics are much better. Pretty much everything is. The enemy AI, the combat, the stealth mechanics, the conversation system, the inventory system and the weapon upgrade system are better I think. There is some degree of freedom lost and interaction with non-story relent NPCs is less but I think the improvements cover the losses handsomely. The loss of the skill system doesn't really bother me. In the original your effectiveness in combat depended on your skill, your augs and the upgrades on that individual gun and while not being able to effectively use a gun without that skill makes sense but the way accuracy and the targeting reticle worked in Deus Ex was one of the reasons gunplay was so godawful in the first place. I think makings augs (recoil reduction and aim stabilization) and making weapon upgrades more powerful was a better decision. As for the non-combat skills hacking could be transferred to a skill-tree type setup I guess but it wouldn't really make a difference and most of the other skills from Deus Ex were either useless or lockpicking, which Human Revolution drops entirely.

I was a bit sad over the loss of lockpicking at first but then I realised it would just be another skill for the stealth portion of the game and it would be pretty much impossible to make it logical (Deus Ex's lockpicking system made no sense) and as fun as the hacking mini-game. TBH it would have been superfluous and if there is anything Human Revolution did right compared to Deus Ex was dropping superfluous elements and trimming the fat very well. So I'm not actually sad to see lock-picking, or indeed, the entire skill system gone. In the original skills acted like your stats and augs acted like magic spells, which I think wasn't the best way to go about it. Is there any particular reason you should have to activate increased strength after buying it to lift heavy crates? I don't think so and I'm glad Human Revolution made it and most of the augs passive. Augs in Deus Ex are, as I said, magic spells. In Human Revolution they're upgrades, like they should be.


So yeah in conclusion it's a great bloody game.
 
Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine - Single Player

The game plays well, both melee and ranged combat feel like viable options in most situations (other than for regaining health, of course). Melee combat is very much in the mould of a traditional 3D hack-n-slasher if somewhat simplistic, as there are only a few combo moves and two of the melee weapons play very similarly to each other. If you're looking for a deep, complex and challenging combo system you wont find it here. Thats not to say it isn't fun - it is, mixed in with the stun & execution mechanic combat feels fairly well flowing, though somewhat detached compared to the only other vaugely similar game I've played recently, Mount and Blade, though in this setting thats probably for the best - one is playing as an Imperial Space Marine and should feel that one can simply smash through most opponents encountered with ease.

That brings me onto the health system, which is a bit odd. The player has two bars, armour and health. Armour regenerates as one would expect in a current generation third person shooter - don't get shot for a while and it quickly regenerates. Health, on the other hand, requires the player to perfom an "execution" on an enemy to refill, during which the player is still vulnerable to attacks by other NPCs. While it is nice to see a departure from the over used "spend 15 seconds sucking your thum behind a chest high wall", it can lead to some very frustrating moments where the player is hit with a high damage attack while trying to regain health. Overall the system works well and encourages agressive play and to watch the excetuion animations that have clearly been one of the major focuses of the project. However, the game does have one noteable failing - the Jump Pack. The Jump Pack is insanely overpowered against the AI - its ground pound move gives the player a one or two hit kill against practically every enemy in the game and when you're in the air they can't shoot for toffee to even have a chance. Initially this was fun, but the lack of challenge rapidly became dull. I fear this will also be the case in multiplayer, so I won't be surprised if I only see assault marines and raptors when I get online.

Linked to this mechanic is the cover system, or rather the lack of it. Unlike say, Gears of War or Mass Effect, there is no "stickey" cover system in place, so one can sprint about with abadon without fear of thier 7 foot killing machine trying to hug the nearest wall. Again this encouranges agressive play and use of the melee weapons, though by no means does it render the ranged weapons useless - theres plenty of cover scattered about that is entirely usable without the need for blind fire and whatnot. Ranged weapons feel powerful (before getting this game I feared bolters being reduced to a Devil May Cry style pop gun) and there is a nice variety of weapons with thier own strengths and play styles to suit different players and situations, though you'll probably favour some weapons rather more than others (I know I did. Lascannon & Melta Gun all the way).

Sound design fits the rest of the game well, though the cockney Orks are a little off putting. Oh well, at least the characters pronounce lieutenant correctly. The scream of chainblade through ork is satisfyingly harsh, the bolter lets off a nice crack. Though the lascannon doesn't go "Freeeeem", which is disapointing. Though it never has in relic games, so no matter. Overall its good but its not BF3 good. Graphic design again is well done, the game is very recognisably 40k, from the servo skulls to the blood spatters on the PC's armour. Overall there is good attention to detail, particularly on the main characters, though the vehicle models & textures, particularly the Valkyrie and Thunderhawk look like caractures and I suspect were lifted directly from Dawn of War II and thier lack of detail is rather off putting, especially considering the level of polish that went into other parts of the game. This lack of polish also comes up in some parts of the level design where the PC will get hung up on low walls, corners, etc that look like they should pose no problem for a seven foot tall, genetically enhanced killing machine in his own personal tank suit. It doesn't happen particularly often, but its frustrating when it does.

The story. Well, its a by the numbers 40K story really. Anyone who's played the dawn or war games or read a bit of 40k background information could call the whole thing play by play. Not to say that it is bad, but it is very cliched for the setting. Which is disapointing, as the game expects the player to know who the various factions of the 40k universe and the Imperium are without a great deal of explanation but doesn't do anything original with the story. If you are a person who's read such material you can probably take a pretty good guess on what happens merely from the trailers and demo. Also, as a 40K fan, there were a few inconsistencies with the established universe that got on my nerves a little, but I'll spare you the details as they really are rather trivial. Its also rather short, 8 hours of gameplay in the SP campagin at most. Additionally, it is disapointing that multi-player coop isn't available at launch, though I understand that it is to be patched in later.

In closing, Space Marine is nothing if not fun, though it has a few bumps along the way. 8/10

I played the PC version on Normal difficulty.
 
I have some things to say about Space Marine after finishing the game. I enjoyed the demo and was enjoying the full game, fighting orcs, gutting them etc until the plot twist half way through. Then the dynamics of the game changed from a melee brawler with gun fighting secondary to a game where you had to use long distance weapons because as soon as you popped out of cover your health was drained nigh on instantly. Really ruined the game for me. Also the final boss was irritating to the extreme. Your standard waves of enemies attack but having to fight melee enemies while also having long distance enemies drain your health as soon as you leave cover, which happens whenever you chain melee attacks together was extremely badly designed. The second part of the fight was better until I hit the ending. Very poor. All this was on Normal difficulty.

As for the game I did enjoy much of it but the switching of gameplay styles was a bad decision. I'd give it a 7/10.
 
ríomhaire said:
Deus Ex: Human Revolution
Click to expand...

Great review, pretty similar to my own feelings on the game. I will be writing my own review when I eventually finish the game. The one thing I will say now is that this art style is one of my favourites in many, many years.
 
So I just finished...

Dead Space 2 (Yes, I know, it's been out a while but I never got it after completing DS1) on the XBOX 360.

Fantastic Game, to be honest. Definitely harder than the first but worth the challenge. It's not often these days it takes more than a few hours to complete a game in total but to my joy this game had 2 discs ( I just... I just haven't seen or played a console game with more than one disc since like Final Fantasy 9 or something) so it kept me going for a few days total.

Same intuitive gameplay as the last (headshots = worthless, dismemberment = death) and I liked the addition of some of the new types of Necromorph, like the stalkers, who were annoying and tedious but a good idea to piss us off in a good way. I also liked the little hacking element they added too, which showed Isaac better as a resourceful engineer. In DS1 there were a few times when I thought "dude, this guy knows everything about this ship, why can't he open locked doors, being an engineer and all" but putting this in made me feel slightly better about Isaac's role and the fact that he's only alive because he can make something out of nothing.

Nice visuals, too. There were some points at which there were small textures that looked like absolute shit but nothing that detracted from the game.

Being me I decided to start the game on Zealot Mode (basically the hardest mode you can get before unlocking Hardcore Mode) so I found a fair number of difficult bits right from the start (Normal Mode on most games may as well be Easy Mode because it usually is pretty easy) and it was good that I had more trouble with this game than the last. I like a challenge and I felt challenged.

There was, however, only one part which I really got stuck with and that was the last boss:
Nicole for those of you who know, and her f*cking annoying shadow children who were basically the only thing that was making me die.

Damn that was a bitch and all I had was the Plasma Cutter. After being told it was impossible without an upgraded Line Gun / Force Gun, I formed a strategy and basically, it's not impossible to do with just the Plasma Cutter at all, on Zealot Mode at least, I wouldn't want to try it on Hardcore. I expect people just didn't wanna put the effort in (because it did take me 20+ attempts as I kept getting swarmed) and not have a crowd control gun. See, I'd already reached that point in the game and had no other choice but to use the Plasma Cutter or basically do Chapter 15 over again and I couldn't be bothered being a little bitch like that.

I give Dead Space 2 - 8/10

Great game, has longevity in the 'New Game+' features, not a massive far cry from the original game but still a worthy game on its own.
 
Played both Trine and LIMBO the first time recently. Quite liked both of them.
 
Bought BIT.TRIP Beat for myself and Garg. 2€ is a sick price. Played it for a while and damn I'm dizzy. :p

edit/ Played some more, it's great but seems to have a lack of content. I think there's just 3 levels. But they're damn long, I think.
 
So I beat all of Super Meat Boy EXCEPT the last level, back when the game came out. In addition to the amount of time I must have spent on this last level (Running from Fetus), I spent 2 more hours tonight beating it finally. Now there's that Cotton alley and dark world business I probably won't get into. I'm just glad I saved the girl.

I suppose I'd rate the game 9.9/10.
 
Different game, so I guess another post is good for separation.

Alpha Protocol - 9/10

I don't know how there's so much hate around this game. The most annoying parts were a couple of bosses, and once I figured out I had chain shot x5, even they weren't jack shit. It's sort of like hitman and Mass Effect 2 combined. I wish they had been able to make a sequel, I paid $2 but I think it's worth at least 10x that amount.
Oh and Steven Heck is the best character in the game, I love the sonuvabitch.
 
The Missing Link (DX:HR DLC) - 7,5/10

The first half is great, but the second half is pretty boring. Lots of backtracking there. No new weapons, tricks or augs either. I hope the people @ Eidos feel more inspired when they make another DLC for this game.
 
GTA 3: 8.5/10

Considering it's a pretty old game, it's pretty good. The radio (dialogue) is amusing as hell. The story is pretty dull but it's clear that wasn't the appeal of the game, PC doesn't give a **** about anyone. Next is San Andreas.
 
Steam freezes up whenever I try to launch either of the first two.
 
Then don't use Steam.

And I think BH is talking about Vice City, seeing as that's the one you're skipping by going from GTA3 to San Andreas.
 
Oh, I played it long ago, so I'm skipping it for this marathon.
 
Batman Arkham Asylum - 9.5/10

Never used to care much for superheros and the games but I watched my roommate play Arkham City for many hours and tried on of the challenge maps. Decided to grab Arkham Asylum to learn the story on Xbox and I pretty much love it. Combat is a little hard to get used to at first but as you get used to it, it seems nearly perfect. The characters are all really well done, The Joker comes across as a lunatic and Harley Quinn is the most annoying skank ever. The only thing I'm really having a rough time with is keeping the Bat from rolling/running off ledges and that's more of a user error then anything. I'm not too far in yet but I'm loving every second I've played of it.

Forza 4 - 7.5/10

Not the perfect racing simulator as I kinda hoped it was going to be. Because so much attention was focused on the stupid Kinect shit, a lot of the game has been cut out of Forza 3 and "dumbed down" (not quite the right words but yea. Tuning and upgrading cars is worthless since it disqualifies them from almost all of the races and the career is short. Really short. I logged maybe 10 hours and was done with the career. Going through the event list now to do every race with cars that are bone stock and I have yet to finish in second place on normal difficulty. It's way too easy and way too short with far fewer cars then Forza 3. Graphics are much nicer but nothing has been added aside from the Kinect, which really ruined the game.
 
Battlefield 3 (PC) - 9/10

Needs tweaking still (IRNV get the ***k OUT!), and it can only get better when Kirkand comes along next month, but still; easily the best multiplayer one can get for an FPS. And actually the singleplayer isnt as bad as people are making it out to be. 'Unoriginal' is hardly a word to be throwing around these days in the gaming industry.

No other game plays like Battlefield though, and yes it's not a 'worthy' sequel to Battlefield 2 (do the majority really care?), but the so-called ''Battlefield moments'' will live in your memory for years to come. Where else can you shoot down a chopper, get hit by a stinger, lose control, bail out, sky-dive to the ground and deploy your chute just in time to watch your jet crash perfectly into the side of a tank, blowing it sky-high.

The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim - 10/10

It..it..oh god it's so beautiful. Why cant all open world games be like this? Yeah there's glitches here and there, some quest-stopping bugs, and it can be far too overwhelming sometimes when you've got a bajillion quests in your journal and dont know where to start each time you sit down, but the sheer scale, attention to detail, atmosphere, sense of place, epicness of the music and the gorgeous visuals (sometimes, weather and time dependant for lighting) makes those nit-pickings seem so feeble they might as well not exist. You can get lost in this game doing whatever you want. Just dont expect to have a social life.
 
Limbo - 6-7/10

I don't mean the score in a bad way. It was a good game and much darker than I expected. Points off because it was so short (~2 hours), sometimes the controls seemed unresponsive, the "puzzles" were very easy, and the ending was ridiculously abrupt. The best aspect of this game is the atmosphere/art style.
 
VVVVVV - 8/10: Having a reputation for being hard and coming out around the same time as Super Meat Boy, I got this an age ago and then never got round to playing it. Honestly, that reputation for difficulty is only half deserved: there are probably only twenty rooms in the entire game that pose a significant, 'die a hundred times before you proceed' level of challenge, and as few as five of them are on actual quest line. The reputation seems to be entirely earned from the 'Edge Games' and 'Veni Vidi' trinkets, which just felt unfair to me, as opposed to meaningfully difficult. As much as I love the throwback graphics and the unique feeling that exploration on a screen by screen basis gives you, on those occasions where things do get tough, strobing zig-zagging lines and 'THINK FAST!' sequences of spikey tunnels flashing up at you make for crushingly depressing trial and error gameplay. I can't think of another game I've ever played where I had to combat eye-strain after having respawned for the umpteenth time.

Otherwise, charming, unique and lots of fun. But nothing like the genius of Super Meat Boy...
 
Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light - Good-ass coop fun

Played through with morgs and we had a grande olde thyme. Best cooperative game I've played in ages. The puzzles require a great deal of teamwork and coordination and you really have to think things through together to figure some of them out. The action bits get pretty challenging too, you have to keep an eye on the other guy or you could both wind up dead, which means going back to the last checkpoint (which are generally pretty forgiving, but still). It's a pretty great PC port, too. Ran great with basically everything turned on/up (my computer isn't exactly state-of-the-art) and looked pretty swank, and the mouse/kb controls worked a treat. Only issues we had were network-related, things like certain platforming elements not taking lag compensation into account, so you could get killed by a flame column or something even though you're clearly ahead of it on your side. Didn't happen very often, though, and most of it seems predominantly client-side, especially the combat which I never had an issue with. Oh yeah, and single player is pretty lame. Obviously designed to be played with two people, which is fine with me. Highly recommended if you're looking for a fun, challenging coop game which actually requires teamwork.

(Thanks again to Krynn, who got me this for secret santa last year. Took me ****ing long enough to get around to it, but then I'm very prone to distraction and it's been a pretty great year for games. Next up is Chaos Theory, conveniently right after I've been getting some Clancy cravings. :))
 
Saints Row 3 10/10

I haven't quite finished it yet (a couple of missions to go), but hand on my heart I can honestly say that this game is a must play title and strong contender for my personal GOTY (beating out DX:HR, Skyrim, Portal 2 & TW2). Right from the off it heads to ludicrous, but within it's own deep insanity it retains an internal consistency and its knowingness is a big part of its charm. Plus as a game play experience it handles beautifully. The driving is great, the flying is great, the combat is satisfying & the conversations are hilarious. Whilst the way it integrates your character into the numerous cut scenes makes other titles seem frankly staid in comparison.

Get this, you won't regret it.

Kad
 
The Latest COD

7/10

I thought the campaign was more of the same craziness. The multiplayer is ok but it really feels the same old same old. I'm glad I didn't spend the full retail price either.
Pros: fast and furious gameplay, lots of action...Michael Bay Explosions
Cons: Michael Bay explosions, too much action...it was like watching Battle for LA at times. Just wish it was like MW1 or MW2 and it felt just like a mash of all the other games
 
Orcs Must Die 9/10

Interesting mix of tower defense mechanics, 3rd person action, and a lot of humor.
The main character is a lot like Ash from the Evil Dead series, with cheesy lines, and typical action hero attitude.
The game has a generous selection of gruesome traps, magic spells and weapons, to inflict damage on the relentless hordes of mindless orcs, and other creatures.
The painterly/cartoony art direction is great, and it creates an atmosphere that reminded me at times of the Dragon's Lair cartoons.
The soundtrack is also very good and adds to the overall atmosphere of the game. The only criticism I have, is that it's kind of short. I managed to finish the whole campaign in one day, and at the end it left me wanting more.
I also wish the creators of this game would consider making a traditional 3rd person action adventure game with this setting and characters.

Overall a fun and addictive game. I highly recommend it.
 
007 Goldeneye Reloaded - 3/10

What the hell Daniel Craig? The game plays like another Call of Duty clone as opposed to a true remake of the original Goldeneye. The missions have the same theme and you can clearly see where the original mission influenced the remake, but overall it's a different game. The weapons are all based on real life weapons with different names and the multiplayer features stupid CoD styled perks to counter most of the gadgets. Speaking of gadgets, the singleplayer features virtually no gadgets except an all in one cell phone that you use to take a picture and have the game do everything else for you. No more watch that acts as a magnet or laser or tells you about what weapon you have. The tank mission is still in the game, except you now drive through a construction yard shooting down an army of helicopters. If you get shot a few times, just suck your thumb for a minute and you'll be fine. The charm of the original game is gone and I really didn't feel like Bond throughout the game. It really didn't feel like the people behind it REALLY played the original game or watched the movie, but then, this is all we should expect from Activision anymore.
 
Duels of the Planeswalkers 2012 - 9/10

I played Magic in middle school, so when I saw this game for four bucks over Thanksgiving break I just had to give it a try... and it's been well worth it. It's a really fun way to relearn the game and play with some fun decks. The archenemy game mode is quite the maddening challenge as well... maddening in a good way, though. :p The only reason I take off a point is because you can't build a deck from scratch. There's 16 cards to unlock for each of the preset decks, which does give you some of that deck-building element (since you want to keep your deck down to 60 cards) but only in the form of choosing which 16 cards you don't want in the deck anymore (and it does the lands for you).

Overall, I'm glad I gave it a try. I might even make a Magic Online account now.
 
Batman: Arkham City PC - 9/10

Such a step up over Asylum in pretty much everything. There's now a full city to play around in which means we can stalk the rooftops which really gives that Batman feeling. The gadgets have gotten better with new additions for combat as well as puzzle solving and the new fighting moves such as one that lets you permanently destroy a thugs weapon so no one can use it again are beautifully animated and seamlessly integrated into the existing selection of moves and takedowns. The only negative things I would say is that due to the amount villains included you fins yourself wishing we had spent a little more time battling each one and maybe returning to them more than once rather than the current system of fighting them once and then moving onto another. Also I found the atmosphere to be better in Asylum. Still, everywhere it matters City is an improvement and certainly my GOTY.
 
I am considering getting Dragon Age 2 at $12 bucks right now tbh. I heard the gameplay is a lot of fun.

Orcs Must Die 8/10 so far. Luv dat game. Some levels are really unbalanced though, and I often can't figure out how to get more skulls at the end of each round despite not letting any orcs into the rift.
 
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