Monday, May 9, 2011
How Long To Beat?
Real quick post here. A new website called howlongtobeat.com is growing in popularily and I want to give it some cred. This is an EXCELLENT site, doing what I've threatened to do for ages: compile a list of video games and how long it has taken me to playthrough them. It averages the times from users' input, and allows you to determine whether or not that $60 game is a good investment from a dollar/hour standpoint.
Monday, May 2, 2011
Playstation Network (Still) Down
Hopefully you don't rely on this blog for updates on what's going on in the world of the video games, but in case you do (hi Mom!) - you should probably know that the Playstation Network has been down for about a week now. This means that no online features are available, or online play (like, co-op in Portal 2, for example), can't access the PSStore (to spend money I don't have). And there may have been some accidental leaking of personal data, like where I live and stuff - but nothing that wasn't already leaked by the Texas Comptroller's office. Sony assures me that credit card numbers were encrypted, but I dare the hackers to try to use that card to buy anything more than a hot dog.
So today, Playstation released some presses (it was actually yesterday, but I was asleep) - saying that as sort of a "sorry" that users would be getting a month free of the Playstation Plus, and some mystery content (or maybe a choice between several types, as is rumored by the internet). This is kind of exciting, because despite my rant about Playstation Plus, I actually kind of love free stuff - especially getting a trial at something. This might be the sort of thing I angle to get for my birthday.
In the meanwhile, I've been trying my hand at Dragon Age II, and borrowing it is not going to work out - I'm going to have to own this eventually, because I already know I want to play it AGAIN, and I'm barely a couple hours in.
Did you want to buy me something? That's so sweet. You can check out my Amazon wishlist here: http://amzn.com/w/1HLFDVW8GNHV2.
So today, Playstation released some presses (it was actually yesterday, but I was asleep) - saying that as sort of a "sorry" that users would be getting a month free of the Playstation Plus, and some mystery content (or maybe a choice between several types, as is rumored by the internet). This is kind of exciting, because despite my rant about Playstation Plus, I actually kind of love free stuff - especially getting a trial at something. This might be the sort of thing I angle to get for my birthday.
In the meanwhile, I've been trying my hand at Dragon Age II, and borrowing it is not going to work out - I'm going to have to own this eventually, because I already know I want to play it AGAIN, and I'm barely a couple hours in.
Did you want to buy me something? That's so sweet. You can check out my Amazon wishlist here: http://amzn.com/w/1HLFDVW8GNHV2.
Saturday, April 23, 2011
Portal 2
No beating around the bush: Portal 2 lived up to and exceeded my expectations (which were high). And here's how:
1. Simple game mechanics explored by every angle imaginable.
The game play is pretty easy to understand: open up a blue portal, open up an orange portal. Whatever goes in the blue portal comes out the orange portal. Lasers, weighted cubes, yourself. Use the portals to get from the entrance of each area to its exit while evading any obstacles designed to cause your demise.
Any time I'd get stuck on a puzzle (it happened a couple dozen times), the solution was nearly always a simple return to the basics: take a step back and open up some portals.
2. Stupendous writing coupled with excellent voice acting.
The bar for comedic writing was set fairly high in the original Portal, and I'm delighted to say that Portal 2kept up pace incredibly well. The three "main" characters have excellent interactions with each other and plenty of great monologue opportunities when interacting with the player character. But in addition to just being hilarious: the writing creates excellent moments of sympathy for the characters.
And the voice work is exactly what it needs to be. Each character is full defined and encapsulated within their first few lines of dialogue.
3. Story, story, story - but don't shove it down my throat.
We also get a great look into Aperture Laboratories and its development, but it is fully at the player's own interest to discover it. There is very little delivered narrative, but plenty to discover, which earns Portal 2 an A+ in creative writing and story delivery.
And that's just the single player campaign. Once I've got a chance to play co-op I'm sure I'll be continuously wow'd. Worth a pick up, indeed! Though the game was somewhat brief (I bested it in about 6 or so hours, total), I'm sure it'll be the kind of game I play again and again...
1. Simple game mechanics explored by every angle imaginable.
The game play is pretty easy to understand: open up a blue portal, open up an orange portal. Whatever goes in the blue portal comes out the orange portal. Lasers, weighted cubes, yourself. Use the portals to get from the entrance of each area to its exit while evading any obstacles designed to cause your demise.
Any time I'd get stuck on a puzzle (it happened a couple dozen times), the solution was nearly always a simple return to the basics: take a step back and open up some portals.
2. Stupendous writing coupled with excellent voice acting.
The bar for comedic writing was set fairly high in the original Portal, and I'm delighted to say that Portal 2kept up pace incredibly well. The three "main" characters have excellent interactions with each other and plenty of great monologue opportunities when interacting with the player character. But in addition to just being hilarious: the writing creates excellent moments of sympathy for the characters.
And the voice work is exactly what it needs to be. Each character is full defined and encapsulated within their first few lines of dialogue.
3. Story, story, story - but don't shove it down my throat.
We also get a great look into Aperture Laboratories and its development, but it is fully at the player's own interest to discover it. There is very little delivered narrative, but plenty to discover, which earns Portal 2 an A+ in creative writing and story delivery.
And that's just the single player campaign. Once I've got a chance to play co-op I'm sure I'll be continuously wow'd. Worth a pick up, indeed! Though the game was somewhat brief (I bested it in about 6 or so hours, total), I'm sure it'll be the kind of game I play again and again...
Tuesday, April 19, 2011
Portal 2 Released
I just thought I'd add to the internet ethosphere (I just made that up) of the number of times Portal 2 appeared in newsposts and blogs and the whatnot. I haven't had a chance to get my salacious mitts on the thing, to be honest, but I'll be plenty excited when the time comes. All in good time.
I am a bit dubious about the multi-player aspects, mostly because I believe video games are selfish isolations from the cruel, cruel world around us, but I've had some success in some multi-player ventures, so it might be fair to give the dog another chance.
Finally, if I was a professor, I would have sent out this e-mail too:
I am a bit dubious about the multi-player aspects, mostly because I believe video games are selfish isolations from the cruel, cruel world around us, but I've had some success in some multi-player ventures, so it might be fair to give the dog another chance.
Finally, if I was a professor, I would have sent out this e-mail too:
Wednesday, April 13, 2011
Bioshock
Shortly after it was announced that Bioshock would be released for the PS3, I got an opportunity to finally experience Rapture; an experience others had been privy to for what seemed like decades.
You have to ask yourself, are video games art? The Smithsonian seems to think so, and among the subjects of its upcoming feature of the Art of Videogames, Bioshock is sure to make an entry. From the demo-drop to the PSN, through receiving the game for Christmas (from my awesome husband), and the six or seven completions since then, I am constantly enRAPTUREd by this gem.
Bioshock has often been described as the spiritual predecessor of Ken Levine's System Shock 2, but whatever brought the idea to fruition is okay with me. The story, set in 1960, is about the unnamed protagonist (who is dutifully known as "Jack"), who - as the only survivor of an airline crash - finds a mysterious lighthouse with a bathysphere that transports him to the underwater city of Rapture.
Rapture was created by Andrew Ryan, who believed the city was the only place safe from the persecution of the government, communists, and religion. During the bathysphere ride down, we learn that he created the city for an artist to not fear the censor, for scientists to not be bound by petty morality, and the great to not be inundated by the needs of the weaker members of society.
However, as it is 1960, you find yourself in Rapture in media res - literally late for the party. The city has devolved from ongoing civil war and the discovery of deep sea slugs who produce ADAM, a genetic substance capable of granting superhuman powers. As Rapture's denizens fought, and further spliced (shorthand for using ADAM, splicing ones' DNA) themselves, the toll of constant war and ADAM's effects begin to turn them from being the foremost artists and scientists into killing machines, hell bent on collecting more ADAM to feed their ongoing addiction.
To further produce and maintain a supply of ADAM, leaders of Rapture develop the Little Sisters program. Young girls are implanted with a sea slug, which allows them to gather ADAM from the corpses of the fallen; however the girls are to fragile to go alone, and giant diver suits are grafted onto "volunteers" to become Big Daddies to protect the Little Sisters.
So, your Bathysphere unable to return to the surface, you are guided through the arrival terminal by a friendly (and more importantly, sane) Rapture hold-out named Atlas. You pick up a wrench and blindly inject yourself with the first Plasmid (superhuman power) you can find. Weapons (which diversify from the melee wrench) are switched and fired with the right shoulder buttons, while Plasmids are selected and activated with the left shoulder buttons. This is highly intuitive, as your first-person view shows you holding the weapon in your right hand, and your left hand has a representation of the Plasmid equipped (covered in ice, or bursting with hives of bees, for example).
The game is fairly linear (one fetch quest after another), but there are plenty of off-the-beaten path areas to explore, kill splicers in, and collect resources (first aid kits heal, while EVE hypos repower your Plasmid use). The great challenge of the game is that of the Big Daddies. In order to procure ADAM, you must either rescue the Little Sisters or harvest the sea slug inside of them, thereby killing the girl. But before you can get close enough to the girl to perform your act of kindness or malice, you must defeat the otherwise placid Big Daddies.
Once you've substantially dealt with her guardian, there's the Little Sister herself. You may choose to rescue the girl, using a Plasmid you get from Dr. Tennenbaum, or you can reach right into the girl and grab the slug implanted in her. Harvesting nets twice the amount of ADAM instantly, but Dr. Tennenbaum ambiguously promises to reward you if you save the girls instead. Almost constantly in games like these, I prefer to play a righteous character, but in my "Survivor" playthrough I needed every drop I could get. Sorry girls.
This small mechanism is highly praised as introducing a morality to the game, and I'm going to harp on that: while the decision doesn't have long-standing changes to how you play the game (some dialogue changes, and a different ending, befitting how horrible you are), but forcing a player like myself to work outside his comfort zone for a relatively low payout to get a marginal leg up on survival did create a question: If this was real, would I be so noble, or would it be every man for himself? Of course, this is the question of Rapture itself. The individual, or the community?
Holy shit! A video game made me think! MAKE IT STOP!
Additionally, the graphics tell the story of the underwater city beautifully, complemented by an excellent soundtrack and phenomenal voice acting. You interact directly with very few characters (and even then, they are behind barriers), but you learn about Rapture through a variety of Audio Logs recorded by its residents. From these tapes, which are scattered precariously everywhere, you learn about the revolution against Ryan, its motivations, and how things got so fucked up. And despite the fact that you probably shouldn't be sitting around listening to dead people's diaries, especially while you're being hunted by those you haven't slaughtered yet, it's a genius method in delivering story content.
The game levels out with difficulty, as eventually the Plasmids on weapons available to you can massacre almost any enemy you come across, but it's okay because you should feel that powerful. The replay value exists, but the predictability of the games' AI makes additional playthroughs past the fourth get a little tedious. All the same, if you haven't yet, Bioshock is a must play.
You have to ask yourself, are video games art? The Smithsonian seems to think so, and among the subjects of its upcoming feature of the Art of Videogames, Bioshock is sure to make an entry. From the demo-drop to the PSN, through receiving the game for Christmas (from my awesome husband), and the six or seven completions since then, I am constantly enRAPTUREd by this gem.
 |
| The box art gives an idea of the amazing world within. |
Rapture was created by Andrew Ryan, who believed the city was the only place safe from the persecution of the government, communists, and religion. During the bathysphere ride down, we learn that he created the city for an artist to not fear the censor, for scientists to not be bound by petty morality, and the great to not be inundated by the needs of the weaker members of society.
However, as it is 1960, you find yourself in Rapture in media res - literally late for the party. The city has devolved from ongoing civil war and the discovery of deep sea slugs who produce ADAM, a genetic substance capable of granting superhuman powers. As Rapture's denizens fought, and further spliced (shorthand for using ADAM, splicing ones' DNA) themselves, the toll of constant war and ADAM's effects begin to turn them from being the foremost artists and scientists into killing machines, hell bent on collecting more ADAM to feed their ongoing addiction.
 |
| A splicer, who was surely once handsome, now deformed. |
So, your Bathysphere unable to return to the surface, you are guided through the arrival terminal by a friendly (and more importantly, sane) Rapture hold-out named Atlas. You pick up a wrench and blindly inject yourself with the first Plasmid (superhuman power) you can find. Weapons (which diversify from the melee wrench) are switched and fired with the right shoulder buttons, while Plasmids are selected and activated with the left shoulder buttons. This is highly intuitive, as your first-person view shows you holding the weapon in your right hand, and your left hand has a representation of the Plasmid equipped (covered in ice, or bursting with hives of bees, for example).
The game is fairly linear (one fetch quest after another), but there are plenty of off-the-beaten path areas to explore, kill splicers in, and collect resources (first aid kits heal, while EVE hypos repower your Plasmid use). The great challenge of the game is that of the Big Daddies. In order to procure ADAM, you must either rescue the Little Sisters or harvest the sea slug inside of them, thereby killing the girl. But before you can get close enough to the girl to perform your act of kindness or malice, you must defeat the otherwise placid Big Daddies.
During my playthrough on "Survivor" difficulty, I really got an opportunity to get creative with Big Daddy battles, to the point of what some might consider cowardice. It can easily take all of the ammo and first aid kits to best a big lug, as well as carefully considering the environment you engage them in. Setting up traps tended to be a better solution for me, since I am a terrible aim and typically relied on melee attacks to best most splicers. To date, Big Daddy fights remain some of my favorite experiences in a game: challenging, but not overly frustrating.
Once you've substantially dealt with her guardian, there's the Little Sister herself. You may choose to rescue the girl, using a Plasmid you get from Dr. Tennenbaum, or you can reach right into the girl and grab the slug implanted in her. Harvesting nets twice the amount of ADAM instantly, but Dr. Tennenbaum ambiguously promises to reward you if you save the girls instead. Almost constantly in games like these, I prefer to play a righteous character, but in my "Survivor" playthrough I needed every drop I could get. Sorry girls.
This small mechanism is highly praised as introducing a morality to the game, and I'm going to harp on that: while the decision doesn't have long-standing changes to how you play the game (some dialogue changes, and a different ending, befitting how horrible you are), but forcing a player like myself to work outside his comfort zone for a relatively low payout to get a marginal leg up on survival did create a question: If this was real, would I be so noble, or would it be every man for himself? Of course, this is the question of Rapture itself. The individual, or the community?
Holy shit! A video game made me think! MAKE IT STOP!
Additionally, the graphics tell the story of the underwater city beautifully, complemented by an excellent soundtrack and phenomenal voice acting. You interact directly with very few characters (and even then, they are behind barriers), but you learn about Rapture through a variety of Audio Logs recorded by its residents. From these tapes, which are scattered precariously everywhere, you learn about the revolution against Ryan, its motivations, and how things got so fucked up. And despite the fact that you probably shouldn't be sitting around listening to dead people's diaries, especially while you're being hunted by those you haven't slaughtered yet, it's a genius method in delivering story content.
The game levels out with difficulty, as eventually the Plasmids on weapons available to you can massacre almost any enemy you come across, but it's okay because you should feel that powerful. The replay value exists, but the predictability of the games' AI makes additional playthroughs past the fourth get a little tedious. All the same, if you haven't yet, Bioshock is a must play.
Tuesday, April 12, 2011
Portal 2 Comic Online
Friday, April 8, 2011
Best game ever?
I love cats. I love President Bill Clinton. I love video games. There was a video game made about President Bill Clinton's cat, Socks. Though unreleased, I will now scower the very depths of the internet to find this gem.
Flash Game Friday: Corporation, Inc
Oh, resource management games. I have a confession to make. I love you.
No, now, don't freak out on me. I think we're ready for this next step. After all, I've been clicking to and from things for hours (gosh, has it been that long? It felt like mere minutes), and you've been rewarding my minimal effort withpower-ups gifts of your love to make my clicking easier!
That's why I'm dedicating this Flash Game Friday to Corporation, Inc. It was pitched to me as a "SimTower like" experience, and I loved SimTower. And it has everything you'd want in a resource management game: employees, offices, upgrades. An easy to use and navigate interface allows you to extend your office to heavens, or just build a 9 floor wide complex full of researchers hellbent on discovering the secrets of world domination (no, really!).
Check it out, especially if you want a distraction from work, by - you know - doing some other type of work.
No, now, don't freak out on me. I think we're ready for this next step. After all, I've been clicking to and from things for hours (gosh, has it been that long? It felt like mere minutes), and you've been rewarding my minimal effort with
 |
| Upgraded bathrooms make employees happier. That makes sense, I guess. |
Check it out, especially if you want a distraction from work, by - you know - doing some other type of work.
Flash Game Friday: Upgrade Completer!
 |
| Fire all lasers! |
I think I've spoken before about my love of the meta-game of acheiving things and upgrading things and watching bars fill up to bursting completeness.
You can get a feel for this by playing Upgrade Completer!
Everything is upgradable, even the grammar of the upgrade menu! You even have to buy certain upgrades before you actually play, and once you do, you'll be rewarded with a fun little shump shooter game. Eventually, your upgrades make the game batshit crazy easy, but it's totally worth the couple hours you'll throw down in its throws of interest.
Thursday, April 7, 2011
Yahtzee Croshaw's Take on Being Gay in DA2
You know how I made a blog entry about the Dragon Age 2 gay nonsense debate that is still permeating the very crevices of the interwebs? Well, Yahtzee Croshaw of Zero Punctuation (whose wit and unmatchably fast tongue supercede my own) has written a nice little treatise on the topic wherein he found himself accidentally playing a gay Hawke, regardless of his individual desires to avoid "sausage sandwiches."
Warning, the article may not safe for work (depending on your place of employ) and is excessively British.
Warning, the article may not safe for work (depending on your place of employ) and is excessively British.
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