inFAMOUS 2

Listen, if you liked inFAMOUS, I have very little notion why you wouldn't enjoy inFAMOUS 2.

Cole McGrath, everyday-courier-turned-electric-conduit continues his adventures, now confronted with a monstrous beast which has destroyed whatever New York is being called these days.  The beast sucks all of Cole's powers away (how convenient) and Cole and friends head to whatever New Orleans is being called these days.

The games has learned its lessons from inFAMOUS prime.  If nothing else, the issue with chain-link fences has been addressed.  In fact, the environments are much more strongly involved in gameplay.  Combat remains nearly identical: you shoot lightning out of your hands, your powers increase with time, etc.

The other "lesson learned" is that blast shards are increasingly easier to find, which is to say that it is still a bit of a pain in the neck, but not the 14-month WHERE-IS-IT endeavor that inFAMOUS presented to me to finally Platinum the game.

This time around, morality is linked to which of the two ladies in the game you'd like to ally yourself to.  The crazy, chaotic Nix or the straight-laced Kuo.  Much as women are keen to do, there are betrayals and hurt-feelings and "come-rescue-me" moments.  But this is a video game, after all, not a treatise on feminism.

The choices remain as unsubtle as ever.  Save the orphans, burn the orphans, etc.

But the game is certainly fun to play and enjoyable to complete the quests that the game presents.  The difficulty amps up a couple times, especially with certain bosses that you experience.

The simple end to this review is this: it's like inFAMOUS, only twoier.

Skyrim

Skyrim, or more completely, The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim continues the story of imprisoned-and-then-freed destiny-bound heroes of Tamriel, this time located in the frigid north, titular region: Skyrim.

The game was dense, as was the first draft of this review, which I have subsequently broken up into 5 entries (seriously).  Today's post looking at the main story and game mechanics, and subsequent posts dedicated to all the shit that got done in the name of collecting the sweet, sweet platinum trophy.

In media res being a bit of a gameplay-must these days, you start the game as an imprisoned man/woman/whatever on your way to the chopping block - the head chopping block - when you are serendipitously saved by the arrival of a fire-breathing dragon.  Amidst the chaos and fear of behading/being eaten by a dragon, you select your character's gender, race, and appearance.  Unlike the fourth Elder Scrolls entrant, you do not select a sign, have specifically anointed skills, or any of the other things that made that game have an astounding 743 sextillion (a lot) character builds.

The undead are a frequent encounter.

While skills continue to increase as you use them, the leveling system has been redesigned.  Now, gaining progress in any skill will move you towards a level-up, wherein you can increase your health, magicka (magic health), or stamina (swinging axe health).  Upon gaining a level, you are also able to select a perk from one of the skill areas, granted you have reached the requisite experience with that skill.  There are 251 perks in Skyrim, of which you may feasibly select 81 (essentially the "level cap").

I decided to put my perks into archery, sneaking, light armor, and Illusion-magic, which you think might have been setting myself up to be a total badass ninja, but I still chose to confront most conflicts at high velocity while spamming the attack key.

Combat is relatively unchanged from Oblivion, with the main exception in that you can wield magic while simultaneously wielding a weapon, or wield two spells at once.  Spells have also been pretty well nerfed, only dealing a set amount of damage and not able to be customized (a la Oblivion).

So, fresh off of not-being-killed-by-a-dragon, you are given the same mind-numbing freedom common to the Bethesda games: you could literally do anything.  Only a few story-related areas are blocked off, and to be honest - it's nearly impossible to find them, as there is just so much else to do.  The game improves upon Oblivion's compass system, and exploration begins to be "just... one... more... area..." and before you know it, you've mapped most of the locations in Skyrim.

Oh hey girl, lemme shout at you.

Anyway, it just so happens that you are a Dragonborn, a rare 1%-er, born once in every few generations who can absorb the souls of dragons and focus those souls into powerful Thu'ums, or shouts.

While dialogue with townsfolk may lead you to believe that dragons are rare sights anywhere in Tamriel, the reality is that the whole place is lousy with dragons.  And they are dragons: they eat townspeople and their steeds, devastate farms and hovels, and will fuck you up if you aren't equipped with enough healing potions to ward off the inevitable crispy feelings of being burned to death.

One dragon, in particular, plays your chief nemesis.  His purpose is straight black and white fantasy: he destroys worlds.  It's almost refreshing to meet a bad-guy who is really bad.  No tortured childhood.  No on-the-fence attitude.  Dude just wants to obliterate existence.  I can respect that.

The game is great, though the story does have some pacing issues, common to the robust world games like Skyrim.  And that's just the main story.  It was definitely worth the 80 hours I sunk into it, and definitely worth a platinum run.

Always worth it.  Always.