Duality

Duality has moved!

2010-01-23T00:16:00.000-08:00

Yes! It's true! Duality isn't here anymore. It's over at www.dualitygames.com.

Head on over and let me know what you think!

Classic Review - Indigo Prophecy

2010-01-21T01:42:00.000-08:00

Indigo Prophecy is difficult to classify. It's part adventure game, part action game, part murder mystery flick, with mild platforming and FPSing thrown in for good measure.

And I thought there weren't any surprises left for me in the gaming world.

There are a great many things to like about Indigo Prophecy. First and foremost, this game tells a story. Gameplay, visuals, and all the other elements that go into making a video game serve to move the story forward. It's an emphasis rarely seen in the gaming world.

The developer, Quantic Dream, is now following up this effort with the PS3 exclusive Heavy Rain, which looks like it'll be a technical masterpiece, if fraught with content issues.

Throughout the game, you'll play as one of three characters: Lucas Kane, a man framed for a murder he didn't commit; Carla Valenti, a dedicated homicide detective; and Tyler Miles, Carla's gangster-turned-cop partner.

The story begins with Lucas committing the murder. I know, I just said that he didn't commit it. But he did. Then again, he didn't. Admittedly, it's complicated. And a bit of a head trip. But the game weaves an intricate and intriguing tale that touches on all kinds of themes, leaving a lasting impression. I haven't been so affected by a game's story in quite some time.

This is a game with a kind of pacing normally found only in movies (which isn't surprising, since lead developer David Cage is committed to the idea that games and movies are essentially the same thing). There are entire sequences with zero action, plot points, or puzzles to solve.

In one particularly memorable scene toward the middle of the game while playing as Lucas, you find yourself in his apartment after a particularly stressful day trying to calm his nerves. You have him pick up his guitar and play it. The game uses on-screen cues that are a bit reminiscent of Dance Dance Revolution (though not nearly that lame) to give the player the feeling that he is involved with Lucas as he strums out the song. There's no real reason for doing this other than to connect with the character - the player could just as easily send Lucas to bed and move on to the next scene. It's an emotional and strikingly human moment that brought a smile to my face.

The same DDR-style on-screen cues are used throughout the game to involve you in what would otherwise be passive cut-scenes. When you get into a fight, you'll have to follow the sequence of cues in the correct order to succeed. Sometimes failure results in death, and other times in missed opportunities.

The game does a fantastic job of wrapping you up in its world and involving you in the story. However, after finishing the game, I'm not entirely convinced it's worth it.

There are a variety of issues. First and most easily identified is the sexual content. In the North American version of the game, most of this was censored out (the game is called Fahrenheit in other regions and contains the censored content). There's still enough of it in the game to give me pause, however. There are two sex scenes in the game — one occurs completely off-screen, with only the audible portion of the act to titillate the player; in the second, a moment or two of sexual motion is visible before the scene fades to black.

There are a few other areas of sexual content, but none of it exceeds a PG-13 level. On the other hand, however, none of it is really justified in any way. On-screen sexual content is rarely, if ever, necessary to a story (in any medium). What sexual content there is in Indigo Prophecy is there merely for titillation, in an apparent grasp for superficial maturity. It's a cheap attempt at sensualization that doesn't belong in a game that is quite deep and honest otherwise.

The other major area of concern deals more directly with the story itself. Spoilers follow.

Lucas Kane did commit murder, but not of his own volition; he was the unwitting proxy of a mysterious figure known as The Oracle. Turns out The Oracle is working for a group of people called the Orange Clan, who are the last surviving tribe of Mayans. The Orange Clan feels a bit like the Illuminati, and its members have been waiting for centuries for the Indigo Child — a pure being — to be born. The Oracle is their bloodhound, and to find the Indigo Child he must perform human sacrifices — only he can't actually perform them himself, hence the use of a proxy. The sacrifice opens a window to the other world where he can locate the child.

It also turns out that Lucas is blessed by something called the Chroma, which is apparently the Mayan's version of the Force. It allows him to survive his proxy experience and then gives him superpowers.

So already we have weird spirituality, possession, a pseudo-Christ figure, and the Mayan version of the afterlife given credence. Not necessarily deal-breakers for someone who has their head screwed on straight. But wait ... there's more.

Lucas is a decent chap who willingly puts himself in danger to help those he loves. That's good. But this admirable trait eventually leads to his death. Oddly enough, that's not the end of his story.

Through methods that aren't quite explained, the Purple Clan (who are apparently digital or something ... that was never really made clear) brings Lucas back to life. Or, more accurately, undeath. He doesn't breathe, his flesh is cold, but he moves and talks like a normal person. The Purple Clan did this so that Lucas could stop the Orange Clan from claiming the Indigo Child.

Bringing people back from the dead brings up all kinds of theological issues. Too many to list effectively here. Suffice it to say that the game offers no satisfying explanation for Lucas' return to life, no discussion of the soul, and no justification for the idea that the dead can just be popped right back up from their graves.

Oh, and the second sex scene involves Lucas while in this undead state. Which is just ... creepy. On a lot of levels.

I can hear people asking my why I don't have a real problem with games like Left 4 Dead. It has undead, too, after all.

The difference is that Left 4 Dead and most other zombie games aren't making any kind of real statement about life and death. They're popcorn games. Where those games are all about running around screaming "AAAAHHHZOMBIESFTW!", this game is more thought provoking, and draws on some real assumptions about the way the world works.

I'm not suggesting that David Cage believes in Mayan spirituality. But it's quite obvious he doesn't buy into Christianity, either. The game would look different if he did.

Other issues include graphic violence that manages to be disturbing in spite of dated graphics and a spattering of language.

Indigo Prophecy hits a lot of nails on their heads. It tells a compelling story in a compelling way. But it strays into some pretty iffy territory, and runs roughshod over the Christian worldview while doing so.

So, unfortunately, there's just not enough redeeming value to give this game the nod. You'll have to satisfy yourselves playing Evil Genius while I track down another classic game that's worth giving a whirl.

Classic Review - Evil Genius

2010-01-15T22:05:00.000-08:00

In my quest to go back and play all the great old games that I missed in my formative years before I became a dedicated gamer, one thing has become clear to me: people have been making fantastic games for a really long time.

Evil Genius is an excellent example of this. I mean seriously - in how many games do you get to play an evil mastermind looking to take over the world?

The game does its best to play on every spy fiction cliche available, from henchmen with superpowers to building an underground lair in a volcano. You choose to play as one of three evil geniuses, each with their own special ability that won't actually affect gameplay all that much.

The game plays like an RTS. As the evil genius, you of course aren't required to do any of the dirty work of conquering the world. In fact, 90 percent of the time you'll have your character just sit around somewhere safe while your minions and henchmen do all the work. Cue maniacal laughter and evil hand wringing.
Minions make up the bulk of your evil force. You'll start out with basic construction workers, who you'll eventually be able to train up into more specialized classes to do more specialized jobs. You can't directly control your minions, but can only give them general orders that will guide them. For example, when your base comes under attack by the forces of justice, you can't select your soldiers and tell them to defend. But you can build security cameras that will detect the enemies and loudspeakers that will announce their presence, which will then cause your soldiers to run to the enemies' location and do battle.

It's a roundabout way of doing things, and there are times when it can be downright infuriating (watching an enemy super agent destroy half your base while your guards are all tooling around another room because you forgot to build a proper security system is maddening). Once you learn how to make it tick, however, it works.

The ultimate goal of the game is to take over the world, and as you might imagine, this will take an extremely long time. Depending on difficulty level and a few other factors, getting to the endgame can take anywhere between 50 and 100 hours. This isn't helped by the game's pacing, which is so slow that at times you can get up from the computer and go make yourself a snack without too much fear of hell breaking loose.
In terms of content, there aren't too many concerns. The overall theme of the game, of course, is doing campy evil deeds to take over the world, which might strike some as problematic. This is handled in such a tongue-in-cheek sort of a way, however, that it doesn't raise a red flag for me. Other concerns are mild violent content (the worst of which is probably interrogating enemy prisoners, but even this is largely inane and slapstick).

Mild language pops up now and again; one enemy super agent traipses around in a bikini, but the graphics in this game are old school enough that it's not really a concern.

Overall, the game is not for everyone. If you have a short attention span, Evil Genius will turn you off quickly. If you hate micro-management, you'll want to look elsewhere. But if you're searching for a strategy game that will force you to think outside the box and give you a few laughs while you're at it, Evil Genius may be what you're after.

The Top 6 disappointing games of 2010

2010-01-08T02:39:00.000-08:00

A new year is upon us, and that means we all have a fresh 365 days to spend hiking, exercising, looking at birds, and hugging trees.

Alternatively, you could join me in spending 12 months LOLing at the n00bs outside and enjoy some gaming excellence.

Of course, given the massive pile of games that a certain sequel set in a modern war pushed into this year, there's bound to be a few letdowns. And looking ahead, I'm already seeing some real crying-shamers headed for a Gamestop near you.

So allow me to lower your expectations. Trust me, it'll be better this way.

Bioshock 2 (Release date: February 9)

If you've spent any time listening to me wax eloquent about video games, you know that I'm a huge fan of Bioshock. The game is as close to pure genius as the medium has ever come.

So when Bioshock 2 was announced, I was immediately suspicious. From the beginning, it has smelled like a cash-in: The exploitation of elements that gave the original such atmosphere (you can now explore the ocean floor and you play as a Big Daddy); the utter lack of comment from the developers on anything other than the superficial elements of gameplay (no real discussion of the deeper themes from the original). The whole process feels like the developers went through the first game, scraped the surface elements from its murky waters, and tossed those elements into the development machine without a thought toward what actually made Bioshock great.

The original Bioshock's story, and the deep, dark themes it explored, were what made it such a landmark event. The game had a complete story, with a message posited and resolved. It needs no sequel.

I sincerely hope I'm wrong.

But I'm probably not.

Probable disappointment level: face-palming with bricks

Splinter Cell: Conviction (Release date: February 23)

The Splinter Cell games rank among my all-time favorites. Sam Fisher is one of gaming's great personalities, and Ubisoft has always done an admirable job of crafting great games for him to star in.

But as I've watched the development process of Splinter Cell: Conviction, something has appeared a bit off. The Sam in this game isn't the Sam I remember from the previous games. This Sam has gone through a personality reboot, and the result appears to be a man with no drive for anything but bloodletting and revenge.

Now. There's nothing inherently wrong with revenge as a plot device, but when your protagonist's main justification for getting up in the morning is to kill everyone who ever looked at him funny, he begins to lose credibility.

Plot summaries:

Splinter Cell: Save the world.

Pandora Tomorrow: Save the world again.

Chaos Theory: Save the world, but angrier about it this time.

Double Agent: Save the world even though it's tough emotionally.

Conviction: Ah, forget it, I'm just gonna kill freakin' everyone.

Tell me you don't see a breakdown there. I don't want to channel this man anymore.

Also, the entire philosophy of gameplay has changed. In the old games, you got in, you got out, and you left no trace. Completing a mission without alerting anyone was one of the more satisfying feelings I have ever gotten from a game. Blowing people away was the n00b's way out of difficult situations.

Splinter Cell: Conviction, however, appears to be based entirely around murderfying everything that moves. Strategic stealth action has been tossed out in favor of over the top violence. You still hide in the shadows, but only while sprinting toward your next neck-snapping belt notch.

This may end up being a well crafted game, but is definitely not in the spirit of Splinter Cell. And it probably won't be one I'll enjoy playing.

Probable disappointment level: finding out that Uwe Boll is directing another movie

S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Call of Pripyat (Release date: February)

If there's one game on this list that I hope I'm wrong about, it's this one. The original Stalker (more accurately, S.T.A.L.K.E.R.) was an amazing piece of work. It had quite a few quirks and suffered from a lack of polish, but even so it delivered an atmospheric and intense experience that has rarely been matched.

The second Stalker game, Clear Sky, was a prequel, and while it made a few technical improvements, all in all it was a disappointment. The devs spent too much time working on superficial things and not enough time on what made the original great: the sense that the gameworld was a real place, and that you were living in it. Or trying to.

That being the case, I'm concerned for this game. It has the potential for greatness. But if Clear Sky is any indication, Call of Pripyat may find itself uninstalled and tossed into my "Crushing Disappointments" box.

Probable disappointment level: Custer realizing this may be his last stand

Alpha Protocol (Release date: Quarter 2, 2010)

Obsidian is the creative bunch of people behind Neverwinter Nights 2. They also did Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords. In short, they are paragons of gaming greatness.

Their latest effort, Alpha Protocol, is a joint venture with Sega, and by all appearances will be the RPG equivalent of a James Bond movie.

I'm not really worried about this game from a technical perspective. I have little doubt it will be done extremely well.

What's already disappointing me about this game, however, is the focus on the amoral side of spy fiction: the women, the callous violence, and the embracing of a utilitarian view of the world (i.e. the ends justify the means).

I'm all for games with mature elements, and even for protagonists with major flaws in their moral fabric, depending on how it's handled. But if I'm going to slip into the shoes of a character, particularly in an RPG, I want to feel good about that person. I want to play the hero, the overcomer, the one who holds himself to a higher standard. There are exceptions to this, but in general I don't want to roleplay a complete tool.

Playing a character who takes what he wants just because he can, be it sex, money, or lives, doesn't sound appealing to me. Watching Bond do it on screen is one thing; doing it myself for dozens of hours in a game is entirely another.

Hopefully the game will offer the player the choice of whether or not to take the high road, but I'm not optimistic.

Probable disappointment level: Buzz Aldrin after Neil Armstrong beat him down the ladder

Deus Ex 3 (Release date: september)

Potentially the biggest disappointment about this game is that it might not even come out this year. There's only been the faintest of rumblings about its existence from the devs, and little information of real importance has been released other than a teaser trailer back in 2007.

Even if we offer the benefit of the doubt, however, the fact remains that this game has big shoes to fill. Deus Ex rests solidly in the halls of glory in many a gamer's heart. The game was a groundbreaking exploration of not only game design, but also of human nature and morality. Admittedly, the story offers little in the way of answers to the questions is raises about free will, government, and other subjects, but I have to give it credit for crafting an experience that causes the player to stop and think about such heavy subjects.

Such games are few and far between, however.And the odds are stacked against this one, because even a good game would be a disappointment here; Deus Ex 3 will have to be straight up fantastic to meet the expectations that are laid upon it.

Probable disappointment level: Japan on December 8th, 1941

Tron: Evolution (Release date: December)

Apparently a prequel for the movie (Tron: Legacy) coming out this Christmas, Evolution has a lot of bad karma working against it: It's a movie game (never a good sign); the trailer oozes edginess and melodrama (Warrior Within, anyone?); and the developer's last effort was Turok, a reboot game that showed little respect for its roots and barely registered above average with the critics.

The trailer for the game has me worried. It's intense. It's dramatic. It's dark. And it's really not what I'm looking for in a Tron game.

The last major game set in the Tron universe was Tron 2.0, which was great fun. And really, that's all that this game needs to be: fun. It doesn't have to be dark. It doesn't have to be thought-provoking. It doesn't have to be superficially "mature." It just has to be fun.

Admittedly, it was just a trailer, so I could be wrong and the developers could be on the right track.

But I'm not getting my hopes up.

Probable disappointment level: I'm beaming down to the surface, and I don't have a last name

Here's hoping I'm completely wrong about all of these! With any luck, at least one of these games will turn out to be worth playing. And I'll let you know which one(s) that is.

Happy New Year, and keep gaming on.

The Legendary Duality Game of the Year Awards

2009-12-30T02:05:00.000-08:00

Welcome, faithful readers, to the first annual Duality Game of the Year Award ceremony. These awards are prestigious and filled with laud. I expect them to become legendary and widely respected any day now.

Careers will be affirmed, hearts will be broken, and most importantly you'll find out which of this last year's games were worth your money.

I will only be handing out one award this year, and that will be the award for The Ultimate Best Game for PC This Year Period award. There are several contenders for this enviable title, but there will only be one winner.

Dragon Age: Origins

If you read my epic review of DA:O, you know how I feel about this game. It's fantastic. Gripping, multi-layered story; fully realized characters you actually care about; rich, deep, immersive backstory ... I really can't say enough.

DA:O is easily the best RPG to come out this year. Come to think of it, it's easily the best that has come out in a few years. Bioware has their blockbuster game creation system down to a fine science. The best part is their focus on story; above all the other excellent elements the game brings together, the story reigns supreme. It's a beautiful thing for this critic to behold.

Also beautiful to behold is the emphasis Bioware put on the PC version of this game. With better graphics, a more advanced camera, and a user interface fully optimized for a mouse and keyboard setup, it is encouraging to see a developer place such importance on a PC game these days.

Batman: Arkham Asylum

I'll join with the general chorus of reviewers and agree that this is by far the best superhero game to come out pretty much ever. The game captures the feel of the latest two Batman movies perfectly, and at the same time draws inspiration from the truckloads of comics that star the caped crusader.

While the story doesn't match up to Dragon Age's, it serves its purpose well and is treated with enough importance that it doesn't feel like random events stringing the gameplay together. Polished with excellent voice acting and delivery, you really feel like the star of a Hollywood blockbuster.

What really lands Arkham Asylum in the running for a game of the year is its rock solid gameplay. A beat 'em up to end all beat 'em ups, the game features an unmatched combat system that manages to paradox together intuitiveness and complexity, beauty and viciousness. Couple that with an extremely entertaining stealth system, a belt-load of gadgets, and the chance to punch The Joker in the face repeatedly, and you have an award-winning combination.

Left 4 Dead 2

Valve's follow up to last year's multiplayer zombiefest was not met with universal enthusiasm; however, despite the fact that it kind of feels like a cash-in, the game is technically excellent and expands on the theme of the original game nicely.

The game's AI director still runs the show, ensuring that no two games are ever exactly the same, but it's been improved for this showing. New enemies, new weapons, new maps; sounds like a solid multiplayer sequel to me.

And with Valve's legendary faithfulness to its fan base, you can rest assured that this game will stay fresh for years to come via updates and DLC.

Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare 2

I'll be honest ... I'm admitting this to the running only because I know it's a technically impressive game. An extremely tight design, adrenaline laced story, co-op and legendary multiplayer all fall into the mixing pot and emerge as the highest grossing entertainment release since Monopoly.

However. I remain steadfast in my semi-defendable dislike of this game. And anyway, Infinity Ward really gave PC users the short end of the stick on this one, with a severely crippled multiplayer, arguably the most anticipated part of the game.

Warhammer 40k: Dawn of War II

You really can't say enough about Relic. Like Valve, Blizzard and a few other devs, it seems that all they do is sit up in their posh offices and churn out ridiculously good games.

The Dawn of War series is no exception. The original games are hands down the most fun you'll have sticking a chainsword through a space ork anytime, anywhere. And while the sequel is a bit of a different beast, focusing more on strategic control of a small squad than on map-spanning bloodbaths, it follows in the tradition of excellence.

Taking control of a squadron of Blood Raven Space Marines, you'll battle to save several planets from being overrun by the insatiable Tyrannids. The fun here is definitely in the role-playing elements; you'll level up your squad as you progress, find new gear and learn new ways to decimate your foes.

And the final verdict is...

Well done, sir, you've done it again...

Batman: Arkham Asylum!

This was a tough pick, particularly between Arkham Asylum and Dragon Age. Dawn of War II is a great game, but ultimately its weak story sets it on a lower rung than the other games here. Left 4 Dead 2 is extremely well done, but I can't justify giving such an incredibly awesome award to a game that feels almost exactly like its prequel. And I just finished burning several copies of Modern Warfare 2, so I couldn't really give that one the award ...

Ultimately, it came down to entertainment value. While Dragon Age sports the better story and is undeniably more epic, Batman wins out in gameplay and just plain fun-ness. It's a fantastic game, and while it is brutally violent it doesn't dabble in a lot of the sexual content that Dragon Age does. Batman: Arkham Asylum wins the award. If a representative from developer Rocksteady wants to swing by my house, I'll give them a dollar. But I won't hold it against them if they can't make it — they'll be awfully busy partying when they find out they won.

Every game on this list is excellent and deserves your hard-earned dollars. Get out and buy them before all the games that Modern Warfare 2 scared into next year eat up all your time.

Torchlight

2009-12-20T21:33:00.000-08:00

People seem to be under the impression that massive multiplayer (MMO) games (such as World of Warcraft) are the digital equivalent of heroin. In my opinion, that analogy is flawed because, while both are addictive and can reduce your life to smoking ashes, heroin is reportedly pleasurable in short spurts.

But I digress. My point is that MMOs are not the addictive sleep-killers of the gaming world. That crown belongs to the action role playing game (ARPG). Torchlight belongs to this family of games, resting on the mantle next to Diablo, Titan Quest, and many others. The formula is simple — give the player a weapon, give the player a mission of the "save the world" variety, chuck a dump truck-full of enemies at the player, then go make popcorn and let things develop as they will.

Torchlight strikes the bulls-eye with such force and accuracy it pins several attacking skeletons to the target — something you'll be doing with a high degree of frequency once you fire this game up.

The premise is simple and elegant. The town of Torchlight is under attack by creatures which are coming from the mines underneath the town, and it's your task to descend into the bowels of the earth and root out the source of the offending critters.

You can select one of three character classes — melee, ranged, or spellcaster. Your choice determines exactly what methods you'll be using to send enemies to meet their respective makers. Melee players carve through the horde with swords, axes, warhammers and the like. Ranged characters slaughter from a distance with bows and flintlock firearms. And spellcasters use a combination of death-dealing staffs and spells. All characters can use any weapon type, provided they meet level and stat requirements. However, your class type will determine which weapon type you are most effective with.

Fast-paced action is the name of the game here. Enemies rarely last longer than a second or two, and even the enemy hero characters fall without too much trouble. It didn't take my melee character much more than thirty seconds to make the end-game boss run weeping to his maternal entity.

Gameplay is a near-perfect mixture of enemy-stomping, loot-collecting and level-progression. New gear is dropped from vanquished foes, found in assorted chests and crates, or purchased back in the town of Torchlight. As in all the best games of this genre, finding a sword that does more damage per second than the one you've been using for the past thirty minutes is a feeling not unlike Christmas morning. More accurately, this game feels like Christmas morning every thirty minutes. If that's not a recommendation, I don't know what is.

The game's premise of an infested mine provides a convenient and believable explanation for level progression: going deeper and deeper into the mines. Each level will take 20-30 minutes to sweep through. There are also a few "lost dungeons" which are accessible via scrolls or side quests, providing an occasional change of pace.

The game also addresses some of the common frustrations with ARPGs. Most prominent is the full inventory issue. Nothing breaks up the pace of an epic slaughterfest like having to trudge back to town to sell off excess gear. Torchlight eliminates this by providing you with a pet who will not only fight alongside you, but will also carry loads of unwanted trinkets back to sell on the surface, leaving you free to continue dungeon raiding. You will still have to go back yourself occasionally, but even this is made painless by the ability to use portal scrolls almost anywhere, which will save your progress and whisk you back topside instantly.

There aren't many content issues to worry about. The ranged character dresses a little provocatively; cartoonish blood gets splashed around. Overall, the game is relatively accessible and appropriate for its rated audience (the game is rated T for teen).

Most importantly, this game is just plain fun. It doesn't require much effort or thought, but it's an addictive and entertaining experience that will definitely feed that hunger you've been feeling since finishing Titan Quest. It will also keep you up to all hours of the night (I'll never get those hours of sleep back ... and I'm strangely ok with that.)

Torchlight may have lower production values than Blizzard's upcoming Diablo III, but it's still a great game, and it has enough replay value that you might still be playing it when Diablo III comes out in 2034.

Men of War: Red Tide

2009-12-16T12:08:00.000-08:00

Let it first be said this game could be more accurately titled Men of War: Masochists Apply Within.

Even on easy difficulty, this game is punishing on just about every level imaginable. The game throws you into the first mission without anything even resembling a tutorial. For some games, that wouldn’t be a big deal. Not so for MoW:RT; the game not only dispenses with a traditional RTS control scheme, but nearly every gameplay mechanic is so ridiculously detailed and nuanced it takes hours just to get comfortable.

The story is based on true events. The emphasis the game places on historical realism is evident throughout – the opening cut scene is almost fifteen minutes of historical World War II footage, and a lot of the dialogue appears to have been lifted from authentic sources.

You are given control of the Black Coats, otherwise known as the Soviet Marines. You’ll battle through several of the key battles in the Black Sea campaigns during WWII. The setting is different enough from the typical WWII game that it doesn’t feel like a recycled Company of Heroes, and there’s just something charming about controlling a bunch of little guys who respond to your commands in Russian.

Red Tide lands squarely in the “Polish is for n00bs” category. This is no Company of Heroes, with every graphical and interface detail lovingly polished to perfection. This is a game where even deciphering the heads-up display (HUD) takes dedication and a read-through of the manual. The graphics are adequate, but nothing to write home about. Same story with animations and writing. What voice acting the game contains is generally awful.

But don’t get me wrong – the rough edges do not ruin this game. The lack of polish almost feels deliberate, as if the game is saying “if you’re looking for an easy game, go boil your head.” For those with enough patience to stick with it past the baptism-of-fire opening mission will discover layers of realism and nuance built into just about everything.

Not only do you have direct control over your soldiers’ posture (upright, crouching, or prone) and stance (weapons free, return fire, hold fire), but also each individual man’s inventory, health status and equipped weapon. You can even tell them when to reload their gun; control exactly where they move and fire using a pseudo third person action control system; tell them to walk or sprint; and the list goes on.

That’s not even getting into the huge variety of different weapons, ammo types, vehicles, artillery and armor you can mess around with. The game is astoundingly deep; each play session brings some new facet to the surface. It’s the kind of experience that stays in your mind even when you’re not playing, an attribute of the best games.

However, it’s not without its issues. The AI appears to be a casualty of the detailed control system, making it a very bad idea to leave your troops to their own devices for any length of time. Enemies are also given to odd behavior on occasion.

The punishing, ridiculous difficulty could also be considered a problem unless you’re really into trial-and-error gameplay. I played on the easiest difficulty setting thinking that it would be the fastest way to get through the game – it turned out to be the only way to get through the game, period. I strongly suspect the other difficulty settings are actually the seventh and eighth circles of hell. This is not a game for the faint of heart or the easily discouraged.

To wrap this up, I give this game a qualified recommendation. Anyone looking for a hardcore, realistic WWII simulation will find lots to love here, as long as they don’t mind getting over the quirks. The game is deep, layered and provides a very satisfying sense of accomplishment once your finally meet its demands.

On the other hand, if you’re looking for a pick-up-and-play game, or if you swear by Command & Conquer, you’re going to want to look elsewhere to get your itch scratched, because Men of War: Red Tide won’t scratch it as much as rip it open and watch it bleed out.

Bioshock Fortress 2 and other genius

2009-12-05T01:01:00.000-08:00

I stumbled across these vids on YouTube. Do not miss them. Language/violence warnings.

Bioshock Fortress 2
Huxley Fortress 2
Borderfortress

Games for your wish list

2009-12-02T17:04:00.001-08:00

Christmas 2009 is admittedly a little sparse in terms of new releases. Modern Warfare 2 scared most publishers into next year, leaving us without much to be playing.
Fear not, however. Your Christmas wish list need not be empty. There’s still plenty to be jolly about. Here’s a few games that you can start dropping hints around family members for.

Team Fortress 2
If you haven’t already experienced Valve’s incredible team-based multiplayer shooter, you haven’t yet had a fulfilled life. With gameplay dialed down to perfection, an art style that would make Mona Lisa smile, and an incredible development team pushing out new content on a regular basis, there’s nothing not to love about this game. Originally released as part of the (awesome) Orange Box, it’s now available on its own, via Steam or retail purchase.

Dragon Age: Origins
You know how I feel about this game. It’s incredible. Huge, sprawling fantasy role-playing at its best. Grab a sword and dive into a world so completely developed you’ll find yourself looking for it on the map. With over 100 hours of content and DLCs on the release horizon, this is one gift that keeps on giving.

The Telltale adventure games
Pick a series, any series. Sam & Max, Tales of Monkey Island, Wallace & Gromit – this studio has yet to swing and miss. Each game is a variation on the point and click adventure theme, but done with such panache that all the boring, stale clichés of that genre are nowhere to be found. And these games are funny. Several of gaming’s most brilliant minds are hard at work on the writing of these tales – and best of all, most of them can be enjoyed by the whole family.

Psychonauts
I’m gonna keep finding excuses to bring this game up. Psychonauts is a one-of-a-kind experience. It’s an excellent platformer. It’s an intriguing and entertaining story. It’s laugh out loud funny. It’s weird, touching, bizarre, uplifting, amusing, and intense. And since it’s been out for a while and because apparently only myself and six other people had the sense to buy it, it’s now dirt cheap. It’s a gift even your kid brother could afford – you are without excuse. Get it.

The Myst series
Admittedly, the Myst games fall squarely into the “love ‘em or hate ‘em” category, but if you haven’t had a chance to find out where you stand on the issue, it’s well worth the experience. Myst was the first real computer game I ever played, and you can figure out what’s happened since then. I would advise not bothering with Myst V or Myst Uru, but Myst I-IV are beautiful, engaging, incredible games. You can get the first three in a single box, and the fourth doesn’t cost much these days.

Tron 2.0
This one might be a bit hard to track down, as it was a bit of a cult hit even when it was released, which was a while ago. But trust me, it’s worth it. Even if you’ve never seen that crazy weird Disney movie from a million years ago, getting sucked into a computer and racing through cyberspace to save the world from a digital virus is an experience like none other. Besides, the new movie is coming out soon, so you might as well brush up on your Tronology.

Epic Review - Dragon Age: Origins

2009-11-24T02:27:00.000-08:00

There are games out there that truly immerse you. You put your headphones on, lower the lights, settle into your chair, and lose yourself in the game. "Dragon Age: Origins" is one of those games.

There are games whose world is so complete and fleshed out that after spending time in it, you're almost surprised when you can't find it on the map. "Dragon Age: Origins" is one of those games.

There are games in which the sense of progression, of character interaction, of epic story is so great that not only do you feel like the star of a Hollywood blockbuster, but you completely lose track of time and are only alerted to the fact that it's 4 a.m. by your face hitting the keyboard. "Dragon Age: Origins" is definitely one of those games.

Origins of heroism

When you first fire up the game, you'll create a character. This is a hallmark of role-playing games, but "Dragon Age" puts a bit of a spin on it. Your decisions during the character creation process will dramatically affect your experience.

You pick your race: dwarf, elf or human. Your choice affects which class your character can be (i.e., dwarves can be warriors or rogues, but not mages), which in turn affects your back-story.

The back-story is what makes "Dragon Age" truly unique. Instead of dropping you into the one-size-fits-all shoes of a generic hero, you'll play the first few hours of the game as just another average citizen. Your concerns are not those of saving the world - they're of the more mundane variety. You might be a city elf preparing for your wedding day, or a dwarf noble dealing with political intrigue, or one of four other origin stories. These three- to six-hour intro sequences serve to bridge the story gap that most games leave between your character being an everyman to being a hero.

At the end of every origin story you'll be inducted into the Gray Wardens, a group of warriors dedicated to battling the darkspawn. From here on, the story is largely the same for all characters, but the player still has remarkable control over the details of how things turn out.

Technical excellence

If you've played "Knights of the Old Republic" or "Neverwinter Nights 2," you'll feel right at home here. Bioware's classic under-the-hood turn based combat system makes a glorious return in "Dragon Age." Combat is visceral and well-animated; you can pause at any time during play to issue commands or just to catch a breather - something you'll find yourself wanting to do often as the difficulty ramps up. Battles against particularly challenging foes often culminate in deliciously satisfying finishing moves. After finally bringing down an ogre near the beginning of the game (a feat that took many, many attempts), my dual-wielding rogue made all the effort worth it by leaping onto the falling beast's chest in slow-motion, using her daggers to scale his bulk, and finishing the kill with a blade through the face. Just about every battle in the game is a challenge, which adds greatly the atmosphere of desperate struggle.

Graphically, the game isn't all that special. Characters and equipment are, by and large, meticulously detailed and stand up brilliantly to zoomed-in scrutiny. The game world and environments take a hit for this, though, as there are few that will take your breath away.

Gameplay, however, is as tight as a drum. The combat is smooth and, aside from a few AI issues, flawless. Exploration is intuitive and rewarding. Leveling makes real differences in your character's power level.

A tale of dragons

The story is long, intricate, and satisfying. The darkspawn have risen in what the land of Ferelden knows as a Blight. Three times in the hundreds of years before the game, Blights have ravaged the land, led each time by an arch-demon. The arch-demons are rare High Dragons, discovered and tainted by the evil darkspawn. Soaring through the storm-stained skies, breathing fire and striking terror into the hearts of defenseless citizens, they are the impetus behind the horde's relentless onslaught.

In the game's history, each time a Blight spilled across the lands, the Gray Wardens rose to meet its devastating tide, and each time the darkspawn broke against them like waves on unforgiving rocks. You are one of the few remaining Gray Wardens, and it is your task to build up an army powerful enough to meet their threat.

Along the way you'll gather a party of characters. Each character has a full and complex back-story, complete with hopes and dreams, deep dark secrets, and even personal preferences in regards the various gifts you can find and offer them. You can choose to interact with each character and grow closer to each one, finding out more about them and increasing their level of trust in you. Alternatively, you can treat them like dirt and spurn their every suggestion. Or you can ignore them. It's up to you.

The only complaint about the story is a small thing: the main quest tends to get lost in the quests leading up to it. Dealing with an abomination outbreak in the Circle Tower or stopping a werewolf plague in the Bracilian forest just seems more immediate and more fleshed out than the task of stopping the Blight ever becomes. So much time and effort goes into building your army and gathering allies, the final battle ends up feeling more like an afterthought. And, without spoilers, I must stand before you and say that final battle is a rather major anticlimax. At least it ties up loose ends and doesn't demand a sequel (though I hope that there is one).

Content concerns

On the content side, there are some issues. Religion plays a prominent role in the game - the Imperial Chantry with its revered mothers and lay priests clearly draws heavily from Roman Catholic and Islamic influences. While the player is never forced to pay fealty to a deity or worship in any way, there really isn't any getting away from it in-game.

That said, it fits with the game's fiction, and in my play-through I never noticed direct attacks on Christianity or any religion. There are themes throughout that alert gamers will pick up on (all truth is essentially equal; all roads lead to heaven; if it feels good, do it; etc.). While it would not be wise to play the game with one's brain turned off, most of these issues can be navigated with a little thought and previous conviction.

Language pops up now and again, but never at any serious level - a refreshing change from the direction that many so-called "mature" games are taking these days. Alcohol and drug abuse also make appearances, but not in graphic ways.

Sexual content is perhaps the game's biggest red flag. In a few places, characters appear rather scantily clad. The worst offender is Morrigan, a shape-shifting mage who will join your party early in the game. Her default outfit is a bit on the revealing side, to put it mildly. Attempts to alter her attire are thwarted by the fact that the most powerful equipment available to her is of the same category of revealingness. It could be argued that the getup fits with her character (she was raised in isolation from society, and she's something of a seductress), but in my opinion it largely distracts from much more interesting facets of her persona.

A few non-human (but distinctly human-esque) female enemies appear topless with only a bit of their modesty saved by curiously inflexible locks of hair. The ability to be become sexually involved with a select few of your party members is also there. It's entirely optional, doesn't cross a PG-13 level of explicitness, and one character, to his credit, treats the act as something more sacred than a kiss. But the overall feeling the game gives is that it's just a natural part of every casual romance. The cheapening effect this has on the relationships you develop with these characters is apparent.

As for violent content, there's an odd mix here. Blood plays a prominent role in everything about this game. Gouts of it erupt during battle, it stains many of the game's menus, and characters will be spattered in it after even the mildest of violent confrontations. Even the game's signature logo dragon is made of blood. In spite of this, however, the violence is otherwise largely non-graphic. Other than the occasional decapitation, there are no gaping wounds or realistic blood-letting. I suspect Bioware choose this platelet-coated direction to add to their supposed theme of "dark fantasy," but in reality it's just kind of ridiculous.

In climactic conclusion...

In the end, the game largely overcomes its flaws and objections. There's a great story told here, one that touches on themes of self-sacrifice, redemption, forgiveness, love, faith, justice, and a myriad of other encouraging concepts. It'll also give you your money's worth - while I didn't keep track of time as strictly as I should have, my first play-through was at least 100 hours long, and I left a decent amount of content unfinished. There are two DLCs available at the time of publication, with one more on the way. Both are extremely well done and add significantly to the game - well worth their price if you don't happen to get a version of the game that includes them.

Dragon Age: Origins is definitely one of the best games of the year; perhaps the best, period. The gameplay is engaging and polished to a fine sheen; the story is an epic page-turner; and while there are content concerns, for the mature adult gamer these are relatively minor, especially in the face of the positive themes the game espouses. I completely recommend it, and would love to hear your own experiences with the game. Leave a comment, let me know how it went down for you.

Dumb game ideas...that worked

2009-11-20T20:13:00.000-08:00

Throughout history, man has had ideas. Some of these ideas have been strikingly good, such as the wheel, fire, popcorn, and the entire Hardy Boys series. Others, sadly, have not been so good.

Social laws dictate that most bad ideas will naturally die out. Ideas like grunge music, Nazism, and Dane Cook’s sense of humor are all examples of unfortunate things that thankfully haven’t stood the test of time (Dane Cook is hanging in there according to some, but he’ll soon join the list of “things that I’m glad went the way of the dodo”).

However, there are some extremely poor ideas which, for one reason or another, haven’t died out. This is particularly true in the gaming arena. Sometimes this is because it turns out the idea wasn’t so bad in the first place; other times it’s more because the gaming public in general isn’t the most discerning group of people.
This week’s column will examine a few of these bad ideas, and attempt to explain the series of events that led to them not dying like the unfortunate travesties they may or may not be.

Fun...

Pong: What!? Pong? The grandfather of games? Surely, Mr. Jarvis, you aren’t blaspheming against the Progenitor?

Well, yes. I am. Seriously, think about it. Who was the guy sitting around in his office so incredibly bored he thought it would be cool to create a game in which two white blocks float around while another white block floats around between them? Even allowing for the fact that there weren’t any other games to compare the idea to, surely someone looked at the screen at some point during the creation process and said, “Kinda lame, ain’t it?”

Of course, Pong stood the test of time. This is more a testament to fact that people really had no lives in the eighties than any genius of the game, however – Pong would have been a big deal to a culture in which muscle cars were no longer made and everyone listened to Rick Astley.

Psychonauts: If you haven’t played Psychonauts, shame on you. It’s a fantastic platformer with a real sense of humor and a great storyline. Developer Double Fine has since jumped the PC ship by releasing Brutal Legend on consoles only, so I blame all of you who didn’t buy the game for my current state of unhappiness.

That said, the game is a bit of an odd concept. The story is about a kid with psychic powers who sneaks into a psychic summer camp to learn how to be a psychic warrior, which he does by entering various characters psyches and platforming a lot. It’s the kind of idea you’d expect to come up towards the end of a caffeine fueled all-nighter, kind of like the one I pulled before writing this article...

However, the game is quite solid and enjoyable, and still available for purchase if you look hard enough. Do yourself a favor and buy the game; doing so will enrich your life and also remove the curse of my wrath from your descendents.

Now that we've had our six hour meeting, let's get to grinding!

World of Warcraft: Ok, put your pitchforks down and douse the torches. Come, let us reason together, says the Lord. Think about this game with me.

Here is a game that is quite literally so boring that it requires you to play with a large group of other people just to keep it interesting. This is not a game. It’s a social experiment in group management.

You might work at a job where your boss breathes down your neck, the guy in the cubicle next to you won’t stop making annoying sounds, and the quirky guy down the hall who really shouldn’t have been hired seems bent on making every task as much of a chore as possible. You flee your place of business, peeling out of the parking lot while thanking the powers that be you've survived another day.

Then you go home, fire up World of Warcrack and log into Ventrilo, and do it again. Except the irritating coworkers are replaced with the disembodied voices of your guildmates. And you’re strangely ok with this?

The success of WoW isn't entirely mysterious. The backstory is impressive; the amount of lore and the completeness of the world that has been created is a little ridiculous; the game mechanics have been honed down to a fine science. But who was the guy who stood up at the Blizzard corporate meeting and said, “I know, why don’t we throw out all the storytelling and everything else lovable and cool about the Warcraft IP and make a game that actually encourages hours and hours of mindless grinding in the pursuit of a lonely life in a basement somewhere?”

Rereading that last paragraph, I realize I may be a little bitter. I was a big fan of Warcraft III...give me a break.

Puzzle Quest: The idea behind Puzzle Quest is mixing role-playing (traditionally a hard core genre) with Bejeweled (traditionally a casual game), tossing a few swords and spells into the pot, and standing back to see what kind of horrific Frankensteinian mashup emerges from the mix.

Surprisingly, a quite enjoyable little game rose from the unholy grafting. Puzzle Quest has all the charms of your typical casual game (colorful, family friendly, easy to pick up and play) with many of the elements usually reserved for more in-depth titles (character progression, some semblance of story). The game works in spite of its unthinkable origins.

Lawl...

Twilight: Ok, so this isn’t a game. But the new movie just came out and I can’t resist right now.

Let's just be honest. These movies are basically an excuse for young girls to goggle at shirtless guys with big pecs. At the risk of my Man Card spontaneously combusting, I will admit that I did read the first book. I will also admit that it wasn't all that bad. But these films are a travesty on everything that is good in the world. Things like "good acting," and "my eyes not bleeding."

What was Meyer thinking? A story about vampires…that sparkle!? Vampires…do not…sparkle! They guzzle the platelets of the living! They rise from the grave in the dead of night to stalk hapless innocents, may or may not transform into bats, have a deadly fear of crucifixes and are completely and totally unable to have children (they are dead, after all…). And they most definitely…do not…sparkle.

I need to sit down.

This week in Games: 11.17 edition

2009-11-18T10:40:00.000-08:00

It’s been a busy week and a half or so on the gaming front. Modern Warfare 2 was released to absolutely staggering sales (it put up about twice the money in 24 hours that The Dark Knight did).

The game put up some impressive scores among reviewers. I wasn’t able to get my hands on it, but I’m sure if I had my review would sound something like “while MW2 is a technically proficient game – even an excellent game – its irritating habit of stringing the player along through a series of adrenaline points and using utterly ridiculous endless enemy spawn points to spew baddies in your direction until you move past a magic cutoff point, coupled with a few areas in which the game pushes moral boundaries in ways nobody has any business pushing, I’m sad to say it’s just not my cup of tea.” In short, a bit like the first game.

That said, if somebody wanted to send me a copy, I’d give it a whirl and probably revise that statement.

THQ*ICE has announced a content update for their funky little free-to-play MMO Dragonica Online: The Thief as a new playable class. I must confess, I hadn’t ever heard of this title before I received the announcement, but it looks entertaining if you’re into funky little free-to-play MMOs. New content is always a plus - check it out.

In other news, Assassin’s Creed II was released for consoles Tuesday. All signs point to this being a hit – if you liked the first one, there’s more to love here; if you hated the first one, Ubisoft is promising a better experience for you. I had an opportunity to see a demo of the game at PAX ’09 a couple of months ago – it looks slick. Ezio replaces Altiar as the main character, freerunning now over the rooftops of Renaissance-era Italy, boasting a wrist cannon and Da Vinci’s flying machine as elements of his repertoire. Sadly, however, the PC version of this fine game won’t be arriving til early next year. Sorry, faithful. The consoles have stolen from us again.

Left 4 Dead 2 was also released, to the cheers of some and the cold-hearted boycotting of others. There’s a group of about 35,000 disgruntled Valve fans lurking out there who feel that the developer/publisher is doing them a very wrong turn by making another game; an odd position, in my opinion. They have a few valid points, but Valve has a nearly perfect record when it comes to publishing excellent games, so I’m inclined to give them the benefit of the doubt. And hey, Felicia Day is a fan, so it can’t be all bad.

One year!

2009-11-14T23:11:00.000-08:00

Yes! Duality is one year (and three days) old! Have some cake.

Just thought you'd all like to know.

New blog on the Washington Times Communities

2009-11-03T21:44:00.000-08:00

Hey y'all

I've got a new gig up and running over at the Washington Times Communities (a subdivision of the Washington Times, a major paper in the DC area). It's pretty sweet, and it makes me look professional, which is always a plus.

Anyway, all of you should check it out and leave comments on my articles and all that good stuff, just cuz you love me so much. I'm going to work on making sure that I put stuff on each site (the Times and here) that is exclusive so that it won't just be a bunch of double posting, but that'll depend on time and the number of things there are to write about.

Please feel free to send article suggestions my way, or if you stumble upon any breaking game news be sure to let me know.

Keep the faith, n00bs.

Modern Warfare 2 goes too far

2009-11-03T10:30:00.001-08:00

While many controversies over objectionable game content are blown severely out of proportion, recently leaked footage of Activision's upcoming "Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare 2" indicates that this time, the moral outrage might be justified.

Some background. If, by chance, you were kidnapped by sentient lemurs several years ago and forced to perform slave labor in their isolated underground metropolises, you might not know that the first Modern Warfare was, and is, a rather big deal. It sold something like three berjillion copies, and is easily one of the most technically proficient, intense games of this era.

Modern Warfare 2 looks to fall into the same sort of mold; however, recently leaked gameplay footage revealed a sequence in which the player controls a terrorist gunning down hundreds of civilians in an airport.

Quite frankly, the footage is disturbing. The game is a first person shooter, so the violence is seen and enacted from a first person perspective - the player is the one committing the heinous act. The player and several confederates exit an elevator into a crowded airport and open fire into a crowd of unsuspecting civilians. The player then proceeds to make his way through the airport, gunning down wounded people trying to crawl to safety, and hunting those that managed to escape the initial onslaught.

Needless to say, the footage has caused a bit of a stir on the interwebz. Activision was quick to respond, first trying to get the leaked video taken down, and then releasing a statement.

From the statement:
"The scene establishes the depth of evil and the cold bloodedness of a rogue Russian villain and his unit. By establishing that evil, it adds to the urgency of the player's mission to stop them.
Players have the option of skipping over the scene. At the beginning of the game, there are two 'checkpoints' where the player is advised that some people may find an upcoming segment disturbing. These checkpoints can't be disabled.
Modern Warfare 2 is a fantasy action game designed for intense, realistic game play that mirrors real life conflicts, much like epic, action movies. It is appropriately rated 18 [M] for violent scenes, which means it is intended for those who are 18 and older."

The statement goes on to say that the sequence is skippable, doesn't represent overall gameplay, and is apparently important to the story. By implication, it would appear that you play someone who infiltrates a group of terrorists, and to maintain your cover you are required to participate in the act of slaughter.

This brings up several issues. First, it seems ludicrous to me that violence of this magnitude is needed to "establish the depth of evil" in a badguy. Honestly, wouldn't just showing the aftermath of the bloodwork accomplish the same thing? We know that the Nazis are evil even though we didn't help them slaughter people; Osama bin Laden remains just as evil without having participated in his acts of terrorism. A scene like this isn't necessary for any story - at best, it's one option among many; at worst, it's a crutch to get around actually having to write a narrative that is compelling without ultraviolence against the innocent.

Another problem is a bit more on the practical side: a sequence like this will really set the evolution of games back a bit. People in general don't know enough about games to put something like this in context. When the media latches onto this story (and it will), there will be an anti-game outcry that might surpass anything that we've seen thus far. Ammunition like this is just what gaming's enemies need in order to promote censorship and get traction with legal action. We're still reeling from the Mass Effect "sex scandal" - we don't need this.

Also, there is the implication that the scene is important to the game because it will get an emotional reaction out of the player. This is turn implies several things about the way Activision views its audience, the most prominent of which is that we're a bunch of amoral clods.

Gamers, look me in the virtual eye here for a second. Are we really so immature, so disconnected from reality and from a moral compass that we need a situation this extreme to get a reaction? Are we really so calloused that it takes the senseless slaughter of hundreds of innocent lives for us to feel uncomfortable? I would really like to think otherwise.

I know that there are of some of you out there who just play games as mindless entertainment. And I know there are some who get their kicks and giggles from fantasizing about hurting people. But I would really, truly like to believe that there is a sizable portion of gamers out there who retain a grip on their humanity strong enough to sense a moral problem smaller than this elephant in the room. It's as if the developers decided we're not intelligent enough to feel guilty or uncomfortable just playing as a terrorist, but that instead we need to be clobbered over the head with a ten-ton moral outrage in order to to get a reaction. It's a little insulting, to be honest.

I hope and pray that the developers decide to change the direction of this game a bit, else they're headed for what could be the biggest controversy in gaming history. And I suspect they'll find themselves in that controversy without much support from the core gaming crowd, who wish to be treated like men and women of intelligence and moral judgment.

Dragon Age: Origins - The Version Woes

2009-10-28T23:18:00.000-07:00

Those of you out there who aren't total n00bs at paying attention know that Dragon Age: Origins is being released next week. Bioware's latest epic is showing all the signs of a modern classic: Dragons, swords, rich characters, dragons, intense combat, robust story, and dragons.

As excited as I am for the game to be released (look for a review right here in the relatively near future), I'm starting to get more and more frustrated with the marketing tactics that Bioware is employing (or allowing to be employed).

You see, Dragon Age has been bitten by the Windows Vista bug. No, no, I don't mean it's fatally flawed. I mean that the game is being released in like 18 different versions.

Most of the major game retailers, digital and otherwise, are pushing their own variation on the Dragon Age: Origins theme. The core game will remain the same wherever you buy it, but through in-game items, exclusive quests, even an entire DLC that you only get with certain versions, each retailer is offering a different experience with the game. Even PC Gamer is getting in on the customizable game, offering an exclusive quest line only available to those who buy the holiday issue of the game.

It's true that most of these exclusive items won't affect gameplay all that much, or will be available to everyone eventually. But it's still a frustrating experience as a customer looking to buy a game when everywhere I look it's a different package being offered to me. As a gamer, I don't want to have to choose the optimum package that will give me the best experience playing the game. I want the freakin' game, and I want the whole bloody experience in exchange for the truckload of money I'm forking over.

Instead, though, I'm forced to alt-tab between Steam's "Digital Deluxe Edition," Amazon's exclusive cocktail of special in-game boots and rings, Gamestop's confusing mess of something that sounds like something I'd want while playing, and still feel like I'm probably going to miss out on something if I don't track down and check out what everyone else is offering. And now I have to buy a copy of PC Gamer, too.

Back in the distant past (aka, five years ago or so), when you bought a game, you bought the whole game. Then collector's editions became popular, mostly because publishers realized they could squeeze a few extra bucks from a our emaciated wallets by including a few bells and whistles alongside the game. These usually game in the form of a "making-of" DVD, a soundtrack, or maybe a collectible doo-hickey (swag!).

This was all fine and dandy. Going into the store, I knew that I could either get the game, or I could shell out an extra ten dollars and get the game with an action figure. Now, I go into the store, and I have no idea what I'm getting.

Sadly, as brick and mortar stores struggle to find ways to keep pace with digital distributors like Steam and Direct2Drive, this is probably a trend we'll start seeing more and more of. Eventually, I hope that publishers come to their senses with stuff like this however. You'd never see the latest Hollywood blockbuster given different treatment at different theater chains (at Regal Cinema's, Frodo destroys the ring; at AMC, a lava dragon gnaws his face off). As the industry matures, respect for the medium will, in theory develop.

Until then, I'll get back to deciphering exactly what I'm going to be missing out on when I get my copy of Dragon Age.

Batman: Arkham Asylum

2009-09-27T00:15:00.001-07:00

You may remember a shortish while ago when I wrote up a preview of the new Batman game that was making its way towards release. At that point in time, I played through a short demo which let me pulverize a few bad guys to twitching pulps, and stalk a few others from the rafters like a dark nightmare.

Needless to say, I found this to be quite entertaining, and I spent the next few weeks hoping that the rest of the game would be as epic an experience.

I’m very happy to report that it totally freaking is.

The game is set on Arkham Island, the chunk of rock that is home to Arkham Asylum. The Asylum is that lovely establishment where so many of Batman’s arch-nemeses end up after he punches their faces in with his bat fists. The Dark Knight has just captured the Joker as the game opens, and is en route to the Asylum with said super villain. Shortly after arriving, however, the Joker breaks free of his guardians and takes control of the facility, releasing several choice ultra baddies (including Harley Quinn, Poison Ivy, Bane and several others) to wreak general havoc and mayhem.

The rest of the game boils down to Batman bringing the island back under control. As far as story goes, it’s nothing revolutionary, but it’s done with enough polish that the simplicity of the plot doesn’t ruin anything.

Where the game excels is atmosphere. From the outset, you’re sucked into the game’s world. The controls are oily-smooth, fluid and intuitive; very rarely is there a disconnect between the player’s intentions and Batman’s actions. Combat is handled almost exclusively with the mouse (I haven’t played the console version(s), so you Xboxians will have to just roll with me for a minute). The shift key makes occasional appearances for special combos. The simplicity of the system might have resulted in boring button mashing in a lesser game, but it succeeds here because the developers realized at some point during the creation process that the strength of this game doesn’t lay in depth of control, but rather in the pure eye-candy of watching Batman do his mojo in a cage full of hapless baddies. Rather than being boring, the simple controls remove a potential distraction from watching what is probably the best third-person combat system in any game ever.

When faced with a roomful of hulking inmates-on-the-loose (the game will at times sic you on around 20 of them at a time, though you’ll usually be facing groups of five to ten), Batman moves in a scarily lifelike manner, never skipping a frame or glitching through animations as he smoothly transitions from smacking some guy with a pipe to catching the fist of another dude and pushing him to his knees before giving him an epic knockout kick to the face. The sheer fluidity and brutality of the combat captures the feel of the two latest Batman movies perfectly.

Even Batman isn’t bulletproof, however. When faced with a group of armed foes, the game’s stealth system comes into play. Now, in some games, stealth is used to hide from people and sneak around unseen. In this game, however, stealth is used less as a pansy way around a fight and more as a way to systematically pick off a cadre of overconfident punks deluded enough to think their silly guns will save them. Remember the scene from Batman Begins where Batman is stalking those guys guarding the shipping containers? That’s exactly how this feels: the game lets you play a total ultra-predator, striking from the shadows and leaving no trace of your presence beyond the pile of unconscious foes.

The game’s areas are designed with an impressive degree of creativity and skill. After the initial section of the game, you’re free to explore Arkham Island and make your way to different areas. As the Joker slowly takes over more and more of the place, you’ll need to scramble between different areas in order to quell the firestorms he stirs up, all the while slowly piecing together your enemy’s evil scheme.

As much as the game impressed me, however, there are a few concerns. While language doesn’t crop up too often, the thugs you beat into sacks of unconscious meat occasionally spit out profanity just before being pulverized - which is understandable in context, but still worth noting. Also, while there is no overt sexual content in the game, both Harley Quinn and Poison Ivy sport provocative outfits, and reference is made to Ivy seducing a guard in an escape attempt.

The main concern I have with the game, content-wise, is that it is rated ‘T’ (for Teen) by the ESRB. Ostensibly, this is because Batman never actually kills anyone in the game. This proves to be little more than a loophole, however; this game is more violent than a lot of ‘M’ (for Mature) rated titles. For reference, the Halo games are nowhere near are graphically violent as this game is; neither is Mass Effect or The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion. Combined with the dark Batman setting, you have a game that isn’t appropriate for the younger demographic, and in my opinion should have been given a more restrictive rating.

Basically, if you’ve seen the two latest Batman movies, expect that type of content from this game. If those were too much for your tastes, this probably will be too.

From a quality perspective, there are a few niggles. A few odd decisions were made throughout the game, including perspective shifts (from third person to first person), which do little except confuse the player; a sequence with Killer Croc, which was a bit of a letdown for several reasons, the most glaring being the fact that you don’t actually get to fight him; and a few other minor irritations not worth mentioning.

Batman: Arkham Asylum is an incredibly solid game, capturing the Batman atmosphere with perfection. It lacks the compelling and thought provoking storyline necessary to make it a full blast masterpiece (leading me to disagree with Gamesradar’s assessment of the game as the new Bioshock), but is still a standout game in its own right. While the content seems a bit much for the mild ‘T’ rating, if you’re up for some Dark Knight beat-down action, it doesn’t get any better than this.

The Witcher

2009-09-12T12:56:00.000-07:00

Maturity is a funny word that isn’t very well defined in our culture. One person will tell you it has to do with age; someone else might say it’s more about wisdom. A noob would probably tell you it’s all about the f-bomb and scantily-clad women.

Sadly, the minds behind the nearly-great The Witcher belong to that last camp. The Witcher was released some time ago, and was later re-released as an enhanced edition which indicated that it was no longer broken (the original release of the game was fraught with more than a few technical issues). As is so often the case, a sale on Steam prompted my decision to pick up a review copy.

As far as gameplay goes, The Witcher moves along fairly smoothly. Graphically speaking it’s nothing special, but a unique combat system and fairly solid roleplaying elements make up for it. The story and setting are also intriguing, if only in their distinctiveness.The game is set in a fantasy world, but one that differs from most fantasy game worlds in that it doesn’t feel like a page ripped from The Lord of the Rings. Instead of battling orcs you’ll be chopping up drowners, alghouls and the carnivorous plant-like echinops.

But it wasn’t really any of this that intrigued me about The Witcher. Much of the hype surrounding the game had been based on its supposed "maturity." It was billed as a game in which there was no right or wrong, only choices and following consequences.

That’s an interesting concept. Moving away from the overused save-the-puppies equals good, punch-infants-in-the-face equals bad morality model is a good thing from a pure game-mechanics perspective. Clear-cut, black and white moral choices, while appropriate at times, quickly become cliché and also seem to question the intelligence of the player to a degree. And in truth a definitive black and white moral decision isn’t all that common in the real world either.

However, The Witcher isn’t at all content with just attempting to change up a game mechanic. The overall theme of the world is supposed to be one without any hard and fast morality. One of the notable early attempts to shoehorn this into the player’s consciousness comes at the end of the first act. Through a series of unfortunate events, the player is confronted with a decision: side with a mob of angry villagers and lynch a woman accused of being a witch, or side with the woman. The villagers are a rather dirty lot, guilty of everything from adultery to murder to child trafficking. But the woman isn’t a much better example of all that is good and right in the world – she’s had a hand in most of the crimes the villagers committed, including providing the poison for one man to kill his fiance with. Side with the mob, the woman gets murdered. Side with the woman, she walks free. Either way, you become an accessory to all the crimes of one party or the other.

The point is supposed to be that good and evil are relative depending on your perspective. But no matter how twisted the scenario is presented, it can’t stop the innate response most players will have when trying to make such a decision. Unless they’ve had their consciences calloused over by running over old ladies in "GTA IV," the player will walk away from each of these scenarios feeling like they’ve done something wrong. The game doesn’t allow you to feel noble or heroic for saving a woman from a lynch mob, but rather makes you feel slightly dirty and unsure of whether you chose the lesser of two evils.

String enough of these flashpoints together and you end up with a chain of just really depressing events. Again, supposedly this is mature…felt more emo to me, but what do I know. Granted, it could be argued that this is a realistic kind of scenario, where you never really know if you did the right thing in a given situation. But that would assume two things: first, that there are no knowable moral absolutes (aka, the kind of morality that only works in a fantasy world); second, that it’s therefore fun to play in a video game. I’d be the last to argue that all games need to be lighthearted and fun, but The Witcher crosses the line that separates an enjoyable, thought-provoking experience and an experience more akin to stuffing handfuls of broken glass directly into a major nerve cluster.

All in the name of maturity. The same maturity that apparently dictated the game needed full frontal nudity, rampant casual sex, and foul language (most of which is so ridiculously out of place in a fantasy game it shatters the immersion). I must not have been watching when the word mature stopped being a characteristic of the adult and started being the catch all label for things that real adults look down on.

In conclusion, this is a game for the truly mature to pass on. Look to Half-Life 2, Bioshock, or Deus Ex for some real examples of games for grown-ups, and I’ll let you know when the next game worth spending your money on hits the shelves.

PAX reports!

2009-09-11T16:04:00.000-07:00

My first experience with PAX was, in a word, overwhelming. Sights, sounds, thousands of people, hundreds of things to see, games, gear, cosplayers, public demos...the first five minutes were a classic case of sensory overload. But, being the gamer I am, I quickly saw past the visual effects and got right down to navigating the core gameplay.

To my disappointment, I didn't get as much swag as I had been hoping for. In a way, this is good, because if I had, I would have needed to hire a U-Haul to get home. The highlights include a print of Sam & Max artwork by Steve Purcell, a free copy of Knights of the Old Republic on Steam, and a Dawn of War II t-shirt. Other than that, just a collection of generic pins, posters, and a copy of Lord of the Rings Online, which, being the MMO hater that I am, doesn't do much for me.

It was still very much worth going to, however. I was able to spend some time talking with a rep from Bioware about Dragon Age: Origins, and got to get my hands on several upcoming games. Cooler still, I was able to attend the first stateside public demonstrations of Splinter Cell: Conviction, Assassins Creed II, and Star Wars: The Old Republic. Not too shabby.

And so, I bring you my PAX 09 report of games I found worth writing about. There will doubtless be a few I miss, so apologies in advance to those who didn't impress me enough to warrant space in my long term memory.

Splinter Cell: Conviction

The new Splinter Cell went through a rather startling evolution part way through its development cycle. The original vision for the fifth game in the series appeared like it took more cues from Assassins Creed than its own predecessors. Sam Fisher looked like he hadn't slept, shaved or showered in at least a month, and meandered through crowded streets to avoid detection. This direction intrigued me when I first saw some concept footage, but apparently the feedback was negative because the game has been totally revamped.

The Sam Fisher gamers will be experiencing now has more in common with Jack Bauer and Jason Bourne than Altair or even his old self. Instead of strategically stealthing through shadows to avoid detection or to wait for the perfect moment to ambush an enemy, the stealth action is now paced at a full sprint. Sam runs, rolls, jumps, and pounces through and from the shadows, using them less as a place to hide and more as a place to strike from.

It seems like a cool idea on paper, but the sad truth is that it kind of tramples on everything I love about the original games. The idea of being a fast and unstoppable killer never occurred to me playing any of the first four games - a fact which I appreciated. You had to be stealthy because if you were spotted by the ten men with guns, you would be killified. This strikes me as not only realistic, but also nail-bitingly tense if done right. And it was done right.

The new Sam apparently fears nothing. The stealth mechanic is now far less strategic, and in fact has much more in common with a generic cover system, a la Gears of War. Not that good cover systems aren't cool, it's just...not Splinter Cell. The slow, nerve-shredding, precise stealth action was exactly what made the Splinter Cell games so unique and awesome.

The level of violence has also been amped up considerably. This is now Angry Sam. The old Sam would perform some pressure point manipulation and maybe a little threatening knifeplay to get information from enemies. Conviction's Sam smashes their faces through urinals and into walls and then snaps their necks when he's through with them. Blood flows freely, Sam speaks gravelly, and carnage flows without much thought or remorse. In the old games, a fatality usually meant you had messed up and been seen and had to resort to violence to save your own life. In this game, a level without fatalities will be very much the exception. Which from a content perspective doesn't sound entertaining or appropriate, and from a gameplay perspective just sounds really boring.

So, to sum up, the game looks senselessly brutal, faster than a stealth game really should be, and disrespectful of the source material. Probably one to skip.

Assassins Creed II

I have a confession. To my undying shame, I have yet to complete the original Assassins Creed. Assuming I'm not buried under deadlines over the next couple of months, that will be corrected. But even so, the sequel is looking pretty fantastic.

There's not much that looks revolutionary in comparison with the first game. Altair has been replaced by Ezio as the lead character, another assassin in the same order as his predecessor. The game is set in Renaissance era Italy, which is predictably rendered in stunning and beautiful fashion. The designers appear to have kept all the good bits from the first game - exploration, immersible world spaces, smooth parkour and ego boosting assassination moves - and tightened up some of the frustrations. Namely, combat looks cooler, and assassinations will apparently be a little less formulaic.

Also, getting to play with Da Vincis inventions is a stroke of genius and will hopefully add to the novelty value considerably. Here's hoping you can fire the sleeve pistol while gliding above the city using the steampunk-looking wings.

Dante's Inferno

This game intrigued me when I first heard about it some time ago, if only because of what it's based on. However, it appears that there will be little to see here. It's a God of War clone stuffed with ultraviolence and sprinkled heavily with sexual and just-plain-gross overtones. It does appear to be technically proficient and smooth, but that doesn't register easily when you're rolling around trying to avoid being poisoned by the vomit of an obese, nude, demon woman.

Enough said.

Deathspank

This is the latest creation of Ron Gilbert, the guy behind the Monkey Island games. It's an action roleplaying game with a unique art style and what appears to be a pretty sharp sense of humor. You play as Deathspank, and evil-vanquishing knight who is apparently working his way back to the top after a failure of some kind. The five minute demo I saw had enough laughs in it to get me excited for this game's release. Probably one to look forward to.

Star Wars: The Old Republic

I've said it before - I get more excited about this game every time I see something about it. Even though it's an MMO. Even though it's not KoToR 3, in spite of their pithy little PR campaign that it's 3, 4, 5 etc. In spite of those things, this looks like a really excellent game. The amount of voice over it will contain is absolutely staggering. Every character, including the player, will have full voice over, and if the demo footage is anything to go by, it's pretty well done voice acting to boot.

The thing that has me truly excited, though, is Bioware's emphasis on story in the game. Every character class will have its own unique story arch. When taken in context with the scope of the game, that could mean each class will have a campaign that rivals the length of most single player games. And since it's an MMO, they'll probably keep adding content to it. If the quality matches the quantity, this could be an absolutely mind blowing experience.

Only time will tell.

Dragon Age: Origins

This is definitely one to look forward to, albeit with a bit of caution. I had a chance to spend some time playing through the first little bit of the game while at PAX. It feels like a tasty combination of Knight of the Old Republic and a delicious high fantasy universe, sprinkled with the seasoning salt of Bioware's legendary storytelling ability. Of course, there's also Bioware's recent unfortunate trend of adding sexual content to their games to consider. We'll have to see how it plays out.

The interesting twist with Origins is the way their handling character backstories. In most RPGs, you're either force-fitted with a backstory, or you're asked to invent your own tale of how your character found their way to the threshold of heroism at the beginning of said game. Either that or your character has amnesia, which means the game you're playing is probably cliche and not worth your time.

Origins, however, takes a different approach. When you create your character, you're asked to pick a race (Dwarf, Elf, of Human) a gender, and a class (warrior dude, magicky type, etc.). Then, you're asked to select a general background (city or country elf, noble or common dwarf, and so on). Those choices determine which origin story you will play for the first few hours of the game. Noble dwarfs play one story, magicky humans another story. The origin story will tell the tale of the events that led your character from an otherwise normal life to the hacky-slashy type of living that makes up a good RPG. It's not quite as immersive as Fallout 3's trick of starting you out in your mother's womb, but it's a neat way to approach the genre nonetheless.

Origins will be released for Xbox and PC in early November, followed by the PS3 version a couple of weeks later.

Off to PAX

2009-09-03T13:33:00.000-07:00

PAX starts tomorrow. I be just a bit excited about this. All kinds of public demos and tourneys, and of course, most importantly: Swag. Tons of swag. Gaming collectibles. I'm proud of my current collection of limited edition Halo pens, Big Daddy Figurines, and Pip Boy bobbleheads. But my need for meaningless knick knacks is insatiable, and gaming conventions are like swag heaven. I'll probably post some photos when I get back and do some swag brag.

In other news, school is starting up next week, so content will hopefully be posted on a more regular schedule. Also, I'll soon be starting up a gig writing PC game reviews for the Washington Times (in DC), and some of that content will funnel over to here. Making the transition from amateur gaming journalist to semi-professional gaming journalist might not seem like much to anybody out there with a real job, but I also be excited about this.

With that, I'm out until Monday or Tuesday unless something mindblowing happens over the weekend. Like a Half-Life 3 announcement or a JC Denton cosplayer. Or I find cool swag.

Peace, love, and dominations, and love live swag.

-The Blade

Greatest Game hero competition at Gamespot

2009-09-01T16:17:00.000-07:00

Gamespot.com has been working overtime on their Greatest Game Hero smackdown, and the chance for slobbering fanboys to cast their votes is now. Head on over to check it out. Personally, my money's on Gordon Freeman.

It might also be interesting to hear what people think makes a great video game hero - there's a variety of theories out there. Is it a musclebound hunk who oozes so much testosterone that he's forced to carry a shamwow towel with him wherever he goes? Is the size of his (or her) weapon the deciding factor? Or the sheer badness of his gravelly tone? I'm more into interesting character development and engaging personalities (hence my deep love for Gordon), but comment away and let me know what y'all think.

Blind Gamers?

2009-08-25T09:52:00.000-07:00

For as long as I can remember, one of my greatest fears has been losing my sight, because I would be unable to continue pursuing my interests, gaming and otherwise.

Apparently I have nothing to fear, however. Gamespot.com recently ran a feature on blind gamers. Pretty impressive stuff. I can't play Metallica's Enter Sandman on Rock Band with my eyes wide open, much less without being able to see the screen like this dude can.

Check it out, and big props to Gamespot for doing a story on this.

Dark Knight the new Bioshock? And other news...

2009-08-24T08:46:00.000-07:00

Just got back from a weekend down in southern California where I totally forgot that Blizzcon was being held. I take it as a compliment to my evident geekiness that I got asked multiple times if that was what I was down there for, though. I woulda looked into it, except that all 20,000+ tickets sold out in under eight minutes. At 125 dollars a pop, we have yet another example of Blizzard raking in cash hand over fist and still leaving money on the table for next time. The next World of Warcraft expansion was announced (Cataclysm), as well as a new class for Diablo III (the Monk), and a few other odds and ends.

In other news, Gamesradar.com is calling The Dark Knight: Arkham Asylum 'this year's Bioshock.' I am skeptical. As I've explained before, I was extremely impressed by the demo for the game, but it didn't strike me anything like Bioshock did. I am now even more intrigued...we shall see what we shall see...

Penny Arcade Expo (PAX) 2009 is shaping up to be pretty epic, and I'm not just saying that cuz my 3-day pass is burning a hole in my pocket. Among the usual assortment of panels and discussions and what have you, the first public demo of Star Wars: The Old Republic will be shown, a game I get more excited about every time a tidbit of info is released. Will keep you all updated.

A small note - there has been a slight change to the URL of this blog - it is now www.dualitygames.blogspot.com. Hopefully this will make it more intuitive to find on the wild, wild interwebz.

The Dark Knight rides again

2009-08-15T21:23:00.000-07:00

So I just got finished checking out the Batman: Arkham Asylum demo, and I have to say I'm pretty impressed. I'd heard this game had potential, and now I'm seriously excited for its release.

Combat is visceral and smooth, once you get the hang of it. Brawling with baddies is cinematic and simple - most maneuvers are accomplished with a single button. It's also quite dynamic: in the several fights that I engaged in, I rarely got the feeling I was simple walking through a prescripted fight, using the same moves over and over. Depending on what exactly is happening each moment of the fight, Batman will alter his attacks and respond appropriately. Coupled with cinematic angles and some slo-mo, the end effect is quite impressive.

The other interesting aspect is a detective mode. Whenever you wish, you can switch from a normal view of the world into a planning view. While the perspective doesn't change, the view changes to a heat sensitive, computer aided planning perspective, allowing you to pinpoint enemy locations and likely ambush spots. It's rather innovative, and seems to fit in well with the rest of the game

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By far the coolest facet of the game, however, is the freeform stalking of your enemies. The game appears to be quite nonlinear when it comes to how you take down a room full of baddies. You can swing from the rafters, picking them off with your batarang, or swoop down for a brutal knockout punch. Alternatively, you can sneak around vents underneath the floor, popping up behind your victim and reducing them to unconsciousness. And, of course, there's always the hanging grab, where Batman hangs from the ceiling upside down and snags and thug, yanking him screaming up into the shadows.

All in all, the demo was quite intense and enjoyable, capturing the feel of the two most recent Batman flicks very well. Definitely one to keep your eyes on. Stay tuned for more info as the release date approaches.

The Secret of Monkey Island: Special Edition

2009-07-27T14:50:00.000-07:00

Somewhere in the last year or two, video games had their 2oth birthday. Now, I'm not referring the anniversary of the creation of Pong's ancestors or anything quite that Genesistic. It wasn't until the mid eighties or so that games really started taking off and becoming classic entertainment. And my classic entertainment, I'm of course referring to point-and-click adventure games like the Monkey Island series.

The problem that I've run into as a relative newcomer to the gaming scene (I may have mentioned somewhere before that I didn't get into gaming until after the turn of the century) is that going back and trying to experience those classics can be a bit of a chore. First of all, it's all but impossible to get many older games to work on modern hardware. Second of all, even if you do get a game to play, it can be extremely difficult to get sucked into entertainment that is archaic by today's standards. Retro games are hard on the eyes, awkward to control, and require a much higher level of imagination than games today. Now, nothing against imagination, but personally I'd rather be using my imagination to get myself believing that I'm in the game world and not sitting in a creaky office chair, rather than getting myself to believe that the pile of indecipherable pixels on the screen is supposed to represent a person whom I'm supposed to care about. Admittedly, this is an opinion many will likely disagree with, but there you have it. Without nostalgia to smooth over a game's rough edges, playing an old game can be a bit like driving your Grandpa's old clunker truck - an interesting experience, but not something you'd want to take for a long drive.

So when I heard that The Secret of Monkey Island was being given a facelift for re-release, I was excited. When it was released on Steam for the paltry price of 10 bucks, I couldn't resist.

I'm happy to report that it's worth every penny, and then some. The artwork is beautiful, giving the feel of playing through a watercolor piece of art. The all-new voice acting is also excellent, giving the game's legendary humor new punch. While the game's overall design still retains the slightly clunky feel of a retro title, this really becomes part of the charm as the game goes on.

There's really not too much more to say. The interwebz are full of praise for the Monkey Island games, so my small voice won't add much. The game is sharp, funny, beautifully rebooted and well worth the asking price. If you enjoy games, comics, a good story, or even just a chuckle or two, The Secret of Monkey Island: Special Edition is for you

I Touch, Therefore I Game

2009-07-26T13:08:00.000-07:00

So I had a birthday recently, and found myself the fortunate recipient of an iPod Touch (thanks, Papa!). Besides the fringe benefits of no longer feeling technologically inadequate compared to my younger brother (who has owned one for some time), I've been pleasantly surprised to find that the device is quite the respectable gaming platform. And I'm not just talking about solitaire or finger racing or that one game where you pop bubbles as fast as you can like a caffeine poisoned monkey in a bubble bath. I'm talking actual games, from well-designed and addictive casual games to more serious strategic endeavors.

Several sites and blogs have made lists of what they feel are the absolute best iPod apps (gamesradar.com has a couple that are pretty good) so I won't spend too much time recommending individual games. I'd rather comment on the phenomenon of the games in general on the iPod.

I'm not completely sure what it is about the iPod that makes it such an appealing games platform. It certainly isn't its interface; while the touch screen is a boon to many types of applications, in games it is more often something to be overcome for lack of better tools. There are certainly notable exceptions to this, but I have to believe that a lot of games have stalled in development because there wasn't a good way to reliably use greasy digits to accomplish precision tasks.

Neither is it the app store; while there's a great many things about the app store interface on the iPod that are good, it is in desperate need of an overhaul. Finding a good game to give a whirl to can be a frustrating exercise in trial and error, both because the search function is a bit of a joke and because the rating system is unreliable at best. This isn't too punishing for free games, but any game that charges cash to try out finds itself in the unprofitable category of 'risky investments.'

Despite these and other limitations, there are thousands of games available in the app store, and hundreds of thousands of people playing them. Perhaps it's the relative ease of getting a game published and distributed on iTunes compared with other platforms. Perhaps iPod gamers are generally less demanding of developers. I was rather blown away with some of the things that have been accomplished on that wafer-thin device, and found myself praising things about games that I would have been derisive of on any other platform.

Whatever the case is, I hope the trend continues, aand I hope that Apple (who have never been particular proponents of the gaming industry) takes serious notice and begins to work more actively with game developers. I have little doubt that if it isn't strangled by some odd corporate decision or policy, the iPod Touch and iPhone will soon find themselves rubbing shoulders with the Nintendo DS and Sony PSP as competitors in the hand-held gaming market.
With all that said, I've changed my mind about making a list of excellent game apps. If you have an iPod Touch or iPhone, listen up, cuz the Blade is about the share his wisdom with you.

Games:
Assassin's Creed - Surprisingly enough, this is a solid platformer game with enjoyable combat and eye-pleasing visuals. Check out the free 'lite' version, which consists of the first level or so.

Knights OnRush - An addictive casual game in which you defend your castle against a horde of attackers, mostly by flinging them up into the air with a swipe of your God-like finger and watching them fall to their deaths. It's all rather adorable, really, thanks to the art design.

Pocket Tanks - You will engage in long range tank-to-tank warfare in this artillery game. And honestly, what better kind of warfare is there?

Myst - Best. Game. Evar.

Need for Speed: Underground - Work as an undercover cop to infiltrate a gang of street racers, a la The Fast and the Furious. The controls are smooth, the acting is cheesy, and the graphics rival that of the PSP.

TapDefense - Free! Tower defense! The theological implications of a horde of demons assaulting Heaven's gates aren't as disturbing as they are ridiculous, but the gameplay is solid and challenging.

And there you have it. My humble opinion. Now go forth and game.

Call of Juarez

2009-07-15T20:30:00.000-07:00

Dust rises in swirling cyclones, whisping over the hot desert. A man in a black hat surveys the horizon, his sweat-beaded face rough with stubble and pinched in gritty grittishness. His horse nibbles a cactus in the background and his spurs jingle in cliché harmony with his every step.

If John Wayne’s face didn’t pop into your head at least once while reading that paragraph, you should see a counselor before your case of epic fail gets any worse. (If you don’t know who John Wayne is, you are permanently banned from the cool crowd. Turn in your card and give back the T-shirt.) The Old West is one of Hollywood’s favorite settings, but gamers haven’t been given many opportunities to lend their uber-micro skillz to the winning of the wild frontier. The reasons for this are undefined. It could be that gaming’s traditionally weak storytelling habits don’t jive well with the sweeping ballads that westerns are known for. It could be that rendering the miles of wild west landscape was a challenge on older hardware. It could be that game developers are mostly nerds who are more into sci-fi than westerns. Whatever the case, the old L-Mouse Button (or one of those analog stick thingies if you’re a failbot) has seen more use as the trigger of a laser rifle than that of a six-shooter.

And so it was with curious anticipation that I fired up Call of Juarez. The game came out a year or three ago, but I had avoided it at the time out of concern over content issues (more on that later). Steam was running a special (that’s the story behind a lot of my games these days…) where Call of Juarez came free with the pre-purchase of its sequel, Bound in Blood, so with intention to review both games I sent my cash on its merry way.

The game is an odd mix of brilliant vision and storytelling mixed with strange design decisions and irritating bugs. While there are stretches of the game that flow well and provide a great deal of enjoyment, there are quite a few areas where the game’s issues rear their heads to sully the experience.

There are a few things the game gets dead on. The musical score is perfect – I don’t often talk about music in my reviews because the truth is that often the best game music blends in and goes unnoticed. Here, however, it sets the western tone with excellence.

Gunfights are also done well, despite the fact they are home to a few of the issues as well. The game’s firefights are crafted to give the feel of the epic shootouts you might expect from an Eastwood flick, and they succeed more often than not. The satisfying variety of weaponry available helps keep the action fresh and interesting. Cover is a necessity and quick reflexes are critical. Chaos erupts as the bullets begin flying and bad guys throw up their hands and tumble over balcony railings as they take lead through the chest. When it all comes together, there are quite a few nail-bitingly intense gunfights that’ll leave you wanting to blow the smoke from your pistol barrel before twirling it back into the holster. Just don't play on hard. When I first started the game I set the difficulty to its highest setting and proceeded to spend two frustrating hours trying to get through an area that took me twenty minutes tops at medium difficulty.

There are also a few set piece fights in the game, including areas where you can use a Gatling gun and even a cannon, and also a few one-on-one quick draw matches. None of these succeed quite as well as the rest of the combat at creating believable intensity, but they offer a bit of variety that can be refreshing.

The story, however, is hands down the game’s best accomplishment. You’ll play two characters: Billy, a child whom trouble seems to follow in spite of his best efforts to outrun it, and Reverend Ray, a fire and brimstone preacher who happens to be Billy’s uncle. As you progress through the game you’ll alternate between Billy and Ray. Billy will sneak through an area, using cover and lots of quick saves to get through enemy-infested areas without being seen. Ray will then come through, kicking stealth in the teeth as his six shooters deal out death to anybody foolish enough to shoot back. This pattern isn’t universal enough to become monotonous, and serves its story-driving purpose quite well.

The game opens with Billy returning home after spending a few years out on his own. Soon after arriving, Ray catches Billy with the bodies of Billy's mother and step-father (Ray’s brother). Billy runs, and Ray vows to bring the wrath of God to him by any means necessary.

It’s a simple premise, but it’s executed well, mostly through the intriguing development of the characters. Ray in particular is a fascinating character to play. It’s made clear that his life before donning the cloth wasn’t altogether on the right side of the law, and his struggle to understand God’s will is given enough weight to make it a genuine story of a man’s search for meaning and purpose.

There are a few issues to keep in mind. The nature of Ray’s spiritual journey means that for most of the game he’s dealing death liberally all in the name of ‘bringing God’s justice to the sinner.’ He believes himself to be the sword of the lord, and it isn’t until late in the game that he realizes that perhaps he has misinterpreted what God wants.

The spiritual struggle isn’t resolved quite as satisfactorily or explored as deeply as it should have been. While I was pleasantly surprised it wasn't treated with the ham-handed disdain religion receives in a lot of productions, I finished the game wishing there had been a bit more resolution.

There are a few other content concerns. Foul language comes with a fair amount of frequency, though the most offensive words are rare. Bandits can be overheard discussing various topics around their campfires, many of which are of a sexual nature, and there is one scene near the beginning in which a bar girl starts to disrobe Billy and comments on his 'family jewels.' This awkward scene is cut short before it gets any worse, and there isn’t any nudity shown, but it’s enough of a step over the line to warrant concern.

Certainly the most pervasive content issue is violence. This is an M-rated game, but while the body count is quite high, the violence is relatively tame. Most bad guys go down with minimal blood, and the game doesn’t allow the harming of innocent civilians or animals.

Aside from content issues, the game’s design is quite rigidly linear, almost to the point of being arcade-like at times. Bad guys pop up from hidden spawn points like a cowboy version of Area 51, and there is rarely more than one possible path forward. Most irritatingly, the game frequently pops in with tutorial-like prompts throughout the game. The first time a bad guy challenges you to a duel, it's helpful to know how to go about filling him full of holes. The fourth or fifth time, however, the aid just disrupts the flow and ruins the suspension of disbelief.

While none of these issues are bad enough to ruin the overall experience, they do prevent the game from achieving ‘classic’ status. Some players may appreciate the linear nature of the game. If you enjoyed Call of Duty 4’s overall design philosophy, you’ll probably like Call of Juarez, too, though it admittedly isn’t nearly as polished.

In the end, Call of Juarez manages to be an enjoyable game in spite of some irritations. I can’t wholeheartedly recommend it, however. While the story is one of redemption - and is one of the better gaming tales available on the shelves today - it takes enough detours into 'hope-Mom-doesn’t-see-this' land that caution should be exercised before deciding to partake in this wild wild western adventure.

Cryostasis: Sleep of Reason

2009-05-20T20:08:00.000-07:00

Perhaps it was the money I got from selling books. Perhaps it was the wave of B-game euphoria I got from playing Alien Shooter. Perhaps it was just late and I wasn’t thinking clearly. Whatever the reason, I bought Cryostasis.

I knew it wasn’t going to be my new favorite game – I could tell just from the box art and single generic reviewer quote on the back that it was a budget title. But I hadn’t played a new game in a while, and I wanted something to review, so I picked it up and forked over my 29.99 plus tax.

Cryostasis is a “horror”-shooter published by Aspyr (mainly of Guitar Hero fame). Aspyr isn’t at the top of my ‘trusted devs’ list, but I figured it couldn’t be too bad. They’d also published Gothic III, which while being a bit of an acquired taste remains one of the more popular open-world RPGs on the market.

The game is set in the 1950s or so, and centers around an explorer sent to investigate the North Wind, a nuclear ice breaker ship that got itself stuck up near the north pole. Basically, you enter the ship and walk around trying not to freeze to death while beating up frozen corpses reanimated by…something. The story revolves around the player discovering what happened to the ship, why it was wrecked and why the crew won’t stay dead. Oh, and something about a tribe of natives stuck in a swamp. I never really figured out what the connection was there, but whatever. Anyway, a game that centers around beating up angry ice sculptures couldn't be too bad, right?

Sadly, all my cautious hopes were for naught.

For this review, I shall read the claims of the box, and then refute them with the banhammer of my impeccable good taste.

Where to begin…ah yes. “Terrifying First-person shooter.” Cryostasis is supposed to be scary. And indeed, sprinkled liberally throughout the game are dedicated attempts at being horrifying. Occasionally it succeeds – one on-rails sequence in which you ride a life boat that is being attacked by an underwater enemy is a bit unnerving. But more often than not, the scares are limp attempts to startle the player by tossing enemies on-screen from unexpected angles. Some games use this technique to great effect, but here it is hampered by the sluggish controls that never seem to show the player what they’re supposed to see (a fact that is underlined by the game itself occasionally taking control of the camera to make sure the player sees something important) and the general unscariness of the enemies, which are apparently supposed to be dead crewmembers possessed by the Cold (capitalizing it makes it sentient, you see), but in fact look and sound more like washed out circus clowns with violent indigestion.

Next: “Mental Echo Ability.” The mysterious ability of the player character is that he can inexplicably see into the past of dead people, relive their last few moments and change the actions that got them killed. It’s an attempt at a puzzle system (saving their lives clears your path), but in practice it’s a kick to the teeth of suspension of disbelief. The ability is also used to fill in the backstory with flashback cutscenes, but again, it’s just not well implemented and comes off like the gimmick it is.

“Unique Setting.” I will give some level of props here to the designers. The North Wind is indeed a unique setting. Trying to survive in a frozen ship full of dead people while battling life-threatening cold isn’t something I’ve encountered before, and I have to admit the idea does have merit, at least on paper. The ‘man vs. cold’ concept in particular could have been brilliant if had had a better game built around it. This is an unfortunate case of a good idea ruined by poor execution.

Lastly, “Authentic Period Weapons.” I must honestly admit, I never saw these weapons, because I gave up on Crysostasis before the end. I held on as long as I could, hoping that the game would begin to redeem itself, but it just never happened. I did get to hit people with a pipe valve for a while though, which was a new experience not without its high points.

There are a number of other issues: the graphics are subpar and yet extremely demanding on system resources; combat is clunky and frustrating; the pace is slower than a retarded turtle; and I would rag on the story for being an utter mind-bugger, but since I didn’t have the courtesy to follow it through to the end, I’ll offer it the benefit of the doubt.

In the end, I’ll go along with the general consensus of other reviewers: If you’re desperate for something a little different and don’t mind something several notches short of perfection, feel free to give Cryostasis a try. It’ll be in the ten-dollar bin before the month is out, and you can give yourself a pat on the back for supporting a dev who wanted to break out of the mold.

Oh, and here's a picture I couldn't find an appropriate place for but reeeaaaallly wanted to use anyway:

ROFLCOPTERS

2009-05-17T08:32:00.000-07:00

In yet another sign that gaming is going mainstream, "noob" has the the honor of becoming the 1,000,000th word in the English language.

While this story is a bit lollerskates, it could have dire consequences for the gaming community. If people everywhere begin calling each other noobs, will the word lose its humiliating punch? How will we put little nooblets in their place without the diction of shame?

Only time will tell. For now, we gamers have the distinction of having created the millionth word in the English language. Woot.

Thief 4?

2009-05-05T00:06:00.000-07:00

Thief 4 has been not-announced by Eidos, the current owners of now-defunct Looking Glass's epic series...which, sadly, I've only played a small fraction of. But I know they're awesome! So I should play them. And this is an exciting non-announcement (those clever CEO types, trying to play it sly...). So. Be excited. n00bs.

Windows 7 coming in October?

2009-05-01T12:48:00.000-07:00

Windows 7 might be released this fall. I'm excited for this. I currently have the beta installed on my computer, and it's has some pretty sweet features. Best of all, it won't require much in the way of hardware or software updates, so the transition won't be nearly as painful as XP to Vista was.

Anyway, it's probably only of interest to your uber-nerds out there, but it should be interesting to everyone how Microsoft goes about advertising for for this (admittedly much improved) OS after the Vista launch fiasco.

Anyhoo, check out the story on Slashdot.

Star Wars: The Old Republic

2009-04-26T23:12:00.000-07:00

So I've made no secret of the fact that I'm not a huge fan of mamorpaguhs (otherwise known as World of Warcraft). I've tried a few times. I gave WoW a whirl once just to see if I could understand what all the hype was. I downloaded the free trial of EVE Online after reading about the epic GHSC heist (seriously, click that link and read about it). I even purchased Guild Wars and gave it a few hours of my life. All of them fell flat for me. The truth is that I play games for the stories - I'm not a big fan of multiplayer in general (Team Fortress 2 being a notable exception). That's why I was so disappointed in Demigod; also why I never caught on to the Counter Strike/Quake/Unreal craze. MMOs are built around the social gaming concept, and thus rely on players to interact with other players to truly enjoy the game. Take away this socializing aspect and the games themselves are pretty much boring and as all get-out.

It is needless to say, therefore, that when the rumors that the next game in the Knights of the Old Republic series was to be an MMO were confirmed, my gamer's heart broke in twain. I felt betrayed and unloved. KotOR and its sequel are easily among the best games ever made, and even more easily the best Star Wars releases in any medium (including the movies). The secret ingredient behind this excellence was the storytelling - it was epic. And it still is epic - go buy both of the KotOR games right now and play them, n00b. If you already have played them, I take back that horrible insult and salute you.

However. As more details have been released, I'm finding myself growing cautiously optimistic. Optimistic because it sounds like Bioware is attempting to take the MMO genre in a new, story-focused direction; cautious because that is a monumental task and my heart can't take much more breakage. But if anyone's up for the job, it's the master storytellers at Bioware (for the less informed among you, they're the ones behind the first KotOR, Baldur's Gate, Mass Effect, and the upcoming Dragon Age: Origins).

I'll update you all with more details as they're released - for now, keep an eye on this title. If Bioware can craft a perpetual-world MMO that still focuses on epic storylines and character development, I will be both impressed and probably sucked into the world of mamorpaguhs. We shall see what we shall see.

Demigod

2009-04-20T20:36:00.000-07:00

A new game review on Duality? A game reviewed by the Blade nigh a week after said game has been released to the wild? Such punctuality is a thing unheard of. Enjoy the timeliness of content while it lasts, faithful followers. My funding will only allow so much of it.

I picked up Demigod quite hopeful. I hadn’t played a solid strategy game for some time, and I’d been following the progress of the game for some time. The blend of action RPG heroes with real time strategy appeared fresh and polished, the graphics looked slick, and developer Gas Powered Games has turned out some gems, including Supreme Commander (which is teh pwnsauce, n00bs).

Most intriguing, however, was the backstory. It centers around the fall of a god after he (it?) divulged secrets that he really shouldn’ta oughta divulged. His unemployment resulted in an opening at the god table that needed filling, so the rest of the divines at the top table decided to hold a contest to decide the successor. Eight demigods stepped up to the challenge, and the game is based around their battle for supremacy.

I’d say that’s the story in a nutshell, but sadly that’s actually the story in its entirety. This is a game absolutely brimming with potential for a first rate single player campaign. In the game as it is, you pick from any of the eight demigods and play in a multiplayer match, whether versus other players over the internet or against computer controlled opponents. The only thing even resembling a single player campaign is a rather soulless tournament mode that has you earning favor points over a series of eight matches based on your performance. This is just a tragedy, both because it wastes the potential for a solid story but also because it robs the game of much needed depth.

Each of the demigods does have a backstory that appears to have been given some level of thought, and that backstory is reflected in how each character plays. But unfortunately, it’s all left where it starts – in the backstory. Nothing progresses or develops. It ends up feeling like the real-time strategy version of Street Fighter or Quake Live. But where a lack of story makes sense in those games, in Demigod it just feels like a missed opportunity.

As it stands, the game is very well done. There are a few bugs and such, but nothing irritating enough to detract from the overall experience. Each of the demigods plays very differently, and while none of them are particularly hard to master, their variety is entertaining and well done. The maps are creative and a pleasure to play on, and the gameplay itself is smooth and intuitive for the most part.

There aren’t many content issues. There’s no harsh language to speak of, and no sexual content (the one notable exception being the demigoddess Queen of Thorns who spends most of her time naked other than a few strategically placed brambles – however, given the birds eye view nature of the game her nudist tendencies don’t get much screentime). The only real cause for concern might be the setting of the game itself, which is rather pantheistic in nature and thus doesn’t line up well with Biblical truths. However, there are no blatant attacks on Christianity (or any other religion); the setting seems to be based more on Greek or Roman mythology than anything else. The discerning gamer will be able to see past the inconsistencies and enjoy the game’s fictional universe.

In the end, Demigod feels like the crunchy shell of something that should have had a gooey center. Instead, the excellent gameplay mechanics, creative setting, and intriguing backstory are wasted. What could have been an epic experience is left as a game that takes mere hours to completely exhaust of possibilities. Admittedly, this is something of a weak point in Gas Powered Games’ creations (Supreme Commander is another example of an excellent game that lacked much in the way of story, although at least an attempt was made in that game). In my humble opinion, it’s a weakness that should be addressed immediately if GPG wishes to see its creations avoid the bargain bin.

Alien Shooter: Vengeance

2009-04-14T13:50:00.000-07:00

I haven't gone out on a limb and purchased a game I don't know much about for quite some time. Back when I first got into games, I didn't know anything about ratings or which developers could be relied upon to serve up a good experience. Luckily, I managed to stumble upon a couple of classics in my early days that cemented my fate as a seedy basement-dwelling keyboard commando. Or something like that.

A few burns and some money wasted on crushing disappointments taught me to be a bit more careful with my purchases (I'll never get those hours back from Mystery of the Nautilus...).

On the flip side, though, I'm quite certain I've missed out on a few gems. If Steam hadn't put all of Strategy First's games on sale, I probably would have missed Alien Shooteras well. It's a low budget B-movie sort of game with graphics from ten years ago and a story as generic and cliche as they come - and it's precisely because of those anathemic attributes that it succeeds so brilliantly.

To enjoy Alien Shooter: Vengeance, you have to know a bit of what to expect. The label 'cult hit' should get you on the right track. This is not a triple A blockbuster event. Developed by The Sigma Team (who also created the original Alien Shooter), this is barely more than an indie title. But it rises above its many pitfalls for the same reason cheesy B-movie scifi flicks do - it's completely self-aware and totally unashamed of itself. AS:V knows it's not a genre shaker, and instead of wallowing in pathetic failure it instead revels in it.

The voice acting is so over the top cheesy it's impossible not to laugh (think Command and Conquer with lower production values); the gameplay is rough but doesn't get in the way of anything, and the RPG elements serve their purpose well enough; the action is totally, utterly ridiculous and is easily the game's most endearing facet.

It may be difficult to appreciate if you haven't played the game, but mowing down a seething horde of alien scum by the hundreds as they fill your screen with their pixely vileness is maddeningly fun and hysterical in the way that Monty Python manages to be. After clearing a level it can sometimes be impossible to find a texture that hasn't been streaked red or stacked high with the bodies of xenoscum. While admittedly horrendously violent, it's the kind of violence that is accomplished with such low-grade visuals and in utterly unbelievable volume that it completely forgets to be horrific and skips immediately to being pure roflcopters.

Truth be told, it's not a game for everyone. There is a certain amount of language, and the over-the-top violence won't appeal to some. And of course there are those who just don't enjoy B-games. It's a pity.

If you have Steam, check out Alien Shooter: Vengeance. It's a lighthearted slap in the face to the science-fiction genre, and a kick to play through. Love it or hate it, let me know what you think.

w00t

2009-04-05T20:08:00.000-07:00

w00t new logo w00t! It's teh roxorz. Amanda Baker of eliendesigns created it, making her even more roxorz than the logo. Anyway, I'm excited about it so you all should be too.

Back

2009-04-02T14:04:00.002-07:00

Ok, so I've probably lost most of my throngs of readers due to my horrific lack of updates this past month or so. My sincere apologies. Life's been a little on the ridiculous side. However, things are slowly moving back under my control, so I'm hoping to be able to update a little more frequently. Stick with me, faithful few, and enjoy my F.E.A.R. 2 review. And look for a more in-depth article on the horror genre in the future. And maybe a Dawn of War 2 review. Maybe even some jokes about console gamers. Who knows.

Lots of love,

The Blade aka Jerod

F.E.A.R. 2: Project Origin

2009-04-02T14:04:00.001-07:00

So, in general, I'm not a big fan of the horror genre, in any medium. On a surface level, I just don't enjoy horror movies and books. Having the pants scared off of me just doesn't fall under the heading of 'fun' in my big book of things that I do.

I have made a few exceptions to this rule in games, however. For some reason, I don't find horror games nearly as frightening as horror movies. Perhaps it's because in a game I usually have a fully loaded assault weapon in my hands and can do something about the thing that's scaring me. Probably the same phenomenon behind why I loathed the first Alien film but really enjoyed the second: more guns = more funs.

The first F.E.A.R. game is a classic example of this (the acronym stands for First Encounter Assault Recon, and from now on I will simply call it 'Fear' because all those periods get really irritating by about the fourth paragraph). I'm told the game takes a lot of cues from horror flicks like The Ring, but that is of less importance to me than how awesome a game it is. I'll go into more detail as I continue to write, but suffice to say for now that it ranks among my favorite games of all time, and it has most decidedly not been replaced by its sequel.

The story of Fear 2 is long and convoluted and you can read about it from some other gaming journalist. In a nutshell, it's the original developer's vision of how the story of Fear continues, which primarily involves completely ignoring the two abysmal expansion packs which were released for the first game (read: do not play them if you enjoy retaining your intelligence). Sadly, despite promising beginnings, this sequel is largely a disappointment. Allow me to demonstrate by making a list of all the things that made the first game great, and then of how the second game murdered them and left them to bleed out and die.

Story: The story behind Fear is a bit convoluted and I'm not going to recount it here, partially because it would take up a full article and partially because I want you all to go play the game. In short, you are a member of the First Encounter Assault Recon team, an elite group dedicated to investigating paranormal encounters. You're sent in to investigate Armacham, a giant corporation that has been developing clone super soldiers that can be controlled by a psychic commander. Alma, a powerful psychic girl who mothered the commander of the clone soldiers, has gone completely bonkers from lifelong abuse at the hands of Armacham's scientists, and through a series of unfortunate events she is released from captivity and immediately begins to kill everyone around her. While it sounds a bit flat on paper, trust me when I say that it's an absorbing and intense story to play through, which a few twists and turns to keep it interesting.
Fear 2's story, on the other hand, I was never really able to get a firm grip on. You play a different character, a member of a different military team, sent in to arrest one of the directors of Armacham. The sequel opens a few minutes before the end of the first game, and so some of its events are supposed to run parallel to those of the original. This is rarely taken advantage of, however, and the story sadly consists largely of confusing journal entries and the accounts of badly voice-acted characters.

Perhaps the biggest failing in the story department is that way in which it is presented. In the first game, you are your character - the operative you play as has no personality of his own, leaving a blank slate of sorts for the player to fill in with whatever makes the most sense. You don't have to try and share in someone else's experience, or empathize with a foreign character. You are character. And thus the story becomes personal and involving.

Fear 2 went with a different approach, asking you to instead fill the shoes of a pre-made character named Micheal Beckett. While this storytelling technique has been used succesfully in countless games, here it only serves to distance the player from the game's events, ultimately resulting in my utter lack of interest in what was happening.

Atmosphere: The first Fear game positively dripped with atmosphere. Its corridors were dark, its lighting was spooky, the badguys were believable, and the scares were genuine. Everything about the game shouted "I was made by people who care about me." Fear 2, on the other hand, feels unfortunately like a cash-in on its predecessors success, a smarmy leech riding on the coattails of greatness. While much of the game feels similar, it doesn't so much emulate the first game as it copy/pastes it, leaving the player feeling more like they'd been promised the real Mona Lisa only to be given a cheap knock-off that looks more like Madonna.

Intensity: the original Fear ranks easily in the top three most-intense-games-in-the-world-ever. The firefights were incredible - gunshots incredibly loud, gun smoke and dust clogging your vision, huge chunks of concrete ripped from walls by stray bullets, the enemies shouting intel to each other about your location while you desperately slammed another magazine into your weapon. And even the sections without a shot being fired managed to spike the old heartrate.

Fear: The original game was scary. Really. Not 'monsters are jumping out at me' scary, but truly under-your-skin frightening. The secret to this was the remarkable restraint the developers showed in putting the game together - many of the most potent scares the game delivered were built upon long sections of nothing happening. You'd be moving through a building filled with scary looking dark corners, muscles rigid because every new corner looks like something is going to jump out and clobber you, but nothing would until you finally began to expect that nothing would and then your guard would be down and then HOLY PANTS TERROR FROM BEHIND!!!!

The game got under your skin because it worked to build an atmosphere of uncertainty and pyschological fear. Fear 2, sadly, ditched most of this in favor of a mixture of cheap scares, recycled tricks, and gore. There's times where it will begin to have success at generating actual fright, but then it seems to get tired of the effort and hangs a mangled corpse in your face. Ooo, scary.

Violence: If it's not already clear, both Fear games land solidly in the M-rated category. Language, violence, and (in the sequel) some sexual elements make their appearances. But the first game, while violent, didn't revolve around the bloodshed. It was there, but it wasn't glorified and set on a pedestal with banners reading "look at the blood!". The sequel, on the other hand, revels in the bloodbath, taking every opportunity to shove the player's face into another gorey scene. Where the violence in the first game added to the atmosphere, the violence in the sequel is just distracting and detracts from the experience.

There are a few other categories I could go into, but I'm not going to because I'm tired of writing about this disappointing game. If you're looking for a top-notch horror game with real scares and incredible action, rent or buy the first game (it's available for PC, Xbox 360, and the Playstation 3) and ignore the sequel.

Not dead

2009-03-10T08:58:00.000-07:00

Just a quick post to let my throngs of readers know that I'm still here. Working on reviews for Dawn of War II and F.E.A.R. 2 - they should be up in the next few days.

Apologies for the appalling length of time between posts - life's a little crazy right now.

So keep checking back for more juicy good posts from The Blade.

Pirates, File-Sharing, and the End of All Joy and Happiness

2009-02-23T18:40:00.000-08:00

So let’s just get this out in the open. I’m a pirate hater. I’ve been known to launch into verbal tirades when confronted with those nefarious types who download illegally. I’ve even killed my share of them by tracking them down and firing explosive computer viruses to their IP addresses.

Why yes, I am rather hardcore.

As is my custom, I will deliver my debate-ending argument in nontraditional fashion. I won’t talk about how it’s stealing (no, seriously — it is). I won’t talk about how it’s driving the prices of media up to ozone-threatening levels (and you thought that hole was caused by greenhouse gases…n00b). And, in what may come as a surprise to you cynical types, I won’t even guilt trip you by telling you that pirating is how Jack Thompson got all his games (“I need you to postpone my court date, Ms. Jensen — this sick filth hasn’t finished downloading yet”).

And now you’re all on the edge of your seats, waiting for it. “What is he going to say?” you’re asking yourself. “How can he possibly talk about pirating without mentioning the aforementioned mentionings?”

Well, the sad truth is, I can’t, so disregard everything I just said, and we’ll start with how pirating really, truly, actually is stealing.

This part is rather elementary, but in spite of this is seems to be the part people have the hardest time grasping. So I’ll use an example.

Say you’re walking through your local mall. You browse Gamestop (but not for long, because they only sell like five PC games), grab a bite at the foodcourt, and walk past Hot Topic without even glancing in the door (and are awarded a +2 Mantle of Un-n00bliness). Finally, you get to your favorite store. Just pick one. Picture it in your mind.

You walk in, and immediately you see something strange. People all around you are grabbing things and just walking out with them. Security manages to grab a few of them, but most of them are able to walk right out. You’re flabbergasted (I love that word…). Remembering that your paycheck was only half as epic as you were hoping it was going to be this week, you see this as your golden opportunity, and you start grabbing everything you can carry and make for the door. You return every day for a week and repeat your performance. After all, everybody’s doing it. And besides, half this stuff is stuff you already own, you just misplaced it somewhere — so it isn’t really theft, it’s cheap replacement.

However, sometime later, you walk in and are stunned to see that all the merchandise is now in security boxes — and not only that, but the prices have doubled. You stop to preach a small sermon on censorship and free speech, and then proceed to grab whatever you can again.

A bit later, you arrive at the mall to find the store closed up. You ask around and discover that it went out of business. You feel a surge of righteous pride, because, after all, it was just karma. They shouldn’t have raised prices and put things in security boxes. They were just asking for it.

A couple of days later, the FBI breaks into your house and throws you in prison for life. And you deserve it, you thieving destroyer of worlds.

Did you follow that? Did you catch the part with the irony? I’m rather proud of that part. Go back and read it again, just for me.

The truth that many people conveniently are able to deny is that music, movies, and games are products. They are the result of somebody’s labor and the source of someone’s income. Taking money out of somebody’s pocket is wrong, no matter how rich they are and how much it makes you feel like Robin Hood.

And then the hilarious thing is that people complain about how much those products cost nowadays. A proverb about making your own bed come to mind…

It’s a rather simple equation, really. Here’s how it works: First, you go out and spend time (and time is money) and resources (which are also money) on something. Doesn’t matter what it is. We’ll call it Glop. You are the world’s primary source of Glop. Glop is your brainchild. You’re a huge fan of your Glop. You work hard at perfecting it. You have to charge for it, of course, so you can keep making it (capitalism at work), but you price it very reasonably.

Then comes the sad day when people start to steal your Glop. They hijack the shipments, rob the stores, and raid your factories. They steal the Glop wherever they can, because they just love your Glop. And while you’re very happy that people are so very into your Glop, you’re a bit sad that you can no longer afford to make it, because the cash flow has mysteriously stopped.

You can’t stop making Glop — that would be like the end of the world. So you do the only thing you can — you raise the price of your Glop so that you can afford to keep making it.

Unfortunately, people seem to take exception to this. Some of them are the ones who were stealing it beforehand — you’re not sure why they’re upset about the price change since they weren’t paying for the Glop in the first place. Then there’s the ones who were paying the original price, but are a bit disgruntled about the raise. "After all," they say, "It wasn’t my fault the price had to be raised — I shouldn’t have to be punished." This rather narrow-minded view of the situation, of course, fails to recognize its inherent viciously cyclical nature.

So now even more people are stealing your Glop. You are forced to hire men with huge guns to guard the Glop. Of course, they must be paid, so you have to raise prices again, causing another huge wave of pirate recruiting.

It’s a horrible cycle. And when you go on national television asking people to stop stealing your Glop, they have the audacity to write you hate mail and actually blame you for the pirating. You can’t remember ever forcing anyone to buy your Glop, much less to steal it. In despair you destroy your factories, bury your Glop recipes, and move to Canada to become a beaver rancher, and people blog furiously about what a jerk you are.

Sad, isn’t it? The saddest part is that the pirates actually feel that it’s someone else’s fault that they are stealing. It’s so sad it makes me want to find a nice mental hospital for them to live in.

In addition to all this, the pirates have also earned my hatred, because I solemnly refuse to play, watch, or listen to anything that I (or a member of my family) hasn’t paid for. And since the pirates are driving up prices, that means I am constantly having to pay more and more to obtain those things. And so I call down the fires of heaven upon you.

Speaking of heaven, there is of course the foundational issue of stealing being a sin. “Thou shalt not” is what the Book says, if I’m not mistaken. Even if it happened to be true that you weren’t hurting anybody with your theft, that it was somehow a justified reaction to Nazi security schemes, or that somebody made a law making it ok for people to steal what they couldn’t afford, it would still be wrong, because it’s theft. Taking something that doesn’t belong to you just because you want it is wrong, and if you really want me to I can lay out exactly how and why that is in upwards of a dozen different ways.

Anyhoo, I don’t imagine I’ve made too many new friends with this post, but as always, comment away. I feel pretty confident I can defend my stance, but I’m open to rebuttals as always. And while you’re constructing your whiny reproach, check out this article to get another perspective on the issue.

Cave Story

2009-02-16T23:05:00.000-08:00

*Editor's Note* Jac Falcon will be submitting the occasional review to Duality. He's got a gamer's heart *sniff* and it's beautiful. What follows is his first review. Look for more from Falcon in the coming weeks.

~~

Well, the Blade asked if I wanted to write a review, and I said I'd love to. I decided to review a game that nears the other end of the spectrum in comparison to most other games reviewed so far. It's called Cave Story, and its a freeware pixel sidescroller.

Now I know that phrase right there may have given you a feeling of bored dread, but don't be so quick to shun it. This game has quickly spread across the internet like a disease for its amazingness, being ported for sales to PSP, and homebrew ports for PSP, Nintendo DS, Wii Ware, and other systems.

Cave Story starts you off with nothing. Well, I guess you can jump... and you have enemies. Though they are only a challenge to someone still tuning themselves to the physics. Not long after, you receive your first gun, which will bring you joy as you blast bats, blue jumping things, and some boxes.

After shooting your first enemy, you'll notice the item drops. Sometimes they're hearts for health, but more often strange yellow triangles (and missiles later when you get the missile launcher). When you collect the Triangles, you gain experience. After a while, you'll level up, which will make your weaponry more powerful. Take out more baddies, but don't let them hit you--if they do, you'll lose experience. As you play, you collect more weapons, and each will have its own experience level, depending on what you collect while your using it. Each gun has 3 levels, varying the shot, damage, and length before it dissipates. You'll often find yourself leveling down and up very quickly in the heated battles.

The game also has a great story. At first you may assume its just a game puller( with no significance on its own), but things actually start pulling together, and a great plot is born. StudioPixel (the game's creator) made sure to stick many subtle hints throughout the game. On repeat plays, you'll catch a lot of stuff that seemed insignificant before. Robots, floating islands, evil "doctors", and a grumpy toaster oven are just a small part of what this game holds. People have made fan sequels, and begged Pixel to make official continuations. You may find yourself going online to understand the subtle metaplot going on in the game.

And oh, how the soundtrack amazes. Sure, its some pretty simple 8-bit-esque music, but the melodies are so well designed, they still contain great emotion. After playing pretty far in, be sure to check out the Cave Story Remix Project, put together by some amazing arrangers, taking the original emotions and pumping them up to much higher levels of pwnage via the ears.

Even the artwork of the game is done well. I mean, its Pixels, but it's well done, and memorable. there's lots of secrets, including an uber-difficult "Hell" level. If you want to get to it, you'll probably have to go on line to figure out how (or download a save for it).

One of the top things about this game? Freeware! You can download this game legally free. And its thanks to Aeon Genesis for the English translation. It's small too, and you can also download a "Deluxe" edition that contains the pre-patched version, the original soundtrack, and other goodies.

English Homepage: http://www.cavestory.org/
YouTube Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cr0CCkH49g0
LiveJournal Page: http://community.livejournal.com/doukutsu/
Last.FM Group: http://www.last.fm/group/Cave+Story (I'm the admin, heh heh)
Cave Story Remix Project: http://kwix.shackspace.com/cavestory/
Wikipedia Page: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cave_Story

That's it! Comment if you like my review (or the game itself).
-Jac Falcon
Homepage - http://jacfalcon0.googlepages.com

FEAR the sequels

2009-02-05T22:28:00.000-08:00

Har har har...that title is so punny...

So it’s been a while since I’ve added to the blog. Mostly because there really hasn’t been much happening on the gaming scene recently, other than massive layoffs. EA’s kicking upwards of a thousand people out the door and THQ followed suit recently by slashing their man-power budget to the tune of six hundred jobs. The only developer who apparently isn’t suffering is Stardock, the creators of Sins of the Solar Empire (excellent strategy game, by the way) among other things. They’ve just opened a new studio and are hiring.

However, enough about that. As far as game releases go, the last few weeks have been pretty bleak, and I’ve temporarily run out of games that I remember fondly enough to write a review on.

(I’ve just remembered Knights of the Old Republic...I’ll get right on that)

In spite of the lack of new appearances on the gaming scene, however, there have been two events of note—the release of the FEAR 2 demo and the Dawn of War II multiplayer beta.

First, FEAR 2. Or, more accurately, F.E.A.R. 2: Project Origin. If you haven’t played the original F.E.A.R., you’re a bit out of luck…first of all for having missed such an excellent game and second of all because the story is maddeningly difficult to summarize—I’ve tried several times without any luck. Suffice to say it involves a creepy little girl who wants to kill you. With clones. And you get a gun that skeletonizes people. And if that doesn’t make you salivate with desire, you have clearly not watched enough B-movies.

But seriously, it is a great game, involving some of the most intense firefights and atmospheric moments in gaming. More importantly, it’s terrifying. I remember playing the demo for the original game in a dimly lit room after midnight, completely and totally scared spitless from beginning to end, and loving every second of it. After purchasing and playing the awesome full game and snubbing the lame expansions, I parked the experience in the back of my mind along with S.T.A.L.K.E.R., Homeworld and real Hawaiian pineapple in the area reserved for ‘awesome experiences I’ll probably never have again.’ Because, honestly, a repeat performance fell outside the bounds of believability.

And so it was with a certain amount of skepticism that I downloaded and installed the demo for FEAR 2 (take note here—all reviewers of this game stop punctuating the title at some point, usually after the seventeenth time they write F>E,aR..) demo and fired it up. ‘They can’t phase me,’ I said to myself while turning off all the lights and putting on my sound-insulating headphones. Jaded I was, steeled against all the tricks of the scare-game trade. Yes, FEAR had frightened me, but that was then, and this was now, and there was no way FEAR 2 could do it again.

After I restarted my heart for the third time, I began to suspect that perhaps FEAR 2 had indeed done it again.

I won’t give too much away, but the game looks awesome. The graphics have been significantly tuned up, the interface is crisp and immersive, the gameplay is tight, and if the content of the demo is anything to go by, the game will be equal parts scarifying and action-packed. Look for a review here after it comes out.

Second, the Dawn of War II multiplayer beta. In contrast to the FEAR demo, I knew this was going to be good. With the possible exception of Homeworld 2, developer Relic has never let me down. All of their games are must-plays for anyone with even a passing interest in real-time strategy—starting with the legendary Homeworld and continuing with Impossible Creatures, Company of Heroes, and the original Dawn of War series.

Set in the grim future world of Warhammer 40,000, the game draws heavily from the Company of Heroes playbook, in that it differs dramatically from the traditional RTS formula. There is no base building, there is only territory control and the annihilation of the enemy.

The beta has been a blast so far. Supplied with six maps (two one-on-one and four six-on-six), and two modes (territory control and annihilation), it is far from the complete game. But the action is fast, the combat is brutal, the graphics are gorgeous, and the gameplay is smooth as silk. There are some balancing issues (the Tyranids’ in particular are a bit unbalanced), but that’s what a beta is for. If you have Steam, definitely download it and check it out. If you don’t have Steam, slap yourself repeatedly and do not stop until you get it.

So, as I told you in my earlier preview of this game, keep your eye on this one. It looks to be fantastic.

So. Apologies for the long time between posts. Keep your eye on these games. And if you’re a particularly big fan, send me money so I can afford to buy them and review them for you.

A few additions...

2009-01-16T01:48:00.000-08:00

Just wanted to publicize a couple additions to the blog. You can now subscribe to Duality via email and live feed--both options are available on the right hand side of the page there. Even if you prefer to read the blog on this site, it's a good idea to subscribe to one or the other. That way you'll never miss one of my epic posts (as you all know, The Blade's posts are always epic), and also I'll be able to get an idea of how many people are actually reading this thing, which will inspire me to new heights of creative productivity.

Thanks! You can go back to pwning n00bs now...

The Way Things Are

2009-01-16T01:22:00.000-08:00

Warning: philosophical post.

Remember back in the day, when you were a little tyke, and all you wanted out of life was some sort of grand adventure? I remember. I wanted to be an army man, or a fire man, or one of those other mans. I created stories in my head about how I was an epic crime fighter or an intergalactic warrior hero dude.

I suspect that this kind of thing is true for the majority of people. I wouldn’t be surprised to find it’s a bit different for the females among us, the wiring being a bit different between the two sexes. But I believe the same principle will apply pretty much universally: we have a hunger for the fantastic, for something greater than what we have. It’s built into us, with us from birth, and even if it’s strangled later on down the road by cynicism or depression, it’s still there, waiting to be given fuel. It’s that desire that has propelled mankind’s greatest achievements, from landing on the moon (even if it was a scandal, it was an epic scandal) to winning the Superbowl. To be part of something bigger than ourselves is a basic desire of human beings.

This is a big part of why we love stories. From books to movies to games, people love a good story, an epic, an adventure. Men tend more towards those stories that depict a conquering hero; women more towards those which depict happiness ever after.

This is why videogames have taken off like a skyrocket. In just a few years, they’ve gone from the basement hobby of ubernerds to a multi-billion dollar industry. Games have gone from simple electronic distractions to the bearers of great tales. The reason for this, at least in part, is that games feed that hunger for adventure in a way that books and movies can’t. Watching a movie, you get to watch someone else experience something great, and depending on how well made the movie is, you might get to share in some of that greatness by osmosis. The same is largely true for books. But with games, you don’t have to watch someone else do great things—you get to do them. The fate of the human race isn’t on the shoulders of Harrison Ford or Christian Bale or Angelina Jolie—it’s on yours. And if you don’t climb that hill, conquer that foe, plant that flag, everything’s hopeless.

It’s the purest way that we’ve yet invented to give fuel to that burning desire for adventure. It’s why there have been people addicted to games in a way that people were never addicted to movies or books. In real life, perhaps those people aren’t well-liked, or perhaps they haven’t accomplished much—but in Tamriel, Azeroth, or in the bowels of a Halo ring, those same people are heroes, applauded by thousands and sought after by those needing help.

(Of course, there are those who play evil characters and are universally feared and loathed, but in practice this amounts to the same thing)

So, people like stories. What’s the big deal?

The big deal is that stories shape our outlook on the world. Go back to those days as a kid. Why did you want to be an armyman/fireman/cowboy? Because you’d heard stories about them, or watched stories about them, and the adventurous life they led. Seen through the eyes of a child, their adventure seemed pure and their grandeur complete. They were loved and admired, just like we wanted to be. And so, for a while, those expectations and desires shaped our lives.

Of course, then we grew up and lost a lot of that. The innocence of childhood slips away for better or for worse, and most of us stop wanting to be armymen. But that doesn’t mean we stop wanting.

We still desire that greatness. Our definition of what exactly that means has certainly changed, and perhaps our ability to expect it has been dulled by the reality of the way the world works. But we still crave it.

And so video games come along, offering us the ability, for a short time, to be Gordon Freeman, Master Chief, or a Jedi Master. We dive into them, relishing them, basking in the status that we are given in that fictional world.

The problem of addiction to this is perhaps the most apparent, even if it is relatively rare. More subtle, however, is the effect it can have on real life.

Just as a well-done movie can shape the way we see the world (who hasn’t jumped at shadows after seeing a horror movie? Or started seeing suspicious behavior in elected officials after watching a conspiracy film?), so can a well-made game; but the potential for persuasion is greater tenfold because the player is not passively taking the messages in—he or she is actively participating in them.

Like it or not, that affects us, more than most people are willing to admit. It is certainly possible to minimize this effect, to play games with your head screwed on straight, to be able to sit back and analyze the message of a game and judge it correctly. But even doing that, those messages, those expectations, can still seep into our brains and hide there, often so well and so deep we never really realize that they are there.

That’s the way things are. A game that is a showcase for masterful storytelling, like a Bioshock or a Half-Life 2, is an incredible tool for persuasion.

Now, I’m not saying that playing a few videogames is going to send you off the deep-end, or completely change your outlook on life, or change you fundamentally as a person, any more than smoking one cigarette will addict you to them for life. But it is provably true that what we immerse ourselves in affects who we are, in subtle ways.

So, will playing Grand Theft Auto turn you into a murderer or a car thief? Probably not. But might a constant diet of games like that which glorify violence and corruption desensitize you to that violence in real life? It’s pretty easy to see how that might be.

One example of this might be swearing. Say you’re a person who doesn’t swear, for whatever reason. Then let’s say you get a job someplace, and all your coworkers use language every time they open their mouths. At the same time, you’re playing games and watching movies with language in them. Over time, what’s probably going to happen? Chances are good you’ll start swearing, unless you’re actively working against that inevitable slide.

This is why it pays to be careful what we take in—what we watch, play, read, and listen to. That love of stories is an awesome thing—but if we’re not aware of what we’re feeding ourselves, those stories can change us in ways that we might not otherwise approve of.

So, bottom line—play with your brain turned on. Be watching for those messages from the games you play. Ask yourself what it is that the games creator’s are trying to say, or perhaps what their game says about them. Take every thought captive, as the Bible says. And avoid exposing yourself to the games that promote things that you don’t want to be. Cuz why spend your money and time on something that you don’t agree with? The Blade finds that to be ridiculous, and recommends that instead you play the games he recommends. Starting with Fallout 3 (ZOMGEPIX!!!). Unless you’re under 18. In that case play Homeworld.

Anyway. Just a few thoughts that had been bouncing around in my brain. I imagine there will be quite a few people who disagree with me, or take issue with some part of what I’m saying…feel free to comment and throw buckets of cold logic on my parade. I’ll do my best to answer.

Name Change

2009-01-14T13:47:00.000-08:00

Just a quick post to explain the name change. I originally named this blog "The Cutting Edge" both because I thought it was devilishly clever and also because my name is Erixis Blade (Blade...cutting edge...hehe...).

However, I then went on to discover that "The Cutting Edge" is also the name of two or three movies, at least one cooking show, and several books, publications, and other blogs. This made me feel quite unoriginal. So I'm changing it.

The blog is now "Duality." The name retains a bit of its blade-ish ancestor (Dual=duel? Yeah...it's a stretch...), but more importantly, it is still devilishly clever and is only the name of one movie.

I chose the name because it kind of speaks to the nature of what I do. The subtitle is "Truth in Fiction." I'm a writer, a lover of stories and of games. Fictional stories are where my heart's at, whether it's in a game or a movie or a book--I love how we humans have been blessed by the ability to tell stories, to communicate meaning in that fascinatingly indirect fashion.

So, I'm into fiction. I enjoy writing fiction, and playing games, which are pretty much all fiction. I also review fiction, in my way, by writing about the games I play.

But with all that, I strive to search for the truth in it. I believe that all fiction tells some sort of truth--even if the creator of that fiction didn't intend to convey it. When a writer sits down to create, his fictional ideas flow from his factual experiences. And thus, meaning can be derived from it. This is why The Chronicles of Narnia, books which are entirely fiction, can provide such fascinating insights into the way life works. That's why when we watch a movie with a happy ending, we walk away feeling positive about life; and vice versa. All fiction carries truth.

And so that's what I try to do--bring those truths to the surface. In some games, they're pretty near the top; in others, buried pretty deep. Some don't have much to say, others much more. Whatever the case, it's important that we are aware of what our entertainment is telling us, lest it change us without our consent.

So. Duality: Truth in Fiction. Same website, same URL, just a different name. Let me know what y'all think of it.

Bioshock

2009-01-10T22:55:00.000-08:00

Water everywhere, water without end
Water scratching at the door, trying to get in
Water calling out, calling out my name
Is the water different?
Or are we both the same?

Water ends where life begins
Water wins where my life ends
Water pouring now, far too late to flee
Is the water different?
Or is it part of me?

--Jerod Jarvis

From the moment the game begins, Bioshock makes one thing clear—water is your enemy, and if you’re not careful, it will end up being your tomb.

The game opens with the player seated on an ill-fated airplane, which wastes no time in coming apart at the seams and crashing into the ocean. The air in your lungs holds out just long enough for you to reach the surface, where you’re greeted with what is quite possibly one of the most jaw-dropping scenes in gaming history. Flames cover the water where the plane has spewed fuel and oil; the tail section is slowly sinking beneath the hungry waves ahead of you; a strange tower juts out of the water in the near distance, dark and imposing, but your one chance of escaping a watery death; all of this rendered in absolutely stunning fashion. A few years from now, it is conceivable that the graphical quality of Bioshock may become substandard, but for now, it is quite simply one of the more gorgeous games ever to grace a screen.

After dragging yourself out of the water and shakily gathering your nerves, you slowly move up the stairs towards the door of the tower, still dark and mysterious but welcoming in that it is your only chance of survival. As you step through the doorway, it slams shut behind you and lights flick on, illuminating a grand interior done up in tasteful art deco style, dominated by the statue of a man and a scarlet banner with the words “No gods or kings—only man” written upon it in gold.

Making your way down the stairway you find a submersible, and while you are perhaps reluctant to venture back into the water, it does seem like the only direction available. Stepping inside and pulling the lever, the door closes and the bulbous device slips down into the depths.

On the way, you’re treated to a short presentation that seems to have been intended for travelers similar to yourself, albeit those who had arrived in a less disastrous fashion. A man who calls himself Andrew Ryan tells you he grew tired of the world taking from him what he had created…and so instead of submitting, he chose to escape, and build an undersea city—Rapture. A place where the gifted and privileged of the world could practice their art, their science, and their entrepreneurship without the legal and ethical boundaries of the world above to hold them back.

With that introduction, the game sets itself apart from the pack. Most games, particularly first person shooters, are content to hand the player a weapon and point them at the enemy, providing little in the way of story other than “Go there, shoot them, save the world/planet/universe/human race/your dog.” While there are some that have certainly risen above that drivel, Bioshock is head and shoulders above the rest. There really isn’t another game on the market like it…the only one that really comes anywhere close in terms of depth would be Deus Ex. Issues like utilitarianism, secular humanism, tyranny, human nature, ethics, sanity, morality, and even the existence of God and what place he has in our lives are dealt with either directly or indirectly.

As the submersible surfaces in the station (greeting you with one of the more frightening scenes in any game anywhere), it becomes clear that Rapture is not the paradise that Andrew Ryan described on your way down, but instead a broken down, leaking, bloody insane asylum. You start to explore the city, discovering the back-story by listening to recordings left by citizens, you begin to uncover what has happened. Without the boundaries of law and morality, what began as a utopia quickly descended into a battleground populated by tyrannical leaders, bloodthirsty rebels, and ordinary people driven violently insane through abuse of genetic modification. You are attacked, toyed with, led along, deceived, and ultimately betrayed in one of the most shocking and brilliant twists a videogame has ever offered.

Easily the game’s most controversial points were its themes of secular humanism (essentially atheism), and the characters known as the ‘little sisters’. However, having played through this game and spent significant time reflecting upon it, I find that I cannot simply stand back and throw rocks at the game, as some other Christian reviewers have done.

First, the worldview themes. The game is based around the idea that man is the ultimate being, and that freeing him from the bonds of government and religion is the key to securing the future. Andrew Ryan saw himself as a visionary ahead of his time, and those who followed him thought likewise.

However, it is startlingly, shockingly clear upon one’s first entering into rapture that something went terribly wrong. As the game is explored and the mechanisms of the city’s self-destruction are uncovered, the clues increasingly point towards the one thing that Andrew Ryan and his idealists didn’t factor in—that human nature is innate, not something impressed upon us by outside influences. Human greed, desire for power, and selfishness are not things that religion and government have given us, as Ryan believed—instead, in seeking to escape those things, he instead created a place where they could truly thrive. The sad truth of the matter is that human beings are fundamentally flawed—greed, selfishness, and pride are built into us. Social conventions can certainly mellow these somewhat, but without a true inner heart change, as Christ offers, humans are humans, wherever they are.

The truly fascinating aspect of this predicament that the game hints at is found in the gruesome execution scenes of smugglers. Throughout the game, you develop a feeling that Ryan is not fond of smugglers bringing things in from the world above, outside his control, and the crucifixions of these apparent criminals highlight this in tragic fashion. But what is far more interesting is the glimpses into what those smugglers were smuggling: crates of Bibles.

Huh.

So what are the developers saying? That when the world starts collapsing, people turn to religion? I suspect that might have been the point they were trying to make—but their stab in that direction actually illustrates a much stronger, deeper point—when man removes God from the picture, the picture falls apart. Man can only keep up his acting for so long before his true nature begins to reassert himself—and when that happens, when people find themselves at the mercy of their own natures, they turn to things that can change those natures. In this case, in what is either a stroke of genius on the developer’s part or an award-winning case of God using people in spite of themselves, the people of Rapture were turning to the Truth: the Bible.

Most of the Christian reviews, and even some of the secular reviews, seemed to take the execution of Bible-smugglers as a slam against Christianity. And it is—but it’s Andrew Ryan slamming it, not the message of the game. I strongly suspect that this nod to Christianity was unintentional on the part of the developers—listening to interviews and commentaries leads me to believe they weren’t gunning for anything deeper than man’s apparent need for a religious crutch when things get hard. But if one takes the time to look deeper, a different message can be found.

The second point of controversy, the little sisters, is a bit of a different beast, and one which I admittedly can’t defend fully. But I do think there is more to it than what most Christian reviews of this game found.

Without giving too much away, the little sisters are genetically modified young girls who have been programmed to harvest a substance from the dead bodies around Rapture and ingest it, allowing their bodies to refine it and then expel it as Adam, the substance that makes all the genetic modifying in Rapture possible. As the player encounters these characters, they are ultimately faced with a choice—do they harvest the little sister for her precious Adam, which is needed for survival; or do they rescue her, changing her back into a normal little girl. The catch is this: the first option (harvesting) will net the player more of the much-needed Adam, but it will also kill the little sister. Rescuing will result in less Adam, but the little girl goes free. The idea behind this ethical dilemma was to confront players with a choice—will they stoop to murdering helpless children to serve their own needs? Or will they choose instead the path of self-sacrifice?

Admittedly, this is an incredibly extreme moral dilemma, and begs the question: are gamers so desensitized to this kind of thing that they have to be slapped across the face with a ten-ton ethical choice before they’ll sit up and take notice? I submit that while certainly some are, that isn’t largely the case—but that’s another discussion for another time.

So, ignoring for now the bluntness of the ethical dilemma, the decision before the player remains.

This is where the rock-throwing starting becoming a hailstorm. Christian reviews, and even some secular reviews, decried the game as one that rewarded you for murdering a little girl, citing the fact that the Adam gained for that choice is greater than for saving the little sister. However, once again, those who choose to look a bit deeper will see that there’s more to it than this.

While it is true that killing the little sister results in greater instant gratification, those who commit to the more difficult path of rescuing them will soon find that their rewards are far greater. The little sisters reward the player for his mercy with gifts of Adam and power-ups that far outweigh the reward of murder.

At its heart, then, it’s a face-off between instant- and delayed-gratification. Choosing the evil choice might seem like it will benefit you more now, but choosing the right thing will reap you greater rewards in the future, even if it makes your life difficult now. And isn’t that how life works? Isn’t that what Christ calls his followers to? Putting others first even at the expense of themselves?

You can lie to your boss about being late for work, and it’ll probably get you out of trouble (instant gratification); but when a co-worker lets slip what really happens, you’ll be in a world more hurt than if you had just told the truth in the first place.

Again, murder of small children is an admittedly blunt tool for illustrating this point, and one that can’t really be completely defended. My point is merely that it does have some modicum of redeeming value, and it certainly is not a reward system that encourages murder, as some have said.

At the end of the day, the player is sent through a series of choices, confrontations, and memorable encounters—all of which serve to shape the outcome of the game. In a city surrounded by cold, merciless water seeping through the cracks to take the lives of the intruders, will the player become part of that system, taking and killing and becoming numb? Or will he resist it, fight to find a way to right the wrongs even when surrounded by the horrors of evil and attacks on all sides? Will the player join with the water? Or will he fight against it?

Bioshock is an epic game in every sense of the word. Certainly the issues described above land this game solidly in M-rated territory. Other issues include intense violence throughout, language, and some sexual themes (none of which the player participates in, only finds out about through non-explicit back-story). However, just being an adult doesn’t qualify one to play Bioshock, in my mind. The game’s subtle themes and the issues it presents and deals with can be completely passed over by a player simply looking for a playground in which to shoot things. And to those paying slightly more attention, the surface themes of humanism and atheism, those goals towards which Rapture was reaching, can seem like unreached trophies rather than ideals that are fundamentally flawed and doomed from the outset.

Bioshock is a head-trip, and I can only recommend it to those who are willing to put the time into thinking it through and examining what it has to say, and remembering always to check its messages against the Truth—the Bible.

For those who fall into that category, then, I heartily recommend the game as an absolute triumph of the videogame medium. Thought-provoking, intellectually disturbing, infuriating, triumphant, eye-opening—these are not terms that are often used to describe games. And while I’d certainly like to see games of this caliber that can be described as uplifting, encouraging, inspiring, and that dabble less with needless M-rated content, this is a step in the right direction for gaming as a medium, and I’m excited to see what the coming years will be like for videogames in this post-Bioshock age.

So, with that, I’ll wrap up this exceedingly long post. If you’ve stuck around until now, you’re either a crazy fan of The Blade (yes, thank you, you can put your hands down now) or a crazy fan of Bioshock, or you’re just unusually interested in one or the other. Whatever the case, feel free to comment and share your thoughts on this watery epic.

Morrowind

2008-12-31T12:49:00.000-08:00

Picture it:

You awake to find yourself in the bowels of a ship, the wood creaking around you, the sounds of the ocean outside. You have no idea why you’re there—only that you were released from prison without explanation and stuck on a ship to who knows where. There’s a dunmer, a dark elf, standing beside you, who asks your name in his gravelly voice before the guard comes and takes you away, leads you topside and kicks you off the ship.

After completing some paperwork with the local authorities, you’re set free.

And what freedom it is. From the moment you step outside the door of the census building, your future is up to you. You can follow the gentle nudges the game gives you in the direction of the main quest; you can sneak around the town of Seyda Neen and rob its citizens blind; you can head off into the wilderness and try your look with the denizens and monsters there; you can stick to the roads and make a beeline for the massive capital city of Vivec; or just about anything else you can think of. The game puts very few constrictions on you, and those it does largely feel natural.

The Elder Scrolls games have always been about wide open worlds that allow you to explore at your leisure. The first two efforts were admirable in their pioneering of the genre, but were laden down with bugs and other issues. The third game, Morrowind, is where the series finally hit its stride. With graphics that were, for the day, glorious, a truly huge gameworld to traverse, hundreds of quests and people to interact with, and an epic main quest that handed you the task of saving the world, the game was engrossing and enthralling.

The game is an RPG at heart, but it gives a unique twist to the typical D&D-spawned role-playing system. Instead of getting rewarding your every completed quest, killed monster, and picked lock with XP (experience points), the skills you use are the skills you get good at. In most RPGs, which utilize XP, you could in theory run around the game picking every lock you find, but never getting any better at picking locks because you chose to funnel all your XP into buffing up your swordsmanship. In Morrowind, using your lock picking skill improves your lock picking skills, and using your long sword improves your swordsmanship. It’s a far more intuitive way to go about character development, and having played Morrowind, it’s difficult to be satisfied with the old XP way of doing things.

Morrowind was originally released in 2002, and was followed by various patches and two expansion packs, both of which are extremely well done and entertaining.

However, in spite of all I have told you, you may still be wondering what exactly makes this game a classic. After all, there have been many games with innovative gameplay and an epic story that, while being duly noted as excellent games, can’t be found for sale anywhere and whose memory has faded from gamers’ minds. So what is it that separates Morrowind from the pack?

The true genius of the game lies in two areas. First, the back-story of the game—the world of the Elder Scrolls is fleshed out enough to be a real place. It has a fully worked out world, with nations, oceans, seasons, constellations, history, religions, races, wars, rivalries, and everything else you’d expect to find in a real place. Wikipedia has dozens and dozens of pages written by fans detailing the ins and outs of all this, which can make for a bit of daunting reading for a newcomer. When you step off that boat, you’re stepping into a real place, a place that has been lived in for hundreds of years and has all the trappings that such a place should have. Outside of the first ten minutes of character creation, nowhere does the game ever admit that you’re playing a game—the immersion of being in a real place affecting real things is very near complete. It even has its own supernatural realm of sorts, in which gods and demons live. At first glance that might make some alert Christian gamers wary, but a bit of research reveals that the game doesn’t truly deal with the supernatural—the ‘gods’ are merely powerful creatures that live on different planes of existence, more like the gods of Greek mythology than the God of the Bible. The same holds true for the other beings. Demons are merely evil creatures, called daedra, many from the realm of Oblivion (which the sequel to Morrowind deals with in more detail). It’s all very fictional, and it doesn’t directly address real world issues of God in any way, making it, in my opinion, very playable for the gamers with their heads on their shoulders.

The second area of genius applies only to the PC version of the game (sorry, Xboxians). The game shipped with a Construction Set, a slightly modified set of tools that Bethesda used to build the game. With these tools, nearly anything imaginable was possible to add to the game. Want a house deep in the Red Mountain? Fire up the construction set and build yourself one. Want a sword that does one thousand stabbing damage but only one slashing damage? Easy. Fancy yourself a rockstar with adoring fans following you wherever you go? With a bit of scripting knowledge, it’s done in a flash. The modding community for the Elder Scrolls games (both Morrowind and its sequel, Oblivion) is truly huge and going strong. Mods that update the graphics, add enemies, weapons, and quests, which allow you to wear more rings and necklaces, which flesh out the back-story of a particular person that was passed over in the original game—almost anything that’s in the game can be modified, expanded, or completely removed, and nearly anything that can be dreamed up can be added in. My copy of Morrowind is currently running something like fifty mods, three or four of which are my own.

The modding community is also extremely helpful on the creation side. Need help with a challenging script? First check out one of the three or four huge fan-made tutorials on the subject. If you can’t find your answer there, get thyself to the Elder Scrolls forums and ask. Usually within twenty-four hours you’ll have an answer.

The back-story of the game and its fleshed out world gave fuel to the imaginations of games, and the Construction Set gave outlet for those imaginations. It’s a formula that has worked wonders for Bethesda’s games—they have since released The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion with its own Construction Set, and more recently Fallout 3, for which the Construction Set (officially labeled the Garden of Eden Creation Kit, a nod to Fallout lore) has just been released.

Bottom line—this game is epic in every sense, and will almost certainly devour your life for a while. The Game of the Year edition, which includes both expansion packs, can be found on the shelves of your local Best Buy for twenty dollars or so. Get out and buy it now, and tell me what you think.

Homeworld

2008-12-19T14:34:00.000-08:00

Ah.

The games of yesteryear. Those games of groundbreaking innovation and glorious storytelling. Those games which required more imagination than videocard. Those games which inspire gratuitous amounts of nostalgia on those who played them.

Of course, some of those games are more deserving of nostalgia than others. Games like System Shock, Starcraft, Deus Ex, and Final Fantasy VII (if JRPGs are what you’re into…*shudder*) all earned their places in the history books through their respective areas of excellence.

Homeworld is one of those games, though not all of you will have heard of it. One of the first that I ever owned and played, it is forever seated in my memory as one of the greatest games ever made.

Homeworld is a real time strategy space epic telling the story of a people exiled from their home planet by a devastatingly powerful empire. Millennia have passed since the exile, however, and knowledge of their origins has faded to nothing but the foggiest memories and legends. When an ancient map is found in the husk of a prehistoric starship that details a path through space back to their home, however, disparate tribes are united in an effort to take the stars and travel back to their home.

The journey is long and marked with innumerable battles against overwhelming odds. The story is told mostly through pre- and post-mission cut scenes, which, despite the lack of recognizable characters, manages to be engaging and emotionally involving in a way that few RTS games are.

Homeworld originally shipped with a 50ish page book providing ridiculous amounts of detail into the back-story of the game—a classy touch that is rarely, if ever, seen today. The game play itself was groundbreaking for the time, the first game to feature fully three dimensional combat—a system which has never really been bettered, in my opinion, even by such recent efforts as Sins of a Solar Empire.

Homeworld is still available online, through the likes of Amazon and eBay (the Game of the Year edition, which includes the aforementioned handbook, is also available on Amazon), and I highly recommend it to any fan of science fiction or strategy games. The sequel, Homeworld: Cataclysm is also excellent, though the ‘true’ sequel, Homeworld 2, was a disappointment (truthfully the only disappointing game I can think of that the developer, Relic, has released).

I’ve waited long years for a game to be released that holds the same magic for me that Homeworld did, and though some games have come close, no other strategy game since then has really done it. Find it, buy it, play it. If you love it, let me know here. If you hate it, print this article off, light it on fire and stuff it up your left nostril.

A blessing in disguise

2008-12-03T11:16:00.000-08:00

So my videocard died. Not sure what happened. Probably had a heart attack from shock at how much I was pwning the games it was displaying. I've got another one on the way, but budget concerns mixed with crazy business have relegated me to old school games for a few weeks. I've been rocking Starcraft, Warcraft III, Fallout 1, Outpost 2, even some Aardwolf (text based RPG...the true mark of a nerd).

Also, not having as much time taken up by replaying Fallout 3 (ZOMGEPIX!!!1), I've found myself reflecting on some of my old favorites. So I'm going to start a series of old game articles. They won't be reviews, per se, but rather reflections. What makes them classic in my mind.

So...be watching for these. They'll be wildly entertaining and tear-jerkingly nostalgic. They'll also give you more credibility with pros, you n00b.

First one should be up by the end of the week.

War is coming...again

2008-11-20T22:10:00.000-08:00

Dawn of War 2 is on its way, theoretically arriving sometime early next year. It looks awesome.

The Dawn of War series is a personal favorite of mine. Excellent real-time-strategy gaming served up by RTS devs extraordinaire Relic (makers of the awesome Homeworld, Impossible Creatures, and Company of Heroes), the games are set in the dark and brutal universe of Warhammer 40,000, where war is eternal and gothic sci-fi themes are rampant.

The games' only content issue is the brutal violence, which involves a lot of blood. Because of this they definitely belong in the 'M' rated category (sorry kids), but for those old enough to handle the content, it's excellent stuff.

The new game looks to eschew many traditional RTS hallmarks, including resource gathering and army building. Despite the axing of what some might consider the most important parts of an RTS game, Relic has my full trust that they will deliver a game well worth the playing.

Keep your eye on this one, peeps.

PC vs. Console—End of the Argument

2008-11-19T15:51:00.000-08:00

Disclaimer: I don’t actually have that much of a beef with consoles. In truth, I think they’re fun and I’ll probably end up owning several before I keel over and die. So any derogatory remarks I make about them should always be taken with humor and in the context of a friendly rivalry.

With that said, let’s get started.

First, a definition of consoles: anything that is not a PC. Or a Mac. But let’s not talk about Macs, please…I’d rather not sabotage my day. But throughout this article, I’m primarily referring to the next-gen consoles — the Playstation 3 (PS3) and the Xbox 360.

My thesis is thus:

Consoles are teh sux.

I’m not going to demonstrate this by waxing eloquent on how trying to play an FPS on a console is like trying to conduct delicate surgery while wearing oven mitts and suffering from a migraine. That would be too easy.

Neither will I demonstrate how consoles are inferior multitaskers — I feel that would be redundant as I sit here using the same machine for typing this essay, downloading email, surfing the web, playing Peggle, pwning n00bs at debates, and chatting with babes all day (Don’t be jealous).

Lastly, I will not speak of the thriving PC modding community, which is populated by intensely talented peeps who can not only make nearly any game better/longer/more epic through modifications, but can also live for months on end on little more than Bawls energy drinks and discarded antistatic bags.

No. Instead of those obvious, full-of-win approaches to this console vs. PC debate, I choose to take a subtler, more cunning route. I take this approach for two reasons — first of all, to prove that I am a fair and unbiased reporter who is looking at this issue without preconceived opinions. Second of all, to prove to all that The Blade pwns debates like PCs pwn consoles.

The route that I have chosen is this — I will list some of the things consoles have that PCs do not. I will present the evidence to you, showcasing all those shiny little features that make console owners so proud, and then leave you to form your own opinion. I will then return, take your opinion, crumple it into a little ball and throw it in your face. I’m good like that.

1—Consoles have simpler controls
It’s true. Consoles typically have a single gamepad for a controller, whereas PCs have a mouse AND keyboard, requiring the asynchronous use of both hands.
Do this: Place one hand on your head, and the other on your stomach. Begin to rub your stomach, and pat your head. If you can do this, congratulations, you’re good to go with PC gaming. If not, here’s your Xbox.
The notable exception to this rule would be the Wii, which does have two controllers—sort of. But since most Wii games actually require severe uncoordination to do well, we’ll just ignore that fact for now.

2—Consoles have better multiplayer
Yes and no, but alright — in general it is easier to find and match up with people over Xbox Live than most of the PC alternatives available. Of course, this also means that everyone and their mother are on Xbox Live.
Actually, I take that back. There are no mothers on Xbox Live. There are no parents of any kind on Xbox Live. Only their snot-nosed, headset-wearing, 10-year-old children, all of whom find it desperately amusing to team-kill you in Halo 2 and then teabag your corpse while making vulgar comments about your sexuality. If their mothers were there, they’d be beaten severely for such behavior, but thanks to the anonymity of gaming, they can spout every four-letter word that pops into their happy little minds. Because no one will ever know that SworWordz141 is actually that sweet little neighbor girl you make cookies for every week.
Actually, I take that back. If you make cookies for the little neighbor girl every week, you’re a creeper. But, if all that somehow appeals to you, then here’s your Xbox. Creeper.

3—Consoles don’t need to upgraded/break down as much
Ah, yes. This is true. The PC gamer is plagued with a near constant need to upgrade his machine with the latest and greatest technology, and all this tinkering does often result in more breakdowns.
Consoles, on the other hand, are pretty reliable. You buy your PS3, take it home, plug it in, and you can pretty much expect it to work swell for the next four years.
FOUR YEARS.
Think about this for a moment:
Yes, your PS3 or Xbox games may be top of the line when the console is brand new. They may even continue to improve for a while as developers learn how to make the most of the hardware. But as even the most technotarded redneck can tell you, technology years are similar to dog years, except with more epic. Four normal years equals approximately a-really-long-freaking-time in technology years. During which time you are stuck playing on the exact same hardware, while your PC gaming friend next door is happily installing his new videocard (which he is free to upgrade at any time) and playing new games that make your 4-year-old tech look like a bucket of rather smelly turds.

4—Consoles are the way of the future
Yeah, they said that about the Nazis, too.

5—The first games were console games
False. Epic false. Pong, that grandfather of games, was originally created on a computer! Not a PC per se…but more a PC than console.
Yes, yes, I realize that it was released to the masses on a console of sorts, but as is usually the case, the advances were made on a PC, and were then generously shared with consoles.

6—Consoles are less expensive
Yes. This is absolutely the truth. Even if you’re building an uber-lean machine PC, you’ll still spend more on it than your average Xbox or PS3.
Of course, the cost principle applies to other areas of life, too. For example, cars. Let’s say you have two cars sitting in front of you, all shiny and new. On your left sits a super-charged 1972 Shelby GT Mustang. On your right sits a 1991 Honda Civic. Now, you know in your head that both are vehicles at heart, that they’ll both get you down the road. You know that the Civic will probably get better mileage. You know you’ll pay less up front for the Civic, and spend less down the road on repairs and tuning.
But seriously. Are you seriously going to take the Civic over a Mustang? Going to trade that raw power and chick magnetness for the car that those nerdy art majors drive? Going to snub your nose at that epic machine of greatness for a car your ten-year-old brother could afford?
Really? Seriously?

7—God games on a console
There are too many lies in that statement for me to even address it.

8—There are no MMORPGs on consoles
Hmm. That’s actually true, I think…I don’t even have a snarky comeback…I’ll be shocked and amazed if this doesn’t change in the near future, but for now, it’s Consoles: 1, PCs 7

9—If your house was on fire, and you could only take one thing, if you had a PC, by the time you got it unplugged and lugged down the stairs and out the door, you’d have burned to death.
And what a noble death it would be.

10—You, The Blade, are so ridiculously biased and opinionated that you are quite possibly the worst thing to happen to gaming literature since Gamespot reviewed Kane and Lynch.
If by ‘biased’ you mean ‘enlightened,’ and ‘opinionated’ you mean ‘absolutely correct’, then thank you. And stop bashing Gamespot. Jerk.

And so we reach the end of my tirade. I imagine there are some of you who are at this moment sharpening your pitchforks and soaking your torches in gasoline, but I take that as a compliment. Before you do something brash, just remember that if you can’t laugh at yourself, you’re not going to have much fun in life.
And just to placate you, I promise to do something in the future targeted at PCs. I, The Blade, am good like that.
And if that’s not good enough for you, you’re a creeper. Here’s your Xbox.

Terms of Engagement--A Glossary of Gaming Terms

2008-11-13T00:22:00.000-08:00

To be updated and added to as I feel is necessary. In no particular order:

n00b—traditionally, someone new to gaming, but expanded definitions can include anyone or anything that just isn't quite up to par, aka Macintosh computers, movies based on video games, people who are not named Harrison Ford, and anyone who is not reading my blog

Hacks—A term used to describe behavior not sanctioned by the rules of a game. Also known as 'h4x', 'haxorz,' 'cheats', and 'WTF, mate?'

4chan—one of the many places on the interwebz that real men do not go

Spawn point—in the real world, this would be known as the womb, for most people anyway

Pwn—no, it is not pronounced 'pone'. n00b

CAPS LOCK—the format used by people who take themselves far too seriously

PM—a 'private message', not to be confused with P.M., which is the general term for the hours that separate the n00bs, who are reported to engage in an activity known as sleeping, from the pros, who take the good fight into the A.M.

WTF?—an old baking term, literally, Where's The Flour? This term's curious migration story from the bakery to the gaming world is long and mostly boring, but the gist of it is that in the olden days, n00bs were known to steal bread ingredients

OMG!--an acronym, used by The Blade to mean 'Oh My Gosh' (note the lack of third commandment breakage)--used to denote surprise, as in the sentence: “OMG, ur a n00b.”

ZOMG!--Another acronym, literally 'Zoinks! Oh My Gosh!'. Generally used to denote a greater surprise, as in the sentence: “ZOMG! You thought you could like zerg rush my tank, n00b? WTFLOL!”

LOL—an intensely overused acronym that once stood for Laughing Out Loud, but now merely means 'I am mildly amused.' Can be improved by adding various terms to the end, as in LOLerskates; LOLerpop, or LOLOLOLOL

ROFL—Has taken the place of LOL as the term used when wanting to communicate actual laughter—literally, Rolling On the Floor Laughing

ROFLINALOLCIC—Not technically a gaming term. If you don't already understand this, just move on, it would take too long to explain.

Stunning graphics—Look! They're shiny!

pr0n—see 4chan

STFU—another acronym, standing for Silence, Thou Foolish yoUth! Or something like that...

Death—a temporary annoyance which is easily remedied with the quickload key

Quickload key—gaming analogue to CPR

Quicksave key—gaming analogue to life insurance

PC gaming—could be compared to driving a Lamborghini down the autobahn

Console gaming—could be compared to driving a one-wheeled moped powered by a weed-addled monkey down the autobahn

Macintosh gaming--WTF, mate?

Leveling up—a bit like graduation, except with more epic

!--traditionally, the exclamation point is used to denote surprise or intensity. In gaming terms, however, a single exclamation point merely indicates a level of excitement barely over comatose. To truly communicate surprise, try adding several. For shock or intense surpries, add one or two 1s to the end. For example, Surprise = OMG!!!!! Big surprise equals ZOMG!!!!!11

Fallout 3

2008-11-11T23:39:00.001-08:00

This review is a tough one for me. Most games I can talk about, whether I loved them or hated them. Fallout 3 is different though…with Fallout 3, I have hard time managing anything more than slapping on my caps lock and screaming ZOMGEPIX!!!!!1 over and over while caressing my collector’s edition Pip-Boy bobble head and crying with joy.

Seriously.

Some background. The original Fallout came out some ten-odd years ago and became an instant classic. The post-apocalyptic setting was fresh and unique for the time, and with a dash of retro-futuristic art design, it entered a class all its own. Dark humor, memorable characters, excellent role playing, and murdering Super Mutants all rolled together to make a fantastic game. It was followed by a sequel and a spin off or two. The game is based on an alternate history of the world which splits from reality in the 1950s. In 2077, World War III broke out and America and China launched nukes at each other until there wasn’t any one left to push the big red buttons. There were few survivors, and most of those were the ones lucky enough to secure places in deep underground vaults. While this could be an incredibly dark, depressing game, the magic of the Fallout series has always been how lighthearted it is about the whole nuclear situation. The 1950s optimism is injected into the disaster and a darkly hysterical hubris is born.

Fast forwarding in time, the rights to the game are picked up by Bethesda, makers of the inconceivably awesome Elder Scrolls series, and Fallout 3 is born.

I’m not going to comment on how excellent a job Bethesda has done retaining the feel of classic Fallout while still managing to update it to modern standards. That’s been done to death. Neither will I talk about how it does feel vaguely like Oblivion—if you think that’s a bad thing, you should immediately go to the ER and have your tongue surgically replaced, because you clearly have no taste. Lastly, I won’t waste time talking about how incredibly beautiful it is—the graphics are, in a word, breathtaking.

What I’d like to talk about instead is how ZOMGEPIX!!!!1 this game is.

No. Seriously. It is.

From the opening scene to the closing credits, Fallout 3 is hands down the most atmospheric and fleshed out game I have played in a very long time. From the very first moments of the game, you are in the world. You don’t start as a young adult as in most RPGs. The game begins at birth, as you emerge from the womb (not nearly as weird as it sounds, I promise). Your father, voiced competently by Liam Neeson, fawns over you for a few minutes before you skip ahead a year to find yourself a cooing toddler, and so on through your tenth birthday party, your school exams as a sixteen year old, and finally the game ‘begins’ as you emerge from the vault as a 19 year old searching for your father who left mysteriously without saying why.

I won’t ruin the story for you—suffice to say that it is very good, and though the ending may leave you longing for more, it is appropriately Fallout.

But the story is only a small fraction of the game. Once you step out of the vault, you’re free to go anywhere you please. The game suggests that you head towards the town of Megaton, but if you’d rather plod in the opposite direction just to be anarchistic, that’s fine. The world isn’t quite as large as Oblivion, but it feels much much more complete. Every location has its own story to tell, even if it’s just through the scattered recorded journals of past inhabitants you find scattered about on the floor. There is no generic dungeon, town, or landmark. Each place has been crafted with incredible attention to detail. Exploring in most RPGs can often get boring and dry after a few hours—not so in Fallout 3. Every area has a tale to tell to the carefully observant explorer, and this is what makes the game so ZOMG. The world is destroyed, radiated, and ruined—but it is complete, believable, and fully realized.

There are a few minor niggles. The level cap is frustratingly low—you’ll reach maximum level long before the end of the game—and there are a few bugs. The only thing that really has me upset right now is that I can’t play it, because my video card died in an unrelated event.

From a content perspective, Fallout 3 is very appropriately rated M. Language, gore, and the occasional mild sexual reference land this game solidly in the not-for-the-kids category. There are a few disappointments—the inclusion of a prostitute is both saddening and intensely pointless (you can have ‘sex’ with her if you choose, but there’s nothing even mildly offensive about it other than the concept itself); there are a few points where children in the game use language that would shock their parents, were they alive; the use of foul language in general, while perhaps appropriate considering the setting, is often used in tasteless and needless fashion; and the violence level, while over-the-top to the point of absurdity (however macabre it might sound, watching your enemy’s limbs fly off in six or seven directions is genuinely funny in this game…you kind of have to see it to understand) is not for everyone.

This game lands itself in the category of M-Neutral, according to the Blade. M, because it is not to be confused in any way with something appropriate for kids or young teens; Neutral, because while not being actively anti-Christian or God in any sense (the game’s only reference to religion is a bunch of crazies in Megaton who worship an undetonated nuke), neither does it promote anything positive in that sense, either. It is neither pro-Christian, nor anti-Christian.

That’s not to say that there aren’t moral messages of any kind. Your actions within the game are measured in Karma—perform an evil action (murder someone, steal something) and your Karma shifts towards evil. Perform a good action (free a slave, give water to a thirsty guy) and your Karma shifts towards good. It’s an overly simplistic system from a moral standpoint, but it serves its purpose well enough. While evil actions aren’t necessarily ‘punished’, every choice you make as a player has a consequence. If you murder someone, everyone else will hate you and attempt to serve up justice via a hail of bullets. The consequences aren’t as heady or as appropriate as in other RPGs such as Knights of the Old Republic or Bioshock, but they are there, and serve to illustrate the point that all actions have consequences—and taking the quick and easy path often results in a lot of hardship down the road.

Fallout 3 isn’t a heavy hitter in the ‘moral of the story’ department, and neither is it for kids. But for those mature enough to digest its themes and content, it can provide hours of pure escapist pleasure and a great story to enjoy. I strongly encourage everyone who fits in that category to go out and spend your hard-earned money on it immediately, because it is worth every penny.

After all, it’s ZOMGEPIX!!!!1

Seriously. It is.

An Introduction

2008-11-11T20:04:00.000-08:00

So I went ahead and posted a review before I wrote this intro piece. No particular reason. Sometimes I'm just a bit backwards like that.

I'm The Blade. It's a rather witty, punny sort of a name, in a 'pen is stronger than the sword' sort of a way (get it? Blade...sword? Er...moving on). The goal is to update this blog about once a week or so. That update will take the form of a review if I've recently finished a game or somesuch shenanigans. If not, I'll wax eloquent on my view of the gaming industry in general. These updates will be, without exception, hilarious and piercingly perceptive. Anyone who disagrees will be shot. Survivors will be shot again.

Here's the vision statement for the blog. Read it, memorize it, tattoo it on your bicep and kiss it before you fall asleep every night:

Computer and video games are the next big entertainment medium, growing and maturing at a lightning pace. What started as an odd pastime a couple decades ago has grown into a multi-billion dollar business. Games have the power to affect people on levels that books and movies can't touch, because of the element of player interaction. In the right hands, they could be a powerful tool for cultural impact.
While it is true that much of the gaming industry is very Godless, that doesn't mean that we, as Christians, should avoid it. We are called to be the light of the world, to expel the darkness where we find it. Certainly not all games are appropriate for playing, but there are many gems out there, and by choosing what we support with our money, we can impact where the industry goes. And those of us with the talent/desire to get into the industry itself have even greater opportunity to impact it for Christ.

I'm a firm believer that Christians can should play, enjoy, and think critically about video games, from casual to hardcore, Peggle to Call of Duty. As the industry stands right now, it is filled with talent and bursting with creativity, but severely lacking in Christian influence and moral direction. While some will probably scoff at such concerns, as a follower of Christ, I see them as vitally important.

And so, in my small, insignificant and sarcastic way, this blog is an attempt to challenge this trend. The Stalker review (below) was written before I had put much thought into this, so it doesn't contain much of a spiritual side, but future reviews will.

If anyone ever actually reads this blog, I would invite them to comment and challenge and disagree--I love a good debate, and while I'm far too arrogant to ever admit that I might be wrong, I'd still enjoy having my thinking muscles stretched.

So, for now, I'll sign off and let you get on with your lives.

And by lives I mean games.

Peace, love, and dominations,

The Blade

S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Clear Sky

2008-11-11T19:57:00.000-08:00

Yeah, yeah, so this review of Clear Sky is coming out weeks and weeks after the game did. First of all, I don't have a fancy-pancy publisher buying all my games, and second of all, it seems to work alright for Gamespot (who happens to have a fancy-pancy publisher buying all their games). So nuts to immediacy, and down to the reviewing.

S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Clear Sky is a prequel to Shadow of Chernobyl which came out a year or two or three ago and which I loved dearly. The game is set in an alternate version of the area around the Chernobyl nuclear power plant that exploded in 198something. The resulting radiation created an area which is known as the Zone, and has had some decidedly odd effects on its denizens, including, but not limited to, giant boars with glowing eyes; odd pointy-legged pigs with glowing eyes; large tentacle-mouthed invisible things with glowing eyes; and horrifying dog/gargoyle hybrids that mess with your mind. And have glowing eyes.

Not that I'm complaining about the glowing eyes--on the contrary, they were often the only thing that saved my skin from a horrible fate while running through the poison forest cursing my jammed rifle and stabbing viciously at the quick save key. The tentacle-mouthed guys in particular are completely invisible except for the eyes, and I shudder to think how many more times I would have ended up a tumor-ridden corpse lying in a pocket of radiation were it not for those glowing orbs.

Speaking of tumor-ridden corpses--this game is hard. Veteran of shooters that I am, I arrogantly thought myself pro enough to start the game on medium difficulty. An hour later I had retreated whimpering to the 'novice' setting, frantically stuffing gauze into the gaping wounds in my skull. To a degree, this is fine, even a refreshing change from the gunz-blazing approach encouraged by many shooters. Realism in games is a bit controversial in that the implicit point of gaming is escapism, but that's a debate for another thread. A game which actually makes you sweat about stepping out from behind cover provides a level of immersion and intensity that most other games lack.

However. There's realism and then there's realism. When realism is taken the point where the quick save button becomes literally as important to your progress at the fire button, a line has perhaps been crossed. The line which separates fun (‘thank God for quicksaves, hardy-har-har!’) and suicidal insanity ('I am LEEEEROOOY JENKINS!!! BWAHAHAHAHA').

Clear Sky frequently crossed this line. There was a point near the beginning which requires the player to sprint past a military base while dodging fire from a machine gun nest, Steve McQueen style. All well and good until you realize that your enemies have been mysteriously blessed with near Godlike accuracy (probably by same deal that granted the dogs glowing eyes). I died upwards of twenty times trying to navigate those cursed hundred yards (cue the Leroy Jenkins effect). This is the point where a game stops being ‘challenging’, aka fun, and starts being maddening, aka Contra.

However, after that point the game eased up a bit and the difficulty was a bit steadier. At its best, Clear Sky is an incredibly immersive, atmospheric, intense and creepy experience. The sky darkens, the creatures howl, the Geiger counter clicks ominously, and you are there. These are the times when I am wholly in love with the game for the same reason I was wholly in love with Shadow of Chernobyl.

Unfortunately, while at many times I had flashbacks to Shadow of Chernobyl (sometimes literally, as much of Clear Sky covers the exact same area as SoC did), the prequel does not take nearly enough cues from its sequel. Gone are the truly terrifying moments spent underground where mysterious forces plagued your senses. Gone is the sense of being a part of a living, breathing, working world which operates on a set of rules at once familiar and frighteningly foreign. Gone is the constant sense of being part of something bigger than you can fully understand.

All replaced by a jerky plot with an infuriatingly disappointing ending, not nearly enough time spent in mysteriously atmospheric areas, and too many survival/horror-esque moments…only the horror is replaced with frustration, and the survival is replaced by your corpse bleeding out onto the turf. Over and over and over.

To wrap up this meandering pointless essay on a mostly great game, Clear Sky is indeed worth a look. Like its predecessor/sequel, it is very atmospheric most of the time and even occasionally manages to be great fun. If you can get past the severe lack of polish and a few bugs, you will at times be completely sucked into the immersive world that is the Zone.

Right before you get shot. Again.