Okay, no I've not been on holiday, and yes I have played games:
God Hand - what a superb game this is! It's essentially a Streets Of Rage-style brawler but in 3D. Silly sense of humour, daft plot involving some fella who has a special arm. Graphics are a bit ropey but the deep, involving gameplay more than makes up for it. It's one of those games where, when you fail, you know you can do better next time.
It was the last game from developer Clover Studio who also did Okami amongst other things. It's a shame they had to go.
Borderlands - still a superb game but I was flagging. I'd recommend people play it in co-op as the single-player is a bit ofa grind after a while.
Sunday, 20 December 2009
Monday, 16 November 2009
A Trip Through The Borderlands
This last week or so I've mainly been playing Borderlands, a sort of post-apocalyptic FPS RPG with definite nods to Phantasy Star Online (although I know some people will beg to differ).
Verdict: surprisingly good.
You basically go about doing quests, gaining experience, levelling up, picking up loot, all the stuff you'd expect to be doing in a game like this, except it's a first-person shooter. Now regular readers will know how bloody useless I am at FPSs, but this one isn't too bad as far as difficulty goes. For a while I was really dominating the opposition until I discovered aim assist was on by default, but I turned it off and it got better, much better.
The devs claim there are thousands of guns in this game, basically they all have varying stats and effects (and often puke-inducing colours) and it's great when you come across a new more powerful weapon to try out.
The drawbacks? The menu system is rather akward, it takes ages to get at inventory items and they're not organised in a logical way, plus you have to press a button to compare the relative merits of new equipment which just makes things even more akward.
I had the pleasure of playing with a couple of people in co-op and it was very entertaining. Depending on the levels of the players and who is hosting it alters the enemy levels accordingly, so it is possible for lower-level players to speed-level as long as the other players are able to keep them alive - this is where good teamwork comes into play.
Generally it's a good game, lots to do, although the environment do become rather drab and repetitive after a while.
I need to step away from it for a short while as I've played nothing else all week and it's in danger of becoming a bit played-out, but rest assured I'll be striving to get to the end of at least one playthrough, despite my ineptitude!
Verdict: surprisingly good.
You basically go about doing quests, gaining experience, levelling up, picking up loot, all the stuff you'd expect to be doing in a game like this, except it's a first-person shooter. Now regular readers will know how bloody useless I am at FPSs, but this one isn't too bad as far as difficulty goes. For a while I was really dominating the opposition until I discovered aim assist was on by default, but I turned it off and it got better, much better.
The devs claim there are thousands of guns in this game, basically they all have varying stats and effects (and often puke-inducing colours) and it's great when you come across a new more powerful weapon to try out.
The drawbacks? The menu system is rather akward, it takes ages to get at inventory items and they're not organised in a logical way, plus you have to press a button to compare the relative merits of new equipment which just makes things even more akward.
I had the pleasure of playing with a couple of people in co-op and it was very entertaining. Depending on the levels of the players and who is hosting it alters the enemy levels accordingly, so it is possible for lower-level players to speed-level as long as the other players are able to keep them alive - this is where good teamwork comes into play.
Generally it's a good game, lots to do, although the environment do become rather drab and repetitive after a while.
I need to step away from it for a short while as I've played nothing else all week and it's in danger of becoming a bit played-out, but rest assured I'll be striving to get to the end of at least one playthrough, despite my ineptitude!
Saturday, 31 October 2009
Stop Buying Games!
So, yes, I apologise, I'm slipping again, as far as the blog goes. However I have been playing some games:
Call Of Duty 4 - it's strange, as I think about it I've had no compulsion to go back to this. Whilst I could see why the multiplayer was so popular I found it a real chore and never felt I was in control. The best thing about games is when you feel you're improving, something happens that makes you realise you are getting better and that spurs you on. With CoD4 though I am not feeling that.
Beatles Rock Band - after a day out with my friend Michelle I was persuaded to pick this up. HMV had it for £25, about as low as it's likely to get this side of Christmas. I ploughed through the story mode in a couple of hours although I need to 5-star all the songs. As I've said before the presentation is stunning.
Fallout 3 Game Of The Year - I wanted to play this since it came out, and was pleased to see the Game Of The Year edition come out with all the DLC. Unfortunately it doesn't agree with my PC, at one point a reset borked my BIOS! I will keep the PC one for when I next build a PC, but if it gets cheap in the new year I'll try the 360 version. There really needs to be more SF RPGs.
I'm such a slut when it comes to games, I don't like it. I really need to stop buying games and complete the damn things first.
Call Of Duty 4 - it's strange, as I think about it I've had no compulsion to go back to this. Whilst I could see why the multiplayer was so popular I found it a real chore and never felt I was in control. The best thing about games is when you feel you're improving, something happens that makes you realise you are getting better and that spurs you on. With CoD4 though I am not feeling that.
Beatles Rock Band - after a day out with my friend Michelle I was persuaded to pick this up. HMV had it for £25, about as low as it's likely to get this side of Christmas. I ploughed through the story mode in a couple of hours although I need to 5-star all the songs. As I've said before the presentation is stunning.
Fallout 3 Game Of The Year - I wanted to play this since it came out, and was pleased to see the Game Of The Year edition come out with all the DLC. Unfortunately it doesn't agree with my PC, at one point a reset borked my BIOS! I will keep the PC one for when I next build a PC, but if it gets cheap in the new year I'll try the 360 version. There really needs to be more SF RPGs.
I'm such a slut when it comes to games, I don't like it. I really need to stop buying games and complete the damn things first.
Saturday, 10 October 2009
The Week In Games
It's been a varied week as far as games have gone:
Call Of Duty 4 - I have tried to keep on at this despite my ineptitude. It really is incredibly tough to get into still. I switched to Team Deathmatch so, as someone said to me, only half the players are out to kill you, and whilst it makes finding enemies a little easier I still keep getting killed because I cannot see them.
To explain, I don't have 100% eyesight, it's good enough for most things but you could say I'm slow at picking up detail. So when I turn a corner and don't see anything, then get fragged by someone I can't see, I have to ask myself am I bad at the game, is it my eyesight, was it just plain bad luck? Compared to other FPSs the enemy on this are pretty hard to spot.
Quake Live - such a convenient game to have as it just sits in a tab in my browser and within seconds I can be running about having fun. In contrast to CoD 4 the enemy in this are much easier to spot, although I did enter a couple of console commands to make the enemy bright green - I can spot them a mile off. Cheating? Not really, but it makes me wonder would I be any good if they weren't green?
Gran Turismo 4 - not totally sure why I am playing this again. I bought this on pre-order in 2005, played the hell out of it but never got past the Beginner Stadium. It's such a grind. But something drew me back, nostalgia? Who knows.
Painkiller Overdose - I bought this on Steam when they had their massive sale last Christmas, thought I'd install this and give it a go. It's a Doom-style FPS, no pretentions, just straight-up blasting. Very arcadey and no bad thing for it. However I'm finding it a bit of a pain. There's little or no damage feedback so you don't know when you're being hit, it has these awful voice samples that get very tiresome very quickly. Plus it has some technical issues that stop me playing more. Might have to uninstall this as it's not working right.
When I reflect on it I'm not sure if any of this was really satisfying. CoD 4 was frustrating, I'm not really my best on Quake Live of late, GT4 is still a grind, and Painkiller Overdose, well, a bit of a let-down.
I need that boost of fun you get when a game is going right, when you can feel you're getting into it and can't really stop. I've not felt that in a good while, sadly.
Call Of Duty 4 - I have tried to keep on at this despite my ineptitude. It really is incredibly tough to get into still. I switched to Team Deathmatch so, as someone said to me, only half the players are out to kill you, and whilst it makes finding enemies a little easier I still keep getting killed because I cannot see them.
To explain, I don't have 100% eyesight, it's good enough for most things but you could say I'm slow at picking up detail. So when I turn a corner and don't see anything, then get fragged by someone I can't see, I have to ask myself am I bad at the game, is it my eyesight, was it just plain bad luck? Compared to other FPSs the enemy on this are pretty hard to spot.
Quake Live - such a convenient game to have as it just sits in a tab in my browser and within seconds I can be running about having fun. In contrast to CoD 4 the enemy in this are much easier to spot, although I did enter a couple of console commands to make the enemy bright green - I can spot them a mile off. Cheating? Not really, but it makes me wonder would I be any good if they weren't green?
Gran Turismo 4 - not totally sure why I am playing this again. I bought this on pre-order in 2005, played the hell out of it but never got past the Beginner Stadium. It's such a grind. But something drew me back, nostalgia? Who knows.
Painkiller Overdose - I bought this on Steam when they had their massive sale last Christmas, thought I'd install this and give it a go. It's a Doom-style FPS, no pretentions, just straight-up blasting. Very arcadey and no bad thing for it. However I'm finding it a bit of a pain. There's little or no damage feedback so you don't know when you're being hit, it has these awful voice samples that get very tiresome very quickly. Plus it has some technical issues that stop me playing more. Might have to uninstall this as it's not working right.
When I reflect on it I'm not sure if any of this was really satisfying. CoD 4 was frustrating, I'm not really my best on Quake Live of late, GT4 is still a grind, and Painkiller Overdose, well, a bit of a let-down.
I need that boost of fun you get when a game is going right, when you can feel you're getting into it and can't really stop. I've not felt that in a good while, sadly.
Saturday, 3 October 2009
Dead Again
Sometimes I don't know why I bother. Am I complete masochist?
Call Of Duty 4: Modern Warfare multiplayer, grrr! That's the best thing I can say at this point in time. It says I've spent just under 2 hours on the multiplayer although it feels much, much longer.
Each round is a dictionary definition of 'futility', constantly being caught out by the other players, not being able to track down said players, being killed as soon as I respawn, finding one victim only to be killed by another player. With each death my mood sinks and I have to kid myself I'm actually enjoying it.
It's fair to say that, like most online shooters probably, coming into something like this so late on is not exactly going to make things easy, in fact it's about the least-accessible online game I've ever played (bar Counterstrike). I had resigned myself to this, yet it doesn't make it any easier.
Just when I think I'm doing okay, making some progress, I'll have a couple of rounds where I don't even score. Every kill I get feels like Christmas: they come once a year, on average.
Should I keep on with it? Will I improve? Will I ever be able to compete? Am I doing it wrong? How are you supposed to find your opposition? These and other questions will have to wait until my mood improves.
Call Of Duty 4: Modern Warfare multiplayer, grrr! That's the best thing I can say at this point in time. It says I've spent just under 2 hours on the multiplayer although it feels much, much longer.
Each round is a dictionary definition of 'futility', constantly being caught out by the other players, not being able to track down said players, being killed as soon as I respawn, finding one victim only to be killed by another player. With each death my mood sinks and I have to kid myself I'm actually enjoying it.
It's fair to say that, like most online shooters probably, coming into something like this so late on is not exactly going to make things easy, in fact it's about the least-accessible online game I've ever played (bar Counterstrike). I had resigned myself to this, yet it doesn't make it any easier.
Just when I think I'm doing okay, making some progress, I'll have a couple of rounds where I don't even score. Every kill I get feels like Christmas: they come once a year, on average.
Should I keep on with it? Will I improve? Will I ever be able to compete? Am I doing it wrong? How are you supposed to find your opposition? These and other questions will have to wait until my mood improves.
Thursday, 1 October 2009
Duty Calls
After much um'ing and ah'ing, and a little encouragement from fellow rllmuk forum members, I caved in and purchased Call Of Duty 4: Modern Warfare for the 360.
Everyone I know who has experienced it bangs on about how great it is, which usually means I'll hate it. So it was with some skepticism I booted up the game.
Starting up the single-player portion of the game I couldn't fail to notice how good it looked. A pretty-solid 60 frames persecond - ie lovely and smooth and fast - very pleasing on the eye. So many games today choose eye-candy over a fast frame rate, so it was good to see someone make the effort.
And this wasn't the only area where effort had clearly been made. The story is pretty good for a game like this, although I find the SAS missions more interesting and have more character than the US ones. I'm not going to spoil it, suffice to say it's non-stop intense action all the way.
The main draw of CoD4 seems to be the multiplayer. I hear of people sinking hours and hours per week into it, unlocking equipment and 'perks' (special abilities), yet I was fearful. This blog isn't titled inept gamer for nowt!
With trepidation I opted for a game in Deathmatch mode with randoms. The headset was muted so I didn't have to listen to American teens reminding me how rubbish I was. The round started, I stumbled forward. I didn't have a clue where I was going, so attempted to use the radar in the corner to find an opponent. Movement infront of me and the next thing I know I'm dead. This repeated itself several times, my total ineptitude replayed from the killer's point of view.
With morale dropping I hung about for a second round, this time actually managing to get a kill. There were a few occasions where the other person was, like myself, having trouble getting a bead on me, though they would win eventually. This and only this made me think that, with some practice, I could improve enough to enjoy the experience. My time with Quake Live has taught me that whilst I am rubbish at first, with a little perseverence I can improve.
Despite this, seeing myself at the bottom of the table, lagging way behind the next person up, didn't inspire me to carry on. Maybe tomorrow, I thought, although an internet outage stopped me trying again.
Tonight is my usual Team Fortress 2 night but I'll try and get a couple more rounds of CoD4 multiplayer in and report back. This is the true test for the inept gamer.
Everyone I know who has experienced it bangs on about how great it is, which usually means I'll hate it. So it was with some skepticism I booted up the game.
Starting up the single-player portion of the game I couldn't fail to notice how good it looked. A pretty-solid 60 frames persecond - ie lovely and smooth and fast - very pleasing on the eye. So many games today choose eye-candy over a fast frame rate, so it was good to see someone make the effort.
And this wasn't the only area where effort had clearly been made. The story is pretty good for a game like this, although I find the SAS missions more interesting and have more character than the US ones. I'm not going to spoil it, suffice to say it's non-stop intense action all the way.
The main draw of CoD4 seems to be the multiplayer. I hear of people sinking hours and hours per week into it, unlocking equipment and 'perks' (special abilities), yet I was fearful. This blog isn't titled inept gamer for nowt!
With trepidation I opted for a game in Deathmatch mode with randoms. The headset was muted so I didn't have to listen to American teens reminding me how rubbish I was. The round started, I stumbled forward. I didn't have a clue where I was going, so attempted to use the radar in the corner to find an opponent. Movement infront of me and the next thing I know I'm dead. This repeated itself several times, my total ineptitude replayed from the killer's point of view.
With morale dropping I hung about for a second round, this time actually managing to get a kill. There were a few occasions where the other person was, like myself, having trouble getting a bead on me, though they would win eventually. This and only this made me think that, with some practice, I could improve enough to enjoy the experience. My time with Quake Live has taught me that whilst I am rubbish at first, with a little perseverence I can improve.
Despite this, seeing myself at the bottom of the table, lagging way behind the next person up, didn't inspire me to carry on. Maybe tomorrow, I thought, although an internet outage stopped me trying again.
Tonight is my usual Team Fortress 2 night but I'll try and get a couple more rounds of CoD4 multiplayer in and report back. This is the true test for the inept gamer.
Saturday, 26 September 2009
You Know When You've Been Tango'd
As an update to my last post I put Rainbow Six Vegas 2 into the 360 for a quick spin of Terrorist Hunt mode.
Starting the game for the first time scored me some experience points (you earn xp and level up your character in 2) and gear as I'd played R6V 1 already - handy.
I fired up the Kill House level on Normal with the default weapons. The target was to defeat 25 terrorists or 'tangos' as they seem to be known here. The first few attempts saw me die almost instantly. So I switched tack, rather than going into the building I headed for the roof. This netted me a few tangos but I was soon picked off as I was too busy looking one way.
At this point I did what all good inept gamers do: headed for Youtube. I watched this video of some fella cleaning up on Realistic difficulty. Emulating this chap got me results, after a couple of goes I got down to 5 tangos left before getting wasted. I got some sort of award but I was too busy 'taking out the trash' to see what it was, it netted me big xp though.
However I failed to capitalise on this, the next couple of goes seeing me fail. My problem is when there are too many people coming from too many directions my fingers go all over the shop, I'm crouching and standing up, reloading, going into the scope mode, all the while those damn tangos are closing in.
I've only played about an hour of it so I must be making some progress. Anything with levelling involved is instantly addictive to me, so hopefully it will keep me playing.
Starting the game for the first time scored me some experience points (you earn xp and level up your character in 2) and gear as I'd played R6V 1 already - handy.
I fired up the Kill House level on Normal with the default weapons. The target was to defeat 25 terrorists or 'tangos' as they seem to be known here. The first few attempts saw me die almost instantly. So I switched tack, rather than going into the building I headed for the roof. This netted me a few tangos but I was soon picked off as I was too busy looking one way.
At this point I did what all good inept gamers do: headed for Youtube. I watched this video of some fella cleaning up on Realistic difficulty. Emulating this chap got me results, after a couple of goes I got down to 5 tangos left before getting wasted. I got some sort of award but I was too busy 'taking out the trash' to see what it was, it netted me big xp though.
However I failed to capitalise on this, the next couple of goes seeing me fail. My problem is when there are too many people coming from too many directions my fingers go all over the shop, I'm crouching and standing up, reloading, going into the scope mode, all the while those damn tangos are closing in.
I've only played about an hour of it so I must be making some progress. Anything with levelling involved is instantly addictive to me, so hopefully it will keep me playing.
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