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Dishonored (PS3) by jp (Nov 15th, 2019 at 10:39:21) |
I've had an amazing first impression.
I've had a hard time with being stealthy, but no matter. I'm just terribly curious and excited about the world. Intrigued. Interested. Etc.
I feel like the game has done an incredible job with the world building and it reminds me a LOT of Bioshock (and Bioshock infinite). I don't know what it is exactly? The vibe? The camera angles/perspective? The way your hands appear in the screen? I'm not sure...
The only thing I'm a little worried about - just because I felt it really detracted from my experience with the Bioshock games - is that I hope there isn't a ton scavenging and looting to do. I've only encountered a little so far, which is nice. I'm just worried that as I move into more residential spaces I'll have to engage with opening all the drawers in a desk, opening this and that all to find coins to then buy upgrades, etc. That gets old and annoying really fast so I hope it's used sparingly... We'll have to wait and see though!
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Middle Earth: Shadow of Mordor (PC) by dkirschner (Nov 15th, 2019 at 07:05:04) |
The famed Nemesis system. Wow. First impressions: Sauron’s army has a bunch of captains. They have varying “power” levels. If you kill one, you get that much power, a resource that unlocks new tiers on the ability tree. It wasn’t too long before a captain killed me (I got in a scrap with two at once, actually). The one that killed me increased in power and became, formally, my nemesis! The next time I fought him, he was even harder, but I was stronger too and made short work of him. The second one that survived our encounter gained a lesser amount of power. This may add a sort of risk/reward for creating nemeses that get stronger so that you can then kill them for more power. I suppose this could easily spiral out of control if they become too powerful.
When you kill a captain, another uruk can take his place in the hierarchy. I think this happens over time; one spot was vacant for a couple hours then filled. You can also learn captains’ strengths and weaknesses by gathering intel, either from finding it or from interrogating captains and other uruk with special markers. Strengths are obviously good to know; I came across one captain whom I couldn’t parry. Weaknesses are even better though because, not only can you exploit them, but if you kill the captain with a specific weapon weakness (often weak to ground executions with the blade or combat executions with the sword), they’ll go down in one hit and they’ll drop a nice rune for that weapon.
At this point, I’m curious how randomized the captains are. Do they have names that give them specific strengths and weaknesses (like “the coward” might give them the easily terrorized trait) or is each uruk a pre-determined character? I have similar questions about the runes, which you can slot into your weapons to receive benefits (additional critical strike chance, resistance to poison, etc.).
My first impression of Shadow of Mordor is extremely positive. The Nemesis system is already blowing my mind with possibilities and gives the game a “hunting” feel. Interactions between uruks, human slaves, and local wildlife (which I have already killed, been killed by, has killed a captain for me, and has ravaged uruks and humans alike) make Mordor vibrant and deadly. The minimap is busy with icons, though most are herbs and other things that I’ve already learned to filter for the most part. There are a few collectables and quests per area, which so far have all been interesting. There’s a wonderful lore book. Gollum is here. Really excited to play more.
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Thief: Deadly Shadows (PC) by Chuanqi Liu (Nov 14th, 2019 at 23:02:05) |
I feel that Thief suffers greatly by comparison to Dishonored. Dishonored's world feels more authentic because of consistent art direction, along with large and atmospheric levels, that lend the game's city of Dunwall a strong sense of place. Thief is unable to achieve this because of its technical shortcomings. Its visual fidelity appears to come at the expense of an ability to render large levels. Exploring The City's hub world is less of an atmospheric stroll and more of a constant assault of loading screens. Even in missions, the game cannot render the entire location at once, so Garrett is forced through a linear progression of smaller locations. This destroys any true sense of place that Thief could potentially achieve.
Thief suffers from too much ambition, unable to draw its systems into a cohesive whole. Whether the game simply needed more time or entirely different foundations is never quite clear. Either way, it's a game that adds up to less than the sum of its parts.
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Thief: Deadly Shadows (PC) by Chuanqi Liu (Nov 13th, 2019 at 23:33:47) |
It took me 15 hours to complete the campaign with the majority of side activities factored-in. I like that the city plays the role of mission hub, not only linking each chapter but also offering a range of activities of its own. It's large but narrow and divided into pre-planned routes that made I become very familiar with as I crisscrossed its rooftops over and over. The majority of side missions are single-room stealth or puzzle challenges, but half a dozen take place in entirely new areas. These small open-ended environments suit Thief's gameplay very well. Most side missions are quickly accomplished and forgotten. My favorite mission was an optional one in which I lead a drunkard through the level by clearing away the obstacles that inhibit his progress. It's a cheekily wicked process with a few dark laughs in store.
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SOCOM 4: U.S. Navy Seals (PS3) by jp (Nov 13th, 2019 at 19:11:26) |
I played this over the weekend (the campaign, all but the last three missions) and it was a more interesting experience than I had anticipated. I bought the game a looong time ago when the PS Move controllers were the hot thing and I was curious about how an FPS would play. I recall trying it, thinking it was terrible, and then setting it aside. It definitely was not terrible with a DualShock in hand.
It took me a while to get used to the tactical nature of the game - in this case reflected in the fact that for most of the game you have two pairs of soldiers following you around and that you can direct to go to places, engage with enemy, and such. At times this felt a bit cumbersome, but overall it was interesting to play the game and having to think about where I'd like the other soldiers to go that could help and so on. It made me think that the game was tuned harder such that you have to rely on your team, which definitely makes for an interesting experience that was new to me. I enjoyed that side of it for sure.
The story is weird/interesting and I thought it would go places that maybe it didn't. So, the name of the game includes "Navy Seals" but I'm not sure I understood what the connection if any was. One of my two-soldier teams was asian (with the main character South Korean if the patch on her uniform is to be believed). The other two were American... but the whole setup was that you're some sort of UN force? Or there are other UN soldiers that you coordinate with? I don't know it has a gung-ho US military vibe from the title, but in playing it felt more like "We're International Military Good Guys".. I'll probably have to look stuff up on wikipedia to see what the official story/premise is...
Anyways, the main character - the one you control - seems have some past (dark) in the area and at one point we destroy a dam that floods a significant part of an area and, at least according to the warnings/disbelief of my fellow teammates, results in the death of a lot of civilians, villages wiped out, and that sort of thing. All of this to stop the baddies... Once you destroy the dam you get a cut-scene showing the aftermath - but it's only enemy baddies (all dead/drowned). I thought this game was going to go all SpecOps:The Line, especially with the other characters objecting to what the main character wanted to do, and his reaction (very negative and a bit aggressive) to their objections to the plan.
Wow, this will be really cool, and unexpected I thought.
And then nothing else happened. Oh, what a missed opportunity!
It turns out the baddies are just being manipulated by a militarized corporation and your commander, assumed dead, is actually running that show. So, I guess there might be more to it?
I didn't play all the way through the campaign, so maybe I'm wrong, but I was looking forward to having another example of an anti-war FPS game, but alas...it was not to be.
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2023 registered gamers and 2470 games. 6913 GameLogs with 12353 journal entries. 5004 games are currently being played.
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Left 4 Dead 2 (PC) by sbking42 |
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most recent entry: Monday 14 December, 2009
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Left 4 Dead has been largely described as the “demo” for Left 4 Dead 2. As an owner of both games, it is hard to say at the moment. L4D has a DLC campaign with supposedly more on the way plus tons of user created content, while L4D2 is still waiting for DLC, and user content is still almost nonexistent. That said, the new content of the sequel, from the new infected types, to the new items/pickups, new guns, and the addition of melee weapons really makes me wonder if I’ll ever play another game of versus on the original game.
Left 4 Dead 2 takes place during the same zombie apocalypse as its predecessor, but several hundred miles to the south and about two weeks later. As four new immune survivors, Coach, Rochelle, Ellis, and Nick, you must battle your way through hordes of infected very soon after a mostly failed military evacuation. You can use a wide variety of new weapons to do this, including the new addition of melee weapons. My Steam account stats tell me that my favorite melee weapon is the katana – and I must agree.
Versus mode is relatively similar to the original, with the two teams alternating between infected and survivors. The scoring, however, has changed to reflect the survivor progress throughout the levels. The best new feature of Left 4 Dead 2 is definitely the new types of special infected zombies. In addition to the old playable zombies (boomers, smokers, hunters) there are now three more (chargers, spitters, jockeys). This has greatly amplified the emergent complexity, especially in versus mode. Now there are some new strategies that can devastate the survivor team. For example, if the infected team spawns as a boomer, smoker, spitter, and hunter, or some other combinations, it is entirely possible to take out the survivor team in one wave. The way to do this would be to have boomer immediately try to boom all the survivors, drawing in a large horde of common infected. The hunter and smoker would then incapacitate two survivors while the others are distracted by the horde. Finally the spitter can spit a puddle of acid on the incapacitated survivors, racking up the damage.
The aesthetics of the game is probably the largest change from the original. While the original campaigns took place exclusively in nighttime, Left 4 Dead 2 campaigns take place throughout various times of day, with noticeable but natural feeling weather and time shifts throughout chapters. With the exception of the end of the hard rain chapter, most campaigns have a lot of daylight. Unfortunately the game has therefore lost some of its creepiness in exchange for a more panicked feeling. But now there is a great destructive body aspect of the game. Zombies can have limbs/their head shot or chopped off, which is really satisfying compared to older first person shooters where after sustaining tons of damage the enemies look entirely unharmed. Also, there is a ribcage revealing effect when you spray common infected with shotgun fire. This effect looks very similar to the destructive body effects of Wolverine, and in both games I wish my computer could play at a higher resolution so that I could better appreciate the flying flesh.
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