Wednesday, October 22, 2008

Quick Updates (10/22/08)

Too many things I wanted to write about for a week now, going to blow through them quickly.

Team Fortress 2 (Natascha Unlocked)http://www.steamgames.com/tf2/heavy/natascha.htm

Unlocked Natascha this morning. I think after a day or two I'll switch back to Sasha, but it's a much nastier and effective weapon than I imagined, while still keeping up the Valve standard for game balance.

Castlevania: Circle of the Moon

http://www.gamespot.com/gba/adventure/castlevaniacircleofthemoon/index.html?tag=result;title;0

Picked it up two weeks ago. And after the first two days, I had been lost in the same spot, with no clue where to go next. That Dracula builds himself some bigass castles, yo.

Yesterday, I noticed a jumping puzzle that was, in retrospect, painfully obvious. Don't ask me why, but I refuse to use a FAQ with this game.

Condemned: Criminal Origins

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Condemned_Criminal_Origins

Spent most of my free time last week playing this one. Monolith is a curious developer: most of their games fall just short of greatness, but they always make unique, innovative shooters. Not everything they try works, but I'm always glad to see them push the FPS genre in new directions.

And they made Tron's glowing Frisbee into one of the most enjoyable weapons I've ever used in a shooter - and that gets them a lot of points in my book.

Condemned, like F.E.A.R., knows how to get under the skin. But like F.E.A.R., the game begins to feel repetitive after only an hour or two. With the monotony in the color palette, level design, and enemies, I felt like I was playing a really long demo to a really kickass game.

I'd give a rent, though.

Star Wars: The Old Republic

http://www.gamespot.com/news/6199726.html?tag=topslot;thumb;1


I want to be excited about this - and I have no doubt that Bioware will make a kickass game - but it's still an MMORPG. I haven't subscribed to an MMO since the early days of Everquest, and as much as I enjoyed my ten-day trial of World of Warcraft, as attached as I grew to my Dwarf Hunter's pet bear, Poohbarathor, I still can't bring myself to invest the kind of time and money that these games require.

Still, I'm curious to see this game in action. Not because it's Star Wars, but because it's Bioware. One of the reasons MMOs don't interest me is their lack of a proper story, which Bioware plans to rectify with The Old Republic. If they can tell a good story, and if it's possible for players to actually impact and change the game world, I might pick this one up.

Dead Space (Second Night)

http://dvd.ign.com/articles/919/919842p1.html


Damn, this game went from challenging to downright nasty. For the first four chapters, I died once or twice a level. For the next two chapters, I died once or twice a checkpoint.

I'm getting close to the halfway mark, and the game is still plenty damn freaky. Most horror games lose some their punch in the second half, but I have a feeling Dead Space won't be one of those.

Have to wait till tonight to play it, though. Playing a game of its kind when the sun is up just seems wrong.

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