My disdain for pointless scavenger hunts is extensive, so its nice to know that Rocksteady put the same love and affection into what is typically the industry's favorite replay value killing achievement ruining "feature" as everything else in the game. Unfortunately, no matter how interesting / rewarding you make "collectibles" the reality is 400 is just too many.
The game seems to get it as well, as for all the riddler trophies that need a gadget or some sort of creative intuition to collect, there are quite a few that are just sitting there or hang waiting to be picked up. Certainly, the narrative can facilitate the idea that the riddler left some easy ones just to screw with Batman, but the last hundred or so just seem kind of pointless.
Still, Arkham City's scavenger hunt extends the olive branch in so many other ways, it seems almost trivial to complain. Its still light years ahead of the competition, and its not like I didn't get all 400 of them in the end.
In any event, this will be the last of my Arkham coverage for a while, I've got lots of games I'd rather dive into than beating my head against mission mode for the riddler's approval. Like Outlands, whose color change mechanic has gone from from cute to mouth frothingly tedious in less than a week of gameplay.
Tuesday, November 29, 2011
Monday, November 28, 2011
Balls deep in the Row
I'm posting this about 75% through the "story" of Saints Row 3. I'm not going to sugar coat it and say it's a fantastic story because its not, and its not supposed to be. What is, and what it does perfectly, is let us run through a city acting like a total asshole and have a blast doing it.
First I start will the Pre-order and collectors edition crap. Of course I pre-ordered it and got the octopus gun that shoots mind control mollusks and I got Professor Genki's Manapult but honestly, I barely used either of them and the Shark gun DLC puts the octopus gun to shame. Being as it was my birthday, my GF Bonnie got me the collectors edition of SR3 which came with headphones. Headphones that don't work with xbox live and are pretty chunky with a big ass SR3 logo on the side, they haven't and probably will never leave the box, unless one of my nephews or something want them. No extra missions. No art book. I am dissapoint.
That's really the only glaring bad thing about this game. I know when games are hyped like this, they usually come up short but in all honesty this game delivers what it promised. The storyline missions are varied and pretty eventful (though none have lived up to the escaping the airplane from the beginning ....yet). All of your favorite , well MOST of your favorite mini games are back from the 2nd Saints. Heli Assult, despite much improved controls, is still there and still pretty frustrating. FUZZ sadly enough, was no where to be found. New mini games include "Guardian Angel" which is just Heli Assult but the CPU flys the choppah, and "Professor Genki's Super Ethical Reality Climax" which is actually a pretty fun rendition of well, a mix of Smash TV and The Running Man; it also makes it easier to hit that "kill 200 mascots" challenge. Septic Avenger, Fight Club, Crowd Control also go the big ugly axe. Freckle Bitches was no where to be found on the map either, in fact you cant even buy food for your dpad menu anymore.
Ah yes, the challenges. Remember all the goofy shit you can do for respect, like driving in the oncoming lane? Well the game now tracks that stat with a purpose. Once you do it for 10,000 feet you get a cash and respect bonus. Some challenges are pretty tame like "compliment 50 people" some are a real pain, like nailing 15 base jumps. Most will come in time playing the game, others you are going to have to make time to do this. They mention FUZZ a lot in the description, so I believe this is part of the replacement for FUZZ. Ironically, you can buy a Steel Port Police Department uniform in the game.
One thing I really liked and appreciated in SR2 was completing mini games to unlock perks. Do this, you get unlimited pistol ammo, do that and you don't take fall damage. Unlocking perks like that is gone, now you buy the perks with cash you earned. This was done for 2 reasons, something to spend money on, and getting perks that you couldn't because you cant beat a mini-game.
The refined controls are reason enough to head back into the row. They changed the priority of the cars so that the players car has more mass/inertia. Its a godsend, no more getting bullied by a pinto when you're driving a SWAT van. Powerslides, burnouts, even getting up on 2 wheels is just easier to control and that saddest part about that? Racing is no where to be found =( Perhaps some real honest to goodness DLC will come out. Ive been eyeballing the "Season Pass" DLC but I'm hesitant to pull the trigger. God knows I didn't really use the MK Pass like I thought I would.
The graphics are a big jump. They are as much of an improvement over SR2 as SR2 was over SR1. Lower poly counts but improved textures do wonders for the visual appeal. Pop ups still happen but they don't affect gameplay. Occasionally you get some weird glitches, for example, traffic signs getting stuck inside the car, cars sunk into the ground, and more than once I "Bo-Duken'ed" into a car and for some reason took a ton of damage and died. Thankfully dying just takes away some money, you keep your guns so you can jump right back into the game.
Overall I am having a fantastic time, I'm 20 hours or so in and still having fun just goofing around. I plan to finish up the "story" after I get a few more "insert gang name here" specialists killed. Brutes are brutal, but I gotta say, its a good Rowvember.
First I start will the Pre-order and collectors edition crap. Of course I pre-ordered it and got the octopus gun that shoots mind control mollusks and I got Professor Genki's Manapult but honestly, I barely used either of them and the Shark gun DLC puts the octopus gun to shame. Being as it was my birthday, my GF Bonnie got me the collectors edition of SR3 which came with headphones. Headphones that don't work with xbox live and are pretty chunky with a big ass SR3 logo on the side, they haven't and probably will never leave the box, unless one of my nephews or something want them. No extra missions. No art book. I am dissapoint.
That's really the only glaring bad thing about this game. I know when games are hyped like this, they usually come up short but in all honesty this game delivers what it promised. The storyline missions are varied and pretty eventful (though none have lived up to the escaping the airplane from the beginning ....yet). All of your favorite , well MOST of your favorite mini games are back from the 2nd Saints. Heli Assult, despite much improved controls, is still there and still pretty frustrating. FUZZ sadly enough, was no where to be found. New mini games include "Guardian Angel" which is just Heli Assult but the CPU flys the choppah, and "Professor Genki's Super Ethical Reality Climax" which is actually a pretty fun rendition of well, a mix of Smash TV and The Running Man; it also makes it easier to hit that "kill 200 mascots" challenge. Septic Avenger, Fight Club, Crowd Control also go the big ugly axe. Freckle Bitches was no where to be found on the map either, in fact you cant even buy food for your dpad menu anymore.
Ah yes, the challenges. Remember all the goofy shit you can do for respect, like driving in the oncoming lane? Well the game now tracks that stat with a purpose. Once you do it for 10,000 feet you get a cash and respect bonus. Some challenges are pretty tame like "compliment 50 people" some are a real pain, like nailing 15 base jumps. Most will come in time playing the game, others you are going to have to make time to do this. They mention FUZZ a lot in the description, so I believe this is part of the replacement for FUZZ. Ironically, you can buy a Steel Port Police Department uniform in the game.
One thing I really liked and appreciated in SR2 was completing mini games to unlock perks. Do this, you get unlimited pistol ammo, do that and you don't take fall damage. Unlocking perks like that is gone, now you buy the perks with cash you earned. This was done for 2 reasons, something to spend money on, and getting perks that you couldn't because you cant beat a mini-game.
The refined controls are reason enough to head back into the row. They changed the priority of the cars so that the players car has more mass/inertia. Its a godsend, no more getting bullied by a pinto when you're driving a SWAT van. Powerslides, burnouts, even getting up on 2 wheels is just easier to control and that saddest part about that? Racing is no where to be found =( Perhaps some real honest to goodness DLC will come out. Ive been eyeballing the "Season Pass" DLC but I'm hesitant to pull the trigger. God knows I didn't really use the MK Pass like I thought I would.
The graphics are a big jump. They are as much of an improvement over SR2 as SR2 was over SR1. Lower poly counts but improved textures do wonders for the visual appeal. Pop ups still happen but they don't affect gameplay. Occasionally you get some weird glitches, for example, traffic signs getting stuck inside the car, cars sunk into the ground, and more than once I "Bo-Duken'ed" into a car and for some reason took a ton of damage and died. Thankfully dying just takes away some money, you keep your guns so you can jump right back into the game.
Overall I am having a fantastic time, I'm 20 hours or so in and still having fun just goofing around. I plan to finish up the "story" after I get a few more "insert gang name here" specialists killed. Brutes are brutal, but I gotta say, its a good Rowvember.
Monday, November 14, 2011
And the award for the ballsiest licensed game ending goes to...
So, I put Batman's plot down this weekend, capping 2 week long nightly gaming binge and leaving only the side missions, riddler trophies, new game plus, and challenge rooms left to do. Thom has already bailed on the 1K, so its up to me to claim the highest Arkham City % on my friends list. Its a shame that an excellent game so effectively packed with content and unlockables has to be mired by some of the most predatory cockpunch style dlc tactics in use these days, but that's the way it is. In the long run, knowing there's two more full characters and seven costumes already done that are just being held back to make an extra buck really tarnishes the games majesty, no matter how many kitchen sinks they dropped into it.
Still, despite whatever insults Warner Bros. may lay at my feet, Rocksteady, I take my hat off to you. Twice in a row now you have made the concept of action games, licensed games, DC comics games and Batman games all shine at once, a feat only Spiderman has otherwise achieved, and only because Activision is just gonna keep slamming him into the wall annually until they get a hit. Wherever it is you decide to take your talents next, I will happily follow.
Meanwhile, Deus Ex waits patiently in its Gamefly sleeve praying that I will accidentally knock it off the shelf and into my Xbox one of these days. Days ago, it seemed likely that Deus Ex would be next, a cyberpunky shooty distraction to keep me from immediately diving back into Dark Souls and getting my feelings hurt. Now, I have an angry space marine revving his chainsaw gun, and the Third Street Saints breathing down my neck in addition. And that's disregarding Hydrophobia, Trials, Outland, and whatever else I got lying around the living room unplayed.
The good news is, barring a Gamefly send, I'll have nothing new in my queue until I wrestle with the decision to buy Anarchy Reigns next year, and after that, probably nothing until SFxT, which flip-flops between guaranteed buy and waste of space with each new tidbit of information Capcom eeks out onto the internet.
Here's hoping that craving I had for some multiplayer demon slaying action stays just a craving, and doesn't blossom into another month of grinding in Castlevania: HoD.
-F.
Still, despite whatever insults Warner Bros. may lay at my feet, Rocksteady, I take my hat off to you. Twice in a row now you have made the concept of action games, licensed games, DC comics games and Batman games all shine at once, a feat only Spiderman has otherwise achieved, and only because Activision is just gonna keep slamming him into the wall annually until they get a hit. Wherever it is you decide to take your talents next, I will happily follow.
Meanwhile, Deus Ex waits patiently in its Gamefly sleeve praying that I will accidentally knock it off the shelf and into my Xbox one of these days. Days ago, it seemed likely that Deus Ex would be next, a cyberpunky shooty distraction to keep me from immediately diving back into Dark Souls and getting my feelings hurt. Now, I have an angry space marine revving his chainsaw gun, and the Third Street Saints breathing down my neck in addition. And that's disregarding Hydrophobia, Trials, Outland, and whatever else I got lying around the living room unplayed.
The good news is, barring a Gamefly send, I'll have nothing new in my queue until I wrestle with the decision to buy Anarchy Reigns next year, and after that, probably nothing until SFxT, which flip-flops between guaranteed buy and waste of space with each new tidbit of information Capcom eeks out onto the internet.
Here's hoping that craving I had for some multiplayer demon slaying action stays just a craving, and doesn't blossom into another month of grinding in Castlevania: HoD.
-F.
Friday, November 11, 2011
I'll post something better after Batman, I promise.
I told myself I was going to make Monday my official write about video games day, but then the only thing I did last week was play Batman. At current, I don't really have anything better than Llinrac (or anyone else on the internet) to say about it, but maybe after I 100% done on it. In the mean time I thought I'd look back and round up some of the gems between now and the last time I lost interest in this. It was either this or hate on Capcom some more and really, they're making that so easy its not even fun anymore.
Saints Row 2: Now Llinrac already gushed about this, but I want to say if you're a fan of dicking around in sandbox games, BUY SR3. If this game is any indication, the guys at volition could care less about narrative or theme or pacing but good god do they know what tickles your inner twelve year old.
Outland: An action platformer infused with a lot of Limbo's minimalist personality. You don't do much more than race around shadowy environs and swing your stick at things, but its so well done, you don't really feel like you're missing out. The games real depth comes from its light dark system, where the player can hot swap (in)vulnerabilities to color coded platforms, enemies, and bullets. Truth be told, I've only scratched the surface of what it has to offer, but I can already tell the frantic red/blue switching is going to get incredibly complex.
World of Keflings: You know, underneath the years of twitch gaming and torture trained reflexes, I've got a soft spot for any game that presents me with nothing more than a canvas and a loose set of goals. This low rent fusion of Sim City (90%) and Starcraft (10%) gives you a couple flowcharts worth of construction and resource management framed around rebuilding the absurd lives of the Keflings. There's a lot of buildings, resources, and a small chores to motivate you through its "plot", but by and large you just put troops to work and turn a map of trees and stone into houses and towers. The icing here is that you get to stomp around in your own avatar's low res boots, putting your adoring fans to work with a slightly more personal touch than the standard disembodied "God's Hand". More to the point, resources never seem to run out and there's no rigid quick do this then do this or you can't do that mission structure. The worst thing that could happen is you put to many people on crystal duty and have to reassign some units to logging and take a potty break.
Trials HD: Simply put, this is the closest anyone has come to capturing the magic of Excitebike without slapping on a bunch of stupid modern gaming features. I played the demo for Trials on a whim (because it was on sale) and after about 15 minutes worth of jumps, spins, and crashes I happily surrendered my wallet. Its nowhere in the neighborhood of say, Super Meat Boy in terms of soul crushing trial and error, but if you want to put your loose understanding of motorcycle physics to the test (or just take your frustrations out on a disposable non-descript motorcyclist) you can't do much better than this.
-F
Saints Row 2: Now Llinrac already gushed about this, but I want to say if you're a fan of dicking around in sandbox games, BUY SR3. If this game is any indication, the guys at volition could care less about narrative or theme or pacing but good god do they know what tickles your inner twelve year old.
Outland: An action platformer infused with a lot of Limbo's minimalist personality. You don't do much more than race around shadowy environs and swing your stick at things, but its so well done, you don't really feel like you're missing out. The games real depth comes from its light dark system, where the player can hot swap (in)vulnerabilities to color coded platforms, enemies, and bullets. Truth be told, I've only scratched the surface of what it has to offer, but I can already tell the frantic red/blue switching is going to get incredibly complex.
World of Keflings: You know, underneath the years of twitch gaming and torture trained reflexes, I've got a soft spot for any game that presents me with nothing more than a canvas and a loose set of goals. This low rent fusion of Sim City (90%) and Starcraft (10%) gives you a couple flowcharts worth of construction and resource management framed around rebuilding the absurd lives of the Keflings. There's a lot of buildings, resources, and a small chores to motivate you through its "plot", but by and large you just put troops to work and turn a map of trees and stone into houses and towers. The icing here is that you get to stomp around in your own avatar's low res boots, putting your adoring fans to work with a slightly more personal touch than the standard disembodied "God's Hand". More to the point, resources never seem to run out and there's no rigid quick do this then do this or you can't do that mission structure. The worst thing that could happen is you put to many people on crystal duty and have to reassign some units to logging and take a potty break.
Trials HD: Simply put, this is the closest anyone has come to capturing the magic of Excitebike without slapping on a bunch of stupid modern gaming features. I played the demo for Trials on a whim (because it was on sale) and after about 15 minutes worth of jumps, spins, and crashes I happily surrendered my wallet. Its nowhere in the neighborhood of say, Super Meat Boy in terms of soul crushing trial and error, but if you want to put your loose understanding of motorcycle physics to the test (or just take your frustrations out on a disposable non-descript motorcyclist) you can't do much better than this.
-F
Wednesday, November 2, 2011
Forza Win!
Remember the good old days when Gran Turismo was the most amazing game ever? We kept wondering when the next great racing game would come out and be the "Gran Turismo Killer", I'm sure we never thought it'd be Gran Tursimo huh? I'm happy to say that the days of riding along the wall and AI that just runs a line around the track (while not giving a shit if you are there or not) are long gone.
Forza on the original Xbox was an amazing game that many people passed over. Forza 2 on the 360 was even better; more tracks, more cars, more to do. I thought Forza 3 was pretty much the perfect racing game, from jaw dropping graphics to jaw dropping physics. Forza 4 is down right RIDICULOUS!
First off, graphics. While not leaps and bounds above Forza 3, they are an improvement. More colorful backdrops, better textures, and the cars seem to "pop" more. Tracks have an amazing sense of depth, and an unreal draw distance. You can literally see a mile down the road, Cars have more factory paint colors to choose from than ever before, and panels can be painted individually so you can rice as much as you can race. In addition to all the on-track eye candy, you can now set your home space (backdrop) from many different on-track locations to the set of Top Gear. You are doing something right when even the asphalt looks good.
On to sounds and music. I read that they re-recorded pretty much everything, but the engine noises dont really sound all that much better or different than Forza 3. Everything sounds like it should, except when I hear a Honda Civic driving near me on the highway it usually sounds like a bumblebee. Music remains a weak spot for this series, the good news is you can load up your own MP3s and race around the track to those instead of whats included on the disc. Ironically I typically race with no music, so you have more than one option here. All the voice over work is done by Jeremy Clarkson, of top gear fame, and you can tell this man loves cars and was a great choice.
Most importantly, game play. I know what you're thinking, this is a race game, all you do is race. Thats not exactly true. They have great mix of different race type, way more than just doing laps around a track. There are modes where all you do is , for example, try and pass 50 slow moving cars in 2 laps; another where you are doing a point to point race against 1 other car with traffic in the way. They really mix up the types of races, the car restrictions, and the objectives. Driving around the Top Gear track while knocking down bowling pins? Yes please! Getting back to my point with AI in racing games, Forza really shines here. On the easier difficulties the computer's cars aren't handicapped, they just drive differently. They'll brake too early into turns, not take the best lines, and even bump one another and you. On the higher difficulties their cars aren't artificially improved and there is no "rubber band AI" , they just take the best lines are the best speeds and race super clean. Only the very best can turn off all assists and best the CPU on expert; and I think that's the way it should be. If you want to see a big difference between the AI in Gran Tursimo and Forza, park your car on a straightaway blocking as much of the track as you can and see what happens.
Last and least, achievements. This has the best mix of achievements in a Forza game so far. I really only have an issue with 2 of them. 1 involves importing a save game from Forza 3 and the other involves running a race with a Kinect. Neither one involves skill and both require a purchase outside owning the game itself, not cool.
To sum it up, this is the best racing game available for consoles. Its not perfect but its close. If you haven't ever played a forza, go pick up a used copy of 2 or 3 and see what you've been missing.
~M
Off topic: I finally 1k'ed Mercanaries 2, I guess that's kind of on -topic.....cause that game had some retarded AI. I Don't think I'm gonna be able to crack 100k this year, Im 13k short with 2 months to go. Tonight I wipe the dust off of Hitman:Blood Money and maybe chip away at OneChanBara. Don't judge me, Ive been working on my arcade racing cabinet (a converted Pole Position) and I was in Taiwan for 2 1/2 weeks :)
Forza on the original Xbox was an amazing game that many people passed over. Forza 2 on the 360 was even better; more tracks, more cars, more to do. I thought Forza 3 was pretty much the perfect racing game, from jaw dropping graphics to jaw dropping physics. Forza 4 is down right RIDICULOUS!
First off, graphics. While not leaps and bounds above Forza 3, they are an improvement. More colorful backdrops, better textures, and the cars seem to "pop" more. Tracks have an amazing sense of depth, and an unreal draw distance. You can literally see a mile down the road, Cars have more factory paint colors to choose from than ever before, and panels can be painted individually so you can rice as much as you can race. In addition to all the on-track eye candy, you can now set your home space (backdrop) from many different on-track locations to the set of Top Gear. You are doing something right when even the asphalt looks good.
On to sounds and music. I read that they re-recorded pretty much everything, but the engine noises dont really sound all that much better or different than Forza 3. Everything sounds like it should, except when I hear a Honda Civic driving near me on the highway it usually sounds like a bumblebee. Music remains a weak spot for this series, the good news is you can load up your own MP3s and race around the track to those instead of whats included on the disc. Ironically I typically race with no music, so you have more than one option here. All the voice over work is done by Jeremy Clarkson, of top gear fame, and you can tell this man loves cars and was a great choice.
Most importantly, game play. I know what you're thinking, this is a race game, all you do is race. Thats not exactly true. They have great mix of different race type, way more than just doing laps around a track. There are modes where all you do is , for example, try and pass 50 slow moving cars in 2 laps; another where you are doing a point to point race against 1 other car with traffic in the way. They really mix up the types of races, the car restrictions, and the objectives. Driving around the Top Gear track while knocking down bowling pins? Yes please! Getting back to my point with AI in racing games, Forza really shines here. On the easier difficulties the computer's cars aren't handicapped, they just drive differently. They'll brake too early into turns, not take the best lines, and even bump one another and you. On the higher difficulties their cars aren't artificially improved and there is no "rubber band AI" , they just take the best lines are the best speeds and race super clean. Only the very best can turn off all assists and best the CPU on expert; and I think that's the way it should be. If you want to see a big difference between the AI in Gran Tursimo and Forza, park your car on a straightaway blocking as much of the track as you can and see what happens.
Last and least, achievements. This has the best mix of achievements in a Forza game so far. I really only have an issue with 2 of them. 1 involves importing a save game from Forza 3 and the other involves running a race with a Kinect. Neither one involves skill and both require a purchase outside owning the game itself, not cool.
To sum it up, this is the best racing game available for consoles. Its not perfect but its close. If you haven't ever played a forza, go pick up a used copy of 2 or 3 and see what you've been missing.
~M
Off topic: I finally 1k'ed Mercanaries 2, I guess that's kind of on -topic.....cause that game had some retarded AI. I Don't think I'm gonna be able to crack 100k this year, Im 13k short with 2 months to go. Tonight I wipe the dust off of Hitman:Blood Money and maybe chip away at OneChanBara. Don't judge me, Ive been working on my arcade racing cabinet (a converted Pole Position) and I was in Taiwan for 2 1/2 weeks :)
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