The 2011 Awards

Another year has gone and a heck of a lot has happened in this past one, as I've shown in the last post. Now it's time to reward the biggest and best, sometimes worst, of 2011. I'm going to dish them out in the next few days, and starting today with:

Game of the Year

This one should come as no surprise. It's The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim.

But I haven't even reviewed it, you might say? Well, I was too busy playing it, and that is what is trump card is. It's so immersive, you lose yourself in the beautiful landscapes, adventuring in deep dungeons, ancient Dwarven ruins, and fighting fire spitting dragons with your mighty shouts.

Of course, as any other game, it has it's downsides, but unlike many others Skyrim has a distinct advantage: it's completely mod friendly, which means users can create their own content, and the amount of modifications circulating is huge, and when a developer's kit becomes available, mods will increase even more in both quality and quantity.

If you're not convinced yet then think of this... Which other game was so huge as to spawn an internet meme of it's own?

My special mention goes to Portal 2. I enjoyed it, but because of some weird crashing bug I couldn't proceed from a certain point in the story. It was a great game while it lasted for me, although not as engaging as the first one.

Star Wars: The Old Republic beta impressions & preview

So the Star Wars: The Old Republic testing phase (public beta) is now over and we are allowed to talk freely about the game. I participated in two testing weekends along with thousand other testers.

My first impressions of the game overall were quite good.

Starting from the top, character creation is straight forward. Choose your faction (Republic or Empire, of course), one of 4 races available. On to the physical customization one must choose a face, a body type, choose some scars if you want, hair, eye and skin color.
However, the customization options are not that broad. There are only 4 body types, for example: skinny and short, average height and weight, tall and muscular, and fat. It should be enough for people to look unique... but there could be more.

The gameplay is quite similar to what has been established as the 'standard' for MMORPGs by the current dominator, World of Warcraft; that came as no surprise, I wasn't expecting they would take big risks doing something completely original, but it's not a bad thing either.

Something that is quite different though is the story component of each class as they develop. Through quests, each of the classes has it's own adventure to live, whether it's from being a padawan learning to become a Jedi, or an imperial agent investigating the assassination of a Sith Lord, it equates into many new adventures every time you try a new class. There's great detail placed in the voice acting, with many of the quests having entirely acted out conversations (some you get from data pads or other text transmissions).

The dark side has you

As you progress, you gain experience and levels as in other online games, but there are also some other aspects of character development. Similar to the system in KOTOR, making choices can affect your alignment with the Force, be it light or dark. Mainly this restricts which items you can use and purchase, but it also changes how people react to you and how you look. Being a well mannered, good hearted Sith, and Imperial people will treat you with disdain. Being a heartless cruel person will bring you to the dark side, and you will notice your face slowly changing, first your eyes turn bright yellow and then some cracks start showing, representing the corruption of your body and soul.


At some point in time you get a ship with which you can travel from planet to planet or engage in space battles. These play more or less like a point and click game, since you don't have much control over your ship, it follows a pre determined path and your task is to make things go boom by clicking your mouse. It's fun, but disappointing in a way. It pretty much negates any kind of player versus player space fights, which I was hoping for.

The battlegrounds however are a lot of fun and offer new challenges, like a space football sort of sport where you can pass the ball to your team mates running towards a goal and scoring points, all the while being able to fight and defeat other players to save your own skin or protect the ball carrier.

I do have some grudges about it, but it being a beta, I will wait for the final product to really complain. Things like the graphics being a bit 2006ish and items only lasting a level or two before you find something better are areas I'm hoping for improvement.

I recommend you at least try this game, if you get the chance at a friend's house, or through some sort of trial. It will cater well to both fans of the Star Wars universe as well as those looking for a great MMORPG.

Sonic Generations... back to 1991!

So today I have something for all of those nostalgic gamers like myself, especially those who had a Mega Drive (Genesis) while growing up. It’s Sonic Generations!

20 years ago Sega created a small, quick blue hedgehog to compete with rivals Nintendo and their Mario, and to showcase their new consoles capabilities. Here we are 20 years later and it's back to the past!

F1 2011 Gameplay video

Just wanted to add some video to the previous review. Enjoy!

F1 2011 Review

After a long, long stint of not having an official, licensed Formula 1 game in the PC platform and having to make-do with modified sims like rFactor or Grand Prix 4, it was announced last year that Codemaster, the company behind such fun titles as GRiD, Dirt and Dirt 2, had been given the rights to exploit the F1 brand, and was working on a racing game for all the fans and those who didn't even know what F1 was.

Deus EX: Human Revolution

Check out my awesome mechanic eyes. Yeah.

It's the year 2027 and you're one bad ass ex-SWAT working as security for a company which is researching bio-mechanical implants. Then all hell breaks loose when an unknown commando force breaks in the factory, wreaking havoc and killing everyone around. You take a bullet to the face and wake up weeks later to find out your life was saved by the doctors, who had to extensively repair your mangled body with these new state of the art implants.

After you've spent several long minutes in this intro, which starts with a mysterious corporate CEO smoking a cigarette which reminded me a lot of Mass Effect 2, you're thrown into the tutorial mission which takes a little more of your time, because it's suggested you do everything slowly and stealthily, before the game really begins. This sets the tone for me, this game is gonna draaaaag.

Free games, part 2

To continue with the free games I've been trying out today I bring you:

Champions Online

Superheros have made a come back in the past decade, which saw more super hero movies than any other in history, and it was just a matter of time before someone thought it would be a good idea to make a multiplayer game about it. The first one I can recall was called City of Heroes back in 2004. I have never played it but from it's description, the concept is simple: create and customize your hero and play with it in a world populated by tons of other heroes, or, with the introduction of City of Villains in 2005, you can be a super villain and play for "the other side".

Custom hero running at speed

Champions Online follows a very similar concept with the obvious twist that it is mostly free to play, with the traditional tokens you have to buy with real money to unlock some of the aspects of the game.
The character creating screen is very well done and there are limitless possibilities when it comes to creating your hero's costume, his most defining characteristic. Because of this you will see all kinds of people running around with their own custom made suits, some awesome, some terrible, others very funny.

It's not Batman, I swear.

Your skills are determined by your choice of character "class" or "archtype", for example, you can be a martial arts expert or an archer, a magic type or a tank 'behemoth'. As soon as you see any of the types, some super heroes will come to mind.
There are items to "wear" as in any other online RPG, but they can get really, really confusing. Everything has percentages, numbers everywhere, it's hard to tell which items are better for you right away. Since it was confusing to me, a veteran of 10 years of online games, I can only guess how it would make a total newbie feel like.
The missions you're presented with at first are challenging and fun, and as I understand there are some "adventure packs" you can purchase to further experience comic-like plots and stories.










More info, registration and download at their website.

Free games, part 1

If you're an old guy like me you might remember the concept of shareware - a software that is provided as a trial of the full version, sort of like a demo, but the difference was that if you purchased a code, you'd unlock the rest of the game.

Well it seems it's having a resurgence. More and more companies are choosing to offer their games freely nowadays. The players are given a chance to explore and try out the games, no purchase or monthly fee. I have to say I wholeheartedly agree to this, because people should be able to play games before they commit to purchase it. With single player games there are demos, but with multiplayer/online only games, this is the way to go.
The obvious catch is that some of the content, normally the high end content that you'll need to get to enjoy the full experience, is locked. The way to unlock it is purchasing some sort of tokens, gold coins or credits with real life money. However this is entirely justified, companies can't keep servers up and provide content if they don't get money from somewhere.
I've written about one of these games before, Battlefield Play 4 Free, but it seems the more I look around, the more of these I find.

Here are some of the games that I've been trying out, because I know you're gonna spend your summer indoors playing online. Or maybe that's just me.

Fear 3

Well, hello July; the summer is already letting itself be felt and what other way to celebrate it than... locking myself in my room and playing some scary first person shooter.

I admit I have been a little lax in terms of posting; although I've been busy, the blame falls on me being lazy under summer heat.

So without further ado, Fear 3.

It must be one of the most awaited sequels this year and finally it's here. Before I go on, truth be told, Fear 1 and 2 haven't made their way to my computer hard drive. With that in mind it's pretty obvious the story went right by me.

With a game called 'fear' my first reaction was to open my windows and let the sunshine in, light some candles and put a teddy bear on top of my monitor so everything seemed less scary. Then I found my balls which I had lost and closed the door, closed the window, pumped the volume up and fired the game.

The environment that greeted me was not very scary at first, when compared to other games I've played in the past, getting out of a prison is not such a big deal. Then you start seeing things here and there, you wonder if you really seen them, if you're imagining things or if it's a graphical glitch. Most of what you see however is meant to be there and to start playing with your head, something this game does quite adequately.

As the levels progress you find more disturbing imagery. I wasn't sure if my character was losing it's mind or if it was me. Easy enough to trouble shoot: stopped the game walked around the house and realized it wasn't covered in blood nor there were little dead girls showing up out of nowhere, so it had to be the game. By the third level things like this greeted me:




What I've said before about being busy lately is not entirely a lie so I genuinely haven't had a chance to finish the game, nor did I write this review as early as I was planning, but I can say I find it engaging and makes me want to complete it, which is always a good thing to say about a game.

Technically it's not pushing many boundaries, specially with it's graphics or gameplay mechanics, they're adequate. There's a slow motion button that lets you take well aimed shots at zombies' heads, which is very satisfying. You can play as two characters, or so it seems, which makes me think this game fully supports cooperative mode. It's not my main way to play games however so I can't give you an insight into that. The sound is well done and it scares you at the right places. If you have a surround sound system then this can be one ... spine chilling experience altogether.

More games reviews to come this week.

Flying from home

From a very early age I've been interested in airplanes, thanks to my father and some 80s movie starring a short scientologist, who is nowadays crazy. This interest of mine grew over the years by building Airfix models of war planes, throwing wooden gliders I had constructed, and when I finally got a computer of my own I got my hands on a piece of software that would become a hobby for me ever since.

Dirt 3: Review

As you might know by know motor racing is one of my favorite sports. I like seeing sport cars going around tracks at speeds that would make most people pee their pants, and one of the most terrifying must be Rally. Those four wheel drive rocket ships going around impossible corners at break neck speeds, powersliding on loose gravel or drifting around tarmac like agile cats.

As with any sport that has exposure and excitement, there have been a good number of games about it. One of the most successful franchises in the genre is the Colin McRae Rally series, which sprouts 9 titles for different platforms over 13 years. However, of those, the first games dealt exclusively with rallying, while lately there has been a small deviation from that into more off-road, x-games, etc. style. So this is the first game in the series to not have the McRae name attached to it. It is simply called Dirt 3 and it just hit the shelves, and I’ve been playing around with it.

The Witcher 2: Assassin of Kings - First impressions

When you come across a game such as the first Witcher, with such an enthralling plot, great dialogue and overall good content, you must assume it comes from a very creative mind and with lots of background information to form a cohesive, immersive story you're part of. Such is the case, as that first game was based on stories that go all the way back to 1986, when polish author Andrzej Sapkowski submitted his short story "Wiedźmin" to a fantasy magazine's contest. His story came third, but he built upon it and 20 years later with several novels and graphic novels expanding his original tale, a video game based on his universe came out to general praise and acclaim.
It features something that is very often absent from games and which many people appreciate: mature content. I'm not talking about just sex or erotica, that doesn't make something 'mature' by itself, but the general seriousness of things going on. You could just feel the tension of the politics and stratagems, having to often choose sides, making important decisions that could change the entire story, with believable dialogue and great graphics to complete the experience.

So while I enjoyed the first game, do I like the second one?

Nintendo's next console

 Will it be any good?

ign.com reports on the Japanese giant's next console, allegedly codenamed "Project Cafe", which is a weirder name for a console than Wii was if you ask me. It is said to be marginally superior in hardware to the Xbox360 and PS3, capable of HD gaming, with a fancy controller that includes a touchpad and a camera.

Additionally, IGN has learned that the system will be based on a revamped version of AMD's R700 GPU architecture, not AMD's Fusion technology as previously believed, which will, as previously reported, out perform the PlayStation 3's NVIDIA 7800GTX-based processor. Like the Xbox 360, the system's CPU will be a custom-built triple-core IBM PowerPC chipset, but the clocking speeds will be faster. The system will support 1080p output with the potential for stereoscopic 3D as well, though it has not been determined whether that will be a staple feature.

This all sounds great... if you are still in 2007. Because this sort of hardware is not impressive any more - we can assume the next PlayStation will be twice as powerful as the current one, not only marginally.

The controllers do bring interesting proposals. The camera and touchscreen will probably bring new and innovative ways of gaming, something Nintendo has been always pushing for. I imagine, for example, a multiplayer game where players can play in first person looking at their controllers, and there's a general view of the battle being shown in the TV. But with all this sophistication also comes high cost and frailty. Better not throw those expensive controllers in a fit of rage because a replacement could cost around 100 dollars.

One of the main advantages of the Wii over it's rivals was always it's gentler pricetag. That would be gone with a proposed retail of 350 to 400 dollars, which would put it in direct competition with current generation consoles.

Nintendo's bet could pay out though by bringing their next gen console 2 years before their rivals, as was the case with the Wii, which although less powerful, outsold the competition.

Looking forward to the next 'tendo? Or will it be an epic fail?

Trivia of the day:
Air traveling at high speed generates low pressure

Battlefield Play 4 Free

I wanted to mention this to wrap up the Battlefield posts:

B:P4F is basically a slightly upgraded Battlefield 2 game that is, as the name suggests, free to play online. It currently is in a beta stage and it's open for anyone who wants to register.
The way it works is really simple: you create your soldier which is one out of four possible classes, then you play with it, gain experience which earns you levels, which in turn lets you choose skills (for example, piloting a helicopter).
You're given the option to purchase certain things like guns, apparel and gadgets, which you have to pay for with in-game money. How do you earn money? One of two ways, and here's the catch: there's two types of money, silver and gold. Silver can be earned by playing the game and gaining levels, gold can only be purchased. And, as I'm sure you guessed it, the best weapons and equipment can only be purchased with gold.

I've been playing it and it's quite fun, although with a lot of bugs and a netcode that needs much tweaking. If you want a shooter that lets you go against plenty of other human opponents and that it's free, then you need look nowhere else.

Battlefield 3

If you're a PC gamer then you must know about at least one of the Battlefield games. It's a franchise that stretches all the way back to 2002 and that took us all over the world at different times, covering everything from World War 2, Vietnam, the middle east conflicts and even the future.
From the very beginning it distinguished itself from others by presenting open battlefields with different objectives and different ways of achieving them. Large teams would oppose each other not only as foot soldiers with different classes, but also driving tanks, jeeps, ships and several aerial vehicles, even robots and mechs in the futuristic 2142.

Giant mechs, always fun - Battlefield 2142

I've recently read someone rant about how first person shooters have been sort of stuck at that "modern warfare" theme and I have to agree. Since Call of Duty 4, everyone has been coming out with about the same game with different dressings, as is the case of the recently reviewed Homefront and several of the latest titles in the Battlefield franchise since BF2. He then went on to say that BF3 would be the saviour we all were hoping for, which raised an eyebrow on me.
Today a new video with plenty of in game footage was released by EA.

Homefront: Home is where the war is

It is the near future, the world is in turmoil. As oil fields in the middle east are ablaze, making fuel very unavailable and prices skyrocket, North Korea's arms program grows larger. It annexes the South, creating a united Korea, and force Japan to surrender. Under the leadership of Kim Jong-un, it invades North America. While Koreans occupy cities in the west coast, the Americans try to resist with little success.

That is the premise, more or less, of today's game:

 

I had seen some advertisements for this game and after reading about it in someone else's blog, described as a piece of shit, I was going to steer clear of this one. But alas, I am way too bored, so I had to give it a go.

With low expectations and not much information I started playing and what greeted me was a quite normal, enjoyable shooter. I didn't understand why my fellow blogger had to uninstall it after playing a bit. It was quite averagely normal game with an interesting "what if" scenario for a story.

But I might need it later

If you're a gamer, you might have already recognized the title and what it is.
I find no easier way to describe it but to say it is a syndrome, a psychological block that occurs when you have something expendable of great value and power, where you never think it's the right time to use it, you might be wasting it 'cos you'd need it later and not have it.
Some examples could be a very powerful potion that grants some sort of immunity, or a very special weapon that only works for a limited amount of hits. A good example off the top of my head is the Master Ball in the Pokémon games, a ball that will capture any creature thrown at (I hope I'm right about this or I'll have a horde of pokémon fans after me), there's only one of these in the whole game.
Then you save the thing and save it enough that you beat the game and the Super Immunity Potion is still in your inventory untouched.

"But I might find an even better pokaman later!!" 

Need for Speed: Shift 2

Good gracious... where do I begin?
This game fucking sucks.

Some years back, EA, the inventor and owner to the rights of the Need for Speed franchise, announced that the series would take a turn towards simulation, after being something like "Fast and Furious: The Game" for like 5 years.
The result of such statement was Need for Speed: Shift, and it was not really a simulator. It was a game that rewarded you for things like shoving cars off the road. For this review it shall be called Shift 1, to not mix them up with the newest offering of the series: NFS: Shift 2. The name is fitting, because you can just think about it as "shit too".

Shit Too was overly hyped in the past year as the new benchmark for all racing simulators out there. It was being designed with a big budget, all the driving physics would be 100% real, aided by professional racing drivers, engineers, car designers, team managers, mechanics, the Queen of England and even the Pope.
Well folks, it's a huge disappointment. Seriously bad.

Shogun 2: Total War

Ok so I could either blog about the fall of the current government and how deep in shit we're gonna be for the following 5 years or so, or I could make a small first impressions review of Shogun 2. It didn't take me long to decide.



As many (read: none) of you know, I like strategy games and have been playing them ever since I remember owning a computer. The earliest memory I have of a strategy game was downloading the first Age of Empires demo. It couldn't have been larger than a couple dozen megabytes, but back then with my 56k connection... well let's say nobody made calls at home for several hours.
I played and replayed that demo and the strategy bug bit me. Soon after, while on vacation, I begged my parents to purchase me the full game (Gold edition, with the Rise of Rome expansion, wow!) and finally they did. I was the only kid ever to want the vacations at the beach to end, just so I could rush home and play it.