1. I downloaded The Witcher 2 yesterday, in a moment of weakness. (As it happens, I downloaded it right when the 1.1 patch was coming out, which meant that I ended up downloading the whole thing twice.) I gave it a very quick 5 minute look, just to see it. And you know what? The reviewers weren’t kidding around – this game doesn’t explain anything. I have absolutely no idea what I’m doing and no idea how to do anything. At a certain point the game told me about meditating before battle, and how to pull up the meditation menu. OK, but the menu is just filled with runes, without any explanation as to what the runes mean, or why I need to meditate. The game’s gotten too many great reviews for me to dismiss it so quickly, but when a game makes such a horrendous first impression, what the hell are you supposed to do?
2. Spent a number of hours powering through Lego Pirates of the Caribbean; I finished the 3rd movie yesterday before powering off. I’ve played a lot of Lego games – not all of them, but certainly most of them – and Pirates is pretty good, I guess. Certainly it’s the prettiest. But it’s also locked up on my 360 more than a few times – Lego games in general tend to do that, but Pirates is the worst offender by far. I haven’t seen the 4th movie yet and so I’m not sure what enjoyment I’m going to get out of playing the 4th movie, especially since the cutscene shorthand really only makes sense if you know what the scenes are referring to. Still, it’s fun enough, I suppose, and Lego Jack Sparrow is a sight (and sound!) to behold.
3. I’m a few races into my 2nd season in Dirt 3. I’ve been starting to mess around with the assists; I turned all of them off yesterday for a few races, and found that I had a much easier time staying on the road (although the cars felt a lot heavier and stiffer). I don’t hate the Gymkhana events the way other people do; I’m not very good at them, but they’re certainly a pleasant enough diversion and you don’t have to try terribly hard in order to pass each event and move on to the next thing. My only real complaint is that one of the announcers has an overtly “dude” vibe and likes to call me “amigo” and I kinda want to punch him in the face, repeatedly.
4. With all this going on, I’ve kinda put L.A. Noire on hold, and this worries me a bit because I’m afraid that if I wait too much longer, I’m never going to go back. And that would be a shame. I’ve certainly cooled off on it a little bit, but it’s still a remarkably unique experience and I’d very much like to see where it goes.
You’re not going to be coming here for your E3 needs, I know, but I’ll be offering up some opinions just the same. I’m not entirely sure how this year’s edition is going to pan out. Last year’s had some clear themes – motion control and 3D – and I suppose that the bulk of the media attention this year will be focused on the new Nintendo console and Sony’s new handheld. 2011’s release calendar doesn’t leave a lot of room for surprises – we all know what’s coming at this point – so my personal focus will be on what’s coming up in 2012.
Have a wonderful 3-day weekend, everyone. Stay safe! And I’ll most likely be on XBL Saturday night, if you want to get something going.
Shouts From The Couch 