Category: ramblings

An update of sorts

So, yeah.  I am now an official Examiner, and the idea is that I’ll be writing some small pieces over there a few times a week.  I’m still trying to figure out just what kind of stories I can write about over there, but I’m already starting to get the idea of what I can’t write about, and that stuff is more or less what I’d rather write about here.

In the meantime, I’ve actually not been playing very much lately.  I continue to trudge along in Yakuza 4, which I still like although it’s starting to feel a little clumsy and same-y.  I’m in the XBL beta program, so I’ve been sort-of testing the new disc format via Halo Reach, which I realized very quickly that I haven’t really missed since I traded it in.  (One of the things that Microsoft is asking me to do, though, is to play the new-disc Halo, and then play a bunch of other stuff.  I’ve been gladly playing a bunch of other stuff, including revisiting Red Dead Redemption, for no good reason other than that I’ve been thinking about it lately.)

And, also, I’ve been playing the HELL out of the iPhone.  As I mentioned in the initial post, my initial iPhone sync resulted in a ton of apps that I’d either totally forgotten about or just had to move off of my Touch for space reasons.  One thing that sucks about getting a new iDevice is that you lose all your save files; everything I’ve ever played has been set back to zero (even though my Gamecenter achievements still exist).  So I’d have to start all the Angry Birds over again, and Infinity Blade, etc.  I’ve been enjoying my revisit of Sword & Poker 2, though, which I’d forgotten how much I’d missed.

I’ve also bought a few more iPhone games, too, since I’ve got room for them now:  Dead Space, Real Racing 2, Lane Splitter, World of Goo.

I also caved last night and downloaded the Potato Sack Pack over Steam, for some reason.  Oh, that’s right, I’ve got Portal 2 fever like you wouldn’t fucking believe.  I’d very much like to review that for Examiner; I just need to make sure that someone else hasn’t already beaten me to it.  If I can’t review it there, however, you can rest assured I’ll be reviewing it here, and I’ll use as much profanity as I see fit.

Address Check

Just an FYI – this here blog has its own domain now:  shoutsfromthecouch.com.  Your bookmarks should automatically forward to the new address, but I’m not sure if the RSS feeds work the same way.  Let me know if there’s any problems:  jervonyc at gmail dot com

>The 2011 Lust List

>If, after reading this list, you still need further proof that 2011 will be one of the best years in gaming history, then, well, I don’t know what to tell you.  Get a new hobby.  2011 is going to be ridiculous.

The GOTY Front-Runners.  If that’s not a murderer’s row of kick-ass, I don’t know what is.  That’s five (5) highly anticipated sequels with impeccable pedigrees, and if these games follow the pattern of their previous installments – i.e., the sequels are leaps and bounds ahead of the original, already-incredible games – then we’re all having nervous breakdowns by the end of the year. 

  • Uncharted 3
  • Portal 2
  • Elder Scrolls 5
  • Mass Effect 3
  • Batman: Arkham City

The Must-Plays.  Look, something’s got to miss the top 5, and I had a hard time putting any of these games on this list and not the list above.  I fully expect all of these games to be amazing, and I’ll most likely start pre-ordering them after I’m done with this post.

  • Gears of War 3
  • Dead Space 2
  • Rage
  • Forza 4
  • Little Big Planet 2
  • Deus Ex: HR
  • Ico/Shadow of the Colossus HD 
  • The Last Guardian

The Definite Rentals: I’m curious, and I want to know more.  I’m a little wary of the SSX title, as I’m hearing rumors that it will incorporate similar thumbstick controls to “Skate”, which is the exact opposite of what I want an SSX title to be

  • Bulletstorm
  • Killzone 3
  • Crysis 2
  • SSX: Deadly Descents
  • Test Drive Unlimited 2
  • You Don’t Know Jack
  • Brink
  • L.A. Noire

 The Great Excuses to Fire Up The PC:

  • Torchlight 2
  • Dragon Age 2

The Game I Am Very Much Afraid Of:

  • Star Wars: The Old Republic

If These Games Make Their 2011 Release Dates, I Will Be Impressed:

  • Max Payne 3
  • Duke Nukem Forever
  • Diablo 3
  • L.A. Noire

>Weekend Recap: Dark Star, RDR, Limbo

>I am feeling compelled to post something, anything, even though I’m not sure I have anything truly compelling to say at the moment.

The weekend was gaming-heavy, as it turned out. I’ve been dealing with some anxiety issues lately and having my mind occupied helped a great deal in getting over the hump. I finished Limbo, did some online co-op in Red Dead Redemption, and put in quite a few hours into Dark Star One, which is probably more than it deserves.

Let me clarify that last bit. I bought Dark Star One on the PC however many years ago, played the first few missions, and then put it away. I liked the idea of it – it was basically Grand Theft Outer Space – but for whatever reason I didn’t really bond with it. (Ever since consoles really came into their own, I’ve had trouble really getting into PC gaming; I think the last PC game I truly got lost in was Grim Fandango.) But I was curious about the 360 port, because let’s face it – there aren’t any space combat games anymore. And these are the dry days of summer, after all, and there’s nothing else to play, and Dark Star One has hours and hours of (the same) stuff to do.

Anyway. It’s a straight-up port of the PC version, which means it’s ugly as hell, and features some of the worst voice acting this side of Sacred 2. And yet there’s something charming about it. The combat is actually quite exciting, which turns out to be quite important because in spite of all the story and side missions you need to do in order to advance the plot, all you’re ever going to do is blow up other ships. There’s also a sort-of economy system, wherein you can import and export certain goods, but it’s not really all that necessary in order to make any money (which is good, because it’s also never talked about or explained in any way – it’s a good thing I still had my PC manual, because otherwise I’d still be confused as to what everything means). And the game feels… ambitious. This was not just a hack job done in order to fill in some numbers in a ledger somewhere (at least, the PC version wasn’t); you can tell that a lot of passion went into the design and feel of the game, even if the talent wasn’t necessarily in place.

It’s charming enough that I’ve decided that I want Rockstar to stop making GTA5 and start making GTA Outer Space. Because if this sort of thing is going to be done right, then the right company needs to make it. (Also, I’m thinking that at this stage of development, Mass Effect 3 will not have space combat.)

Playing the online co-op in Red Dead Redemption reminded me how much I miss that game. I haven’t really played any of it since I finished the game however many months ago; I dabbled in some post-ending Achievement hunting, and did a little bit of Free Roam with friends, and then that was about it. But the co-op was fun as hell, and I wish there was more of it. Maybe I’ll start getting back into Free Roam again…

I am reluctant to talk about my experience playing Limbo. It’s a wonderful game, don’t get me wrong; it’s just that I ended up using a walkthrough about halfway in and once I started I couldn’t stop. I blame the Achievements. I do feel obligated to give it another go without the walkthrough, though, just to experience it the way it’s supposed to be experienced. Hopefully I’ll have forgotten everything by the time I get around to it.

>Weekend of Sloth

>The wife was away this weekend, which meant NO PANTS. Um, sorry. It meant I could play games all weekend without feeling guilt or shame, and let me tell you – I AM NOT YET SATED.

A quick recap:

Star Wars: The Force Unleashed
I rented this a long time ago, hated it, sent it back. Figured that was the end of it. But: my wife is the biggest Star Wars nerd I know, and when she saw an E3 preview of the sequel, she was like: dude, you need to play that. And play the first one again, so we know what happened. So I did. Turns out that it still sucks. Well, no – it’s just janky as all fuck. The story is interesting – the ending is pretty gigantic, when you think about the canon – but the actual gameplay is repetitive, the controls are unresponsive, and most of my player deaths felt awfully cheap.

Puzzle Quest 2 (DS)
It took a little while to grow on me, but I’m definitely on board for this sequel. That said, it’s awfully sluggish – at least it feels that way for someone who plays a shitload of Bejeweled Blitz on Facebook. The RPG elements are still neat but the menus are hideous – there are far too many button presses to see what you have equipped, for example. There’s a few other things that it could steal from Facebook – it would be nice to get credit for linking up corners, the way you can on BB. In any event, it will replace the puzzle void left by the excellent Picross 3D, which I did end up finishing 100%.

Split/Second
My goodness. When I had to choose between S/S and Blur, I chose Blur, and I chose wrong. I’ve spent the bulk of the weekend finishing the single-player season, and it’s amazing. I’m hoping that my friends who have it will continue to play it – it ought to be incredible online.

>Weekend Recap: here comes the hyperbole

>Are you ready for some outlandish statements? Good, because I’m really tired after watching the Lost finale last night and work is slow today and I can’t stop thinking about Red Dead Redemption, so here goes:

1. Red Dead Redemption might just be my favorite Rockstar game ever.

Let me qualify that a bit.

RDR is not the groundbreaking, industry-shifting watershed moment that GTA3 was. But there’s a difference between being groundbreaking and being a truly great game. My affection for GTA3 – more specifically, for the times I personally spent in GTA3 – helps me overlook a lot of that game’s glaring problems, of which there are many.

As with each subsequent Rockstar open-world game, RDR, then, is simply the latest refinement of the ever-evolving open-world platform. In this particular case, it most clearly resembles GTA4. But it’s where it differs that gets me all hot and bothered.

GTA4 was a staggering achievement; it managed to create the most immersive city ever seen in a game, while also creating a truly fascinating narrative around a singularly unique protagonist. But GTA4 still suffered from old ideas; the game’s gunplay was still a bit tricky, even in spite of being retooled, and the punishment for mission failure was still brutal.

RDR fixes almost all of what was bothersome in GTA4, and I would expect/hope that GTA5 will borrow almost everything that RDR gets right. The snap-to targeting might make the game a little too easy, but frankly, I’d rather have fun with the story than struggle with the controls. If you fail a mission, you can continue from the most recent mid-mission checkpoint, which is fantastic. There’s regenerating health and fast-traveling, which is crucial. You can save anywhere, at any time, which is essential.

And the world – oh, the glorious world – is a sight to behold. It’s easily the prettiest game Rockstar has ever made, and utterly convincing at every turn. I do wish that the game would let you take screenshots – and I’d buy the PC version if only so that I could. I’ve had to call my wife in from the other room just to have her look at something – like standing on a cliffside watching the sun rise over the valley below.

But it’s not just the graphics – it’s everything. The wildlife; the random people in trouble; the “ambient challenges” – there is always something to do. I’m not the first person to make this comparison, but I’ll make it again anyway – it reminds me an awful lot of Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, because getting from Point A to Point B usually meant that you’d get sidetracked about a dozen times doing other things, which were always just as much fun as the actual missions.

According to Rockstar’s excellent Social Club, I am just under 19 hours in and just over 42% complete. I don’t know that I’ll be able to finish the game before I leave for Jamaica next week; as much as I want to be done with the campaign before I go, so that I don’t have to miss it, I kinda don’t want the campaign to be over with, either.

2. The new Prince of Persia game isn’t nearly as bad as I’d been led to believe.

Let me qualify that one, too – it’s certainly not bad, and indeed it’s the best-looking game in the series, and it easily has the best combat system. The problem is that it’s arguably the least essential. There’s nothing inherently special about it. It’s not magical. The story feels slight and flimsy. Too much work went into the game to call it a mere cash-in for the movie, but I finished it in 6 hours or so and haven’t thought about it since, other than to write this paragraph. It’s certainly worth a rental, if you’re a fan of the series and you’re not already sidetracked with RDR or Super Mario.

3. I really want to like Alan Wake, but the opening chapter didn’t grab me nearly as hard as I’d hoped, and RDR has pretty much overshadowed it for the foreseeable future.

That wasn’t really all that hyperbolic; it’s just the way the weekend went.

>GTA4: TBoGT

>I got a message from Caro over the weekend, asking me why I was suddenly playing so much GTA4. The answer is needlessly complex:

1. I am freaking the hell out for Red Dead Redemption, and playing GTA4 seems to be the best way to prepare;

2. It looks really, really, REALLY good on my PC; and

3. I’m mostly just playing The Ballad of Gay Tony, since I’d never really given it more than a quick hour’s play when it first came out.

I’m actually playing it on both my 360 and my PC. I was trying to match my 360 game’s progress on my PC, but I ended up doing things a little bit out of order, and then I was trying to match the 360 back to the PC. THIS IS ALL TERRIBLY INTERESTING, I KNOW. The point being, I’m about 8 hours in, at least on the PC – and I’m probably a little bit behind that on the 360.

TBoGT is pretty amazing, actually. I soured on the first GTA expansion, The Lost and Damned, mostly because the idea of motorcycle gangs in NYC is totally ridiculous, and TLaD took itself pretty seriously. And also because I’d gotten stuck in one of those Rockstar-patented controller-throwing missions where the task is made incredibly difficult because of certain arbitrary parameters that you cannot deviate from. Specifically, in TLaD, it was the mission where you have to destroy a bunch of non-stationary vans by throwing molotov cocktails from your motorcycle. (Why that particular weapon, and not, say, a rocket launcher, which I could just as easily procure from the local gun shop? Why do I have to stay on the motorcycle? And why is this specific action so incredibly difficult to manage, given the game’s control scheme?)

TBoGT, on the other hand, reminds me of the zanier sections of San Andreas; the cast of characters are very well acted and very, very funny (especially Yusef), and the missions are as diverse as they are insane. The emphasis in TBoGT appears to be on super-powerful weaponry and base jumping. I have thrown a celebrity blogger out of a helicopter, only to then dive after him and parachute to safety. I have hijacked an APC and bulldozed my way through Central Park. I have shot down helicopters with explosive shotgun shells from the roof of a moving subway car – a car that I eventually stole with the help of a helicopter.

Hmm. Maybe it’s the wrong game to be playing in front of the gritty Western style that is Red Dead Redemption…

>Relocation

>Apologies to the 2 or 3 of you who read this blog on a quasi-regular basis – I’m moving at the end of this month, so my game time has been minimal and my blog time even less than that.

I continue to trudge forth in Bioshock 2. I re-started that last level and had, for whatever reason, a much easier time defending my Little Sister, and now I’ve sorta gotten it; I know how to set up for ambushes, I’ve gotten better at using the right plasmids, etc. I’m still not sure I know who all these people are that keep talking to me, or why I’m doing what they tell me to do, and the only reason why I continue on is that I keep hearing that the end of the game is really, really good. So there’s that to look forward to.

Other than that, it will likely remain dark in this space until Heavy Rain comes out, which I’m ridiculously excited for.

Namaste.

>Mass Effect 2: the binge

>I technically finished Mass Effect 2 late last night, but was unhappy with the ending. So I went back and re-did the end sequence, and then went the other way on the very last choice, and now I’m agonizing over whether or not I should’ve made the choice I happened to make.

Anyway. I put 38 hours into my first playthrough, managed to get up to level 30, and I’m pretty sure I’ve seen about as much as I could see (given my character’s parameters). I’m trying to figure out what to do for my second playthrough; do I want to import my dark side character from ME1? Do I want to re-use my fully-leveled light side ME2 character and play dark? Or do I start completely from scratch? Consider this: I’ve put almost 100 hours into the Mass effect franchise and I still haven’t used an assault rifle.

You know what – I’m not in any shape to write a coherent review. I seriously binged over the last 3 days, and I’m a little Mass Fatigued.

Here’s all you need to know about how I feel about it – I’m going to fire it up again anyway.