Video Games...Discuss Them

[Morris Schæffer]

Started GTA IV yesterday. Though the controls are a bit tough (which is my bad, mostly... I've never been savvy with more than four buttons), I'm lovin' it!

Yeah, it's great, but, like Elder Scrolls, it makes you angry with every instance that impedes your emergent thinking. Like how blocking a door with a car, and thus preventing a dude from getting away, means diddly squat, when, after a cut scene has played out, the car is no longer there. Am I asking too much?

[D_Davis]

Yeah, it's great, but, like Elder Scrolls, it makes you angry with every instance that impedes your emergent thinking. Like how blocking a door with a car, and thus preventing a dude from getting away, means diddly squat, when, after a cut scene has played out, the car is no longer there. Am I asking too much?

That has always been my biggest complaint about the GTA games. I hate how the cut scenes reset the world. It's completely ridiculous.

[Spun Lepton]

Today, in Prototype, I disguised myself as a soldier, snuck into a military yard, and accused another soldier, "That's him! Get that guy!" A tank turned and blasted him into gibs.

I love this game.

[Spun Lepton]

Fallout 3 really annoys me. Why is it so cumbersome to pursue the primary quest? That is, why is it excessively difficult to even get on the right path towards your next checkpoint? And why am I fighting the same enemies over and over again? Trolls with corny quips, zombies, raiders and some random monsters. Rinse, repeat. But mostly trolls and raiders.

It's superbly designed and it looks great, and there is a lot of attention to detail... but its not really all that engaging. I like big game worlds, I love Zelda and Half-Life 2... but this game isn't anywhere near those in terms of quality and interest. It's just an overwhelming and unsatisfying time sucker. Repetitive, too.

The coolest part I came across was the town whose residents were living in willful ignorance of everything around them and trying to uphold typical family life and good wholesome values. Anyone who has gotten to that part knows what I'm talking about. Good idea, but I didn't have a high enough lock pick skill to explore the basement... so I shot the father and took his key, but didn't find anything valuable so I figured I had to do it the 'right' way and went back a save. But I don't think I'm going to keep playing long enough to get a high enough lock pick skill.

I'm thinking I'll try Dead Space next but who knows if that'll turn out to be a disappointment, as well.

Try renting.

[MacGuffin]

Yeah, Fallout 3 is pretty bad, don't worry about it.

[origami_mustache]

I agree Prototype is a better game than Infamous. The graphics are even much much better.

[Ezee E]

Sure the enemies remain the same in Fallout 3, but its the placement of them, and yourself, that determines whether you survive or not. The terrain is key. There's times when I was killed by two simple raiders because I was at the bottom of a hill moving up, and they just picked me off. I had no chance because my grenade skill wasn't good enough yet.

The story didn't seem hard to me. It almost seemed too easy to go from place to place. Luckily, I enjoyed the side quests enough to explore more areas.

[Skitch]

I couldn't play Fallout 3 either...it felt more like work than play. Dead Space is terrific though.

[Sven]

Bought Lego Indiana Jones, Mirror's Edge, and Assassin's Creed. Did I do good?

[Ezee E]

Mirror's Edge starts off fun, but then it becomes the same thing over and over. But it's cheap, and very fun at first.

Lego games are always fun.

No idea about Assassins Creed. You let me know about that.

[Sven]

So far:

Mirror's Edge: awesome, awesome, awesome. A thrill. I feel high replayability.

Lego Indy: more of the excellent same. Maybe easier, but also livelier.

Kung Fu Panda: NA

Assassin's Creed: NA

Will keep updated.

[Sycophant]

Man, you playin' video games again, Sven!

I finished Shadow of the Colossus yesterday. That last colossus sure had a lot of health. Great game. Ending was a bit out-of-character long.

Devil Survivor's great, though I find myself wishing I could play it on my teevee, where I prefer to play games.

[Ezee E]

I'm still addicted to Fight NIght Round 4.

[Skitch]

Lego Batman only lets you have 4 billion coin! Jerks.

[Morris Schæffer]

Assassin's Creed: NA

After seeing the first videos and hearing about the premise, I never in a million years expected this to have any serious backlash. Apparently, it is a superior premise botched by ultra-tedious and repetitive mission objectives.

[Spun Lepton]

Fallout 3 really annoys me. Why is it so cumbersome to pursue the primary quest? That is, why is it excessively difficult to even get on the right path towards your next checkpoint? And why am I fighting the same enemies over and over again? Trolls with corny quips, zombies, raiders and some random monsters. Rinse, repeat. But mostly trolls and raiders.

You want them to carve a path through the wasteland for you? There are roads, and they do act somewhat like a cleared path. I don't know how you come to "excessively difficult," though.

How many monsters/villains are an acceptable amount? The variety increases as you level-up, but I'm not sure it's going to offer what you're looking for. The trolls were a stretch as it was, a post-apocalyptic wasteland is a little limited in the kinds of monsters you could expect -- dark mages and fire elementals probably wouldn't work in such a setting.

[Spun Lepton]

I see where this is going, already. Longer and longer posts until we're blue in the face. If you don't like it, Amnesiac, that's fine. Fallout 3 landing in many reputable sites' "best games of 2008" lists pretty much makes my argument for me. Yahtzee from Zero Punctuation complained about the repetetiveness of the fighting system, (and I can see how somebody could make such a complaint), but even that bastard admitted he enjoyed it.

:P

[Sycophant]

Amnesiac, if you're going to continue to talk about video games, please adjust your enjoyment metrics to the following binary options:

1. OMG GOTY!!!!
0. Shitty fucking wretched piece of fucking bullshit fuck

EDIT: this is less directed at anyone specifically here, but rather at the Internet in general, where I can barely stand to read anything about video games.

[Rowland]

I've recently played:

New Super Mario Bros. (DS) 6/10

More polished than most DS games, as one would reasonably anticipate, and the old-school play mechanics remain crisply entertaining, but it doesn't take advantage of the system's unique capabilities to any real degree beyond its smattering of (mostly neat) mini-games. It's also too easy, and oddly weightless, without level design compelling enough to justify going back through the game to discover the ramaining coins or hidden exits I may have missed. Some of the levels are ingenous, but for the most part they kinda blend together, and the bosses are for the most part absurdly easy. I liked the mini-mushroom, while the large Mario was merely a gimmick. As handheld gaming goes, this is pretty decent and by all means passable, but it's hardly a pimple on the ass of, oh lets say, Super Mario Bros. 3, or even Super Mario World. 89.28% at GameRankings? Overrated.

[Sycophant]

Yeah, one of the big problems with NSMB is just how little N there is to it. It just doesn't feel as carefully crafted as any other major Mario series title. And the people making it didn't seem to be doing much beside making a "Mario Bros. game for the DS." It's light and fluffy, occasionally clever, but doesn't amount to much.

Also, I think the minigames were just borrowed directly from Super Mario 64 DS. Someone correct me if I'm wrong.

Rowland, whatever you do, don't play Super Princess Peach.

[Sycophant]

I had a surprisingly enjoyable evening with NSMB's multiplayer, though.

Guys, Viewtiful Joe is awesome.

[Rowland]

Also, I think the minigames were just borrowed directly from Super Mario 64 DS. Someone correct me if I'm wrong.

There were a few new ones that are fun, and they ported over most of the better ones from SM64 DS, which I made the mistake of buying with the system and promptly sold upon realizing that I was still sick of the game all these years later and whatever they added to the gameplay didn't justify the clunky DS mechanics.

[Rowland]

I finished Shadow of the Colossus yesterday. That last colossus sure had a lot of health. Great game. Ending was a bit out-of-character long.

I loved this, but I agree that the ending didn't feel at home with the evocatively sparse storytelling employed during the rest of the game, including those creepy dream sequences. I was also disappointed to discover at the end that all the Colossi were merely parts of a whole villain, because that diminished the moral ambiguity that punctuated the death sequences of so many Colossi throughout the game, particularly the ones that seemed peaceful and undisturbed until we come along and kill them.

[Rowland]

Guys, Viewtiful Joe is awesome.

I still own this for the GC, but I only played through about half of it, after losing interest for whatever reason. That was a few years ago though, so I should give it another shot. I also intend on trying the second Prince of Persia again, which I was turned off from largely because of its aesthetics after falling so heavily for the original.

[Sycophant]

I only played the second Viewtiful Joe but, oh man, that game was so great. The game play was just astoundingly fun and grandiose.

I wish they would make another one. I mentioned this earlier in the thread and someone told me that wasn't going to be happening for one reason or another.

Well, there was that DS one, but the lead design staff was all different for that one and a different Capcom team developed it.

You should try to find the first one. It can generally be had for about $5 used these days, and it's generally considered to be somewhat superior to its sequel.