Still Playing: The games of 2014

New to 2014, the following are games I have begun but not completed.

Assassin's Creed 4: This nut will crack sometime in January. It's a great game and far superior to the mess that was Assassin's Creed 3.

MARK OF THE NINJA: A taut stealth side scroll-er with beautiful art and great mechanics, this XBL Arcade game is always beckoning to me.

RED FACTION:ARMAGEDDON: I had heard how terrible and linear this game is compared to its predecessor, and while it is linear, it is a perfectly fine third person shooter. It is gorgeous on PC and just the thing for a lazy afternoon of "working" from home. Hit the same long checkpoint enough times to finally give up towards the end. Endlessly repetitive and far too long. Feels compromised.

F.E.A.R 3: I ignored this game when it was released, but having finished and enjoyed F.E.A.R. 2 and love the original, I wanted to give it a shot. Graphically impressive on PC, the mechanics are as expected with the new addition of co-op. The story is nonsense but as a satisfying mouse and keyboard shooter, I am digging it.  Enjoyed this until my save disappeared.

Dead Rising 3: A sluggish poor PC port, this bad ass needs a reasonably beefy rig to run well. Slowdowns happen in the same parts of the map like clockwork. Sticks to the Dead Rising formula but seems confused about what it wants to be. Story is as dumb as ever.

Alien: Isolation - I barely touched this before it went back to the library by accident. Playing it fills me with actual dread as the atmosphere and suspense are amazing. Can't wait to get back into it.

Thief (2014) -  Played for about 2 hour before I decided I hated the controls and look of the game on console, so I bought it on sale on PC. Curious to see if that makes it more palatable.

Here I discussed a bunch of games I had not yet finished at the end of 2013,  few of which are now in the can, unfortunately.

STATE OF DECAY: This surprise hit downloadable game is a great if janky open world zombie exporation game that incorporates day/night cycles and mission timers like Dead Rising. I keep restarting it, hopefully I will find time to finish it.

DEAD ISLAND:RIPTIDE: A disappointing cut and paste of Dead Island with some of the more interesting quirks patched out, DI:R still has that combination of broken jank and open world combat that made the original compelling. However the linear nature and extreme familiarity to the first game make it a bottom rung choice.


SKYRIM: This game is like my white whale. I keep finding reasons not to play it.

FAR CRY 2: Like any other open world game, I get lost in wandering and lose interest in the main thread of quests. Rightfully lauded for emergent gameplay and player agency, I hope to give this game it's due. I have attempted to stick to the main quests, especially after finishing Far Cry 3, just so I can stop wandering. 

JUST CAUSE 2: The campaign story is pointless and best ignored in favor of exploring the massive game map, wreaking havoc. The lack of compelling direction makes this and Skyrim both hard games to stick with.*NOW WITH INSANE MULTIPLAYER*  
With much determination I finally waded through this batshit inane story to its deserved conclusion and just in time for Just Cause 3.

Still Playing:The games of 2013

From my Still Playing 2009 post I was playing S.T.A.L.K.E.R. I have abandoned that game as I got stuck in a level, completely under leveled and under equipped with only a revert to a previous save from hours earlier as an escape. Yeah so no. I have not started either of the sequels.

New to 2013, the following are games I have begun but not completed.

Assassin's Creed 4: This nut will crack sometime in January. It's a great game and far superior to the mess that was Assassin's Creed 3.

MARK OF THE NINJA: A taut stealth side scroll-er with beautiful art and great mechanics, this XBL Arcade game is always beckoning to me.

RED FACTION:ARMAGEDDON: I had heard how terrible and linear this game is compared to its predecessor, and while it is linear, it is a perfectly fine third person shooter. It is gorgeous on PC and just the thing for a lazy afternoon of "working" from home.

F.E.A.R 3: I ignored this game when it was released, but having finished and enjoyed F.E.A.R. 2 and love the original, I wanted to give it a shot. Graphically impressive on PC, the mechanics are as expected with the new addition of co-op. The story is nonsense but as a satisfying mouse and keyboard shooter, I am digging it. 

STATE OF DECAY: This surprise hit downloadable game is a great if janky open world zombie exporation game that incorporates day/night cycles and mission timers like Dead Rising. I keep restarting it, hopefully I will find time to finish it.

DEAD ISLAND:RIPTIDE: A disappointing cut and paste of Dead Island with some of the more interesting quirks patched out, DI:R still has that combination of broken jank and open world combat that made the original compelling. However the linear nature and extreme familiarity to the first game make it a bottom rung choice.

Here I discussed a bunch of games I had not yet finished at the end of 2012,  few of which are now in the can, unfortunately.

SKYRIM: This game is like my white whale. I keep finding reasons not to play it.

FAR CRY 2: Like any other open world game, I get lost in wandering and lose interest in the main thread of quests. Rightfully lauded for emergent gameplay and player agency, I hope to give this game it's due. I have attempted to stick to the main quests, especially after finishing Far Cry 3, just so I can stop wandering. 

RAYMAN ORIGINS:  Equally beautiful and punishing, I will push through until my skill runs out, which may be sooner than later. Abandoned.

JERICHO:  A dark and ugly curiousity, I will give it a go I gave it a go. Poor squad mechanics and relentlessly ugly. Abandoned.

DRAGON AGE II: "Streamlined" and repetitive I should be have been able to tear through this in short time, especially in comparison to the enormous time I put into Dragon Age:Origins, but nope. I enjoyed Dragon Age II a lot. The animations are beautiful and the combat is fantastic. By skipping virtually all side quests I was able to finally finish it in due time.

HYDROPHOBIA: Released, tweaked and released again in a perpetual feedback loop, the graphics and mechanics make the janky parts bearable, but just. The broken just couldn't be patched out. I finally abandoned.

ODDWORLD: STRANGER'S WRAITH (Maybe HD): Be super if remake developer JAW finally released the promised patch so I can play it on PC with an ATI card and a stable framerate. When and if it comes, I can't wait to beat this game again as I loved it on OG Xbox. It finally required upgrading to quad-core to get the game to hit 60 fps at 1080p so it is clearly under optimized for PC.

JUST CAUSE 2: The campaign story is pointless and best ignored in favor of exploring the massive game map, wreaking havoc. The lack of compelling direction makes this and Skyrim both hard games to stick with.*NOW WITH INSANE MULTIPLAYER*


OLDER CONSOLE GAMES:

I have a bunch of older 360 and PS3 games to attach as well  Abandoned

Bully (360)
Metal Gear 4 (PS3)
Resistance 1 & 2 (PS3)
Psychonaughts  (PC)

State of my PC nation

Given that I often have the same games installed on my PC over multiple hardware changes I thought it would be cool to capture some screenshots of the games I am playing with it iteration of hardware.

It is also striking the level of detail even older games have when running at resolutions far beyond what is capable on current console generations. The vegetation in the Just Cause shot is a good example of this.

Running with the following specs I captured the below using FRAPS at 1680 x 1050 unless noted:

1.8 Ghz Intel E2160 Dual Core CPU
6 gigs DDR 2 RAM, running dual channel 400 FSB
Radeon HD 3850 graphics
Creative Audigy SB 5.1
Gigabyte P35 motherboard

Antialiasing and v-sync disabled with usually 4x Anisotropic enabled

Age Of Conan 1280 x 768 Graphics set to Low/Medium (click to enlarge)


Borderlands Graphics set to High(click to enlarge)


Dragon Age: Origins details set to High


Fallout 3 Details set to High


Dead Space Details set to High


Ghostbusters 1440 x 900 details set to medium (brutally buggy port)


JUST CAUSE Details set to High


Metro 2033 Comparison shots details set to high vs some details off



Titan Quest Details set to High


S.T.A.L.K.E.R details set to High

Game-A-Day Post-A-year

Fall 2010 is about to drop like a 10-ton weight,lead by the juggernaut Halo: Reach. Unfortunatley the spirit is willing but the flesh is weak and I have grossly neglected the simple act of writing to this blog about the games I play on a daily basis. While this tardiness may well never change, neither will my recreational habits so here's hoping I can knock some stuff out.

Upcoming is a snapshot of my PC setup, with the hopes of making this blog part of a living record of the hardware changes that happen and its impact on games, as I often have games installed for years, unfinished.

For now, this is a quick breakdown of what I have been tearing up over since the spring.

Red Dead Redemption: From Rockstar, the makers of the Grand Theft Auto series, this open world Western set just in the early 1900's scratches every itch a Western fan can have. Beautiful and sprawling, RDR follows John Marsten, a bad man who has done bad things but is trying to find a new life with his wife and son on the frontier. Unapologetically violent, RDR manages authenticity without straining credibility and is a deep 40 hour story. The ending, while unpopular, is poetic and appropriate.

Alpha Protocol: A spy story wrapped in RPG dressing, AP is a brutal mess of unfinished code and relentless ambition.Simply one of the ugliest Unreal Engine games ever made and burdened with a sluggish control scheme, the game stands only on its voice-acting and story. Filled to brimming with half-baked concepts and poorly executed ideas, AP is a frustrating kind of fun, the "time before you do the crime" and saved only by its story.

Blur: Advertised as a "grown-up's Mario Kart" Blur liberally lifts power-ups and tactics from the Nintendo playbook to create a fast paced racing game where victory can be stolen at the last second with a properly applied power-up. Varied tracks and unlock-able vehicles in both single-player and multi-player extend play time, making for a exciting variation on racing games.

Split/Second: Set as a high-concept reality TV show where contestants race against each, outside attacks and destructive changes in the track itself, Split/Second is thrilling in the short term but grows repetitive quickly. The destructible tracks are re-purposed but never really changed and the "rubber-band" effect of the AI never getting too far ahead nor letting the player dominate grows tiresome quickly.

Alan Wake: A long in the making followup to Remedy's Max Payne, Alan Wake follows a writer and his wife who attempt to vacation in a sleepy town in the Pacific Northwest. Once they arrive they are attacked by a dark force that appears to stem directly from the Wake's own words. Literary minded and often surreal, Alan Wake suffers from extraordinarily repetitive gameplay. The ambiguous story is ambitious but under-served, making for a game long on ideas and short on entertainment.

Prince Of Perisa Forgotten Sands: One of the slowest starting games mentioned, POP:FS opens exactly like every other POP game and takes its time getting started. The combat mechanics are extensively simplified following the example of last year's Prince Of Persia "reboot" rather than following the example of POP:The Two Thrones. Released to coincide but not replicate the POP film, Forgotten Sands has a compelling story and after quickly ramps up a few hours in to become a challenging platformer with light RPG elements.

Just Cause 2: A sequel to the Robert Rodriguez inspired original again find our hero with an inexhaustible supply of parachutes and grappling hooks. Hampered by atrocious voice-acting and writing the campaign story is pointless and best ignored in favor of exploring the massive game map, wreaking havoc. Just Cause 2 is a silly time killer that like any good popcorn, is forgotten as soon as you are finished with it.

Bayonetta: Sexy and insane, Bayonetta is a love letter to classic Sega games wrapped in Devil May Cry style combat mechanics. An incompressible story litters the gameplay, but double entendre's and one-liners make the experience entertaining outside of the spasmodic fighting. Lightening fast reflexes are a must to play the game to its fullest.

Aliens vs Predator: Essentially a remake of the original PC AVP by developer's Rebellion, AVP is a dark repetitive game suffering from loose controls. Brutal graphic violence is unable to compensate for cliche scenarios leaving me wishing I had simply replayed either of the original PC AVP games.

Left 4 Dead 2: Shipped only a year after the original L4D, Valve stunned the world by releasing a sequel within that timespan that was also good. L4D2 is tight, multi-player team based shooter set in a zombie apocalypse.Fast-paced, violent and scary, L4D2 follows the template set by Portal and L4D by allowing the story to be told by the environment, rather than clunky exposition and cut-scenes.

Metro 2033: Inspired by Half-Life 2 and made by some of the developers of S.T.A.L.K.E.R., Metro 2033 is a gorgeous,dark, moody but linear FPS. Set in the Moscow underground after a catastrophic event, humanity struggles to survive while scrabbling for food and supplies under the near constant attack of mutant creatures. While I have only started the game, I am already struck by the mood and hungry to keep going.

Crackdown 2: A direct sequel apparently using the original engine and art assets from Crackdown, CD 2 is a empty exercise in open world destruction, similar in tone to Just Cause 2 but without the goofy mass destruction. All of the unique and exciting parts of Crackdown have been amplified and expanded to become the entirety of the game, robbing them of that excitement.

Dead Rising 2 Case Zero: A prequel to DR 2 and an XBLA release, Case Zero retains the central gameplay of DR, along with some annoying contrivances tagging along. Providing a strong backstory for what will be the retail release of DR 2, Case Zero is tightly controlled, gory, funny adventure in small town America. Loaded with re-playability and more direct method of combining items to create super weapons, Case Zero is fantastic value for $5.