Theme

Well, it's 2 in the morning, friends are passed out on the couch, and I can't get to sleep, so i've decided to rage about a game I know nothing about, other than it existing, and that it is now multiplatform. I'm talking about Battlefield ****ing 3.

You've probably heard by now that the Battlefield 3 beta was announced by EA the other day and in the announcement they basically confirmed multiplatform development, which is really disappointing to me. This blog is not just aimless crying for the sake of crying or because i'm some *** hole PC elitist who doesn't wanna share. There have been very few PC franchises that went multiplatform and were not effected negatively in one way or another. The only way this would be a win/win situation would be if there were two versions in development; A console version, and a PC version. Otherwise, I fear we'll just be getting Bad Company 3, because DICE aren't magicians and a full fledged Battlefield game would not work on consoles. It just can't live up to it's potential on such outdated hardware.

Don't get me wrong, the Bad Company games are fun. They're good games. But they're not the type of Battlefield games I fell in love with, or what I envisioned for the future of BF games. The point of the Bad Company series was to be a Battlefield game that worked on consoles (DICE has said this plenty of times). Which meant many mechanics from the PC Battlefield games were ommitted. Things like 64 player matches, commander c1ass conquest mode, comma-rose, jets, etc. Bad Company 1/2 are both very simplified and down-scaled in scope compared to BF2. DICE could rerelease BF2 on their new Frostbite engine, slap BF3 on the box, and it would be a much improved sequel to Bad Company 2, aside from the outdated gunplay.

Even if by some miracle DICE managed to make what Battlefield 2 was doing work on consoles, that's still not what I was hoping for for BF3. I don't really want BF2 with new maps and nicer graphics. I want the next evolution of the franchise, a true 'next-gen' sequel to Battlefield 2. A larger scale more interactive BF game. I think that's what every BF fan wants. The truth is, the X360 and PS3 just don't have the the amount of RAM and processing power needed for this. It was the same case with Crysis. Even on low, Crysis was taking up a gig of ram, and the HD consoles only have 512MB to work with.

Think about what a BF game taking full advantage of the PC would be like. Actually, you don't have to, just read this post made by mrbojangles25 on the PC boards.

I think 128-person maps would be slick.

I dont know if it is a hardware thing or not, but I remember playing Joint Operations (a highly overlooked gem released by Novalogic) back in the day with 150-person maps and it was insanely fun.

Make big maps, multi-stage objectives, and 128+ player capacity with airplanes, helicopters, tanks, landing craft, etc. Sounds ambitious, but its totally within reason.

Imagine spawning as a marine on a ship and piloting an LCAC loaded with tanks and troops right up to Objective A and storming it while you got AH1 Cobra gunships providing cover fire for Hueys and Blackhawks


mrbojangles25

That'd be ****in' epic.

Battlefield is my favorite multiplayer series. We haven't had a TRUE Battlefield game in 4 years, and I was I really hoping for BF3 to take full advantage of the PC and live up to BF2, but now i'm worried it won't. I really wouldn't mind it being multiplatform if it meant that the gameplay experience would not suffer. I really wouldn't. I'm all for more people playing this series. They're amazing games.

Ok, I think I have covered everything. Again, I know literally nothing about this game, except that it exists. I just felt like bloggin' bout mah fears and overly early judgements.

Oh, and just to be clear, I'm not saying DICE owes me anything or that i'm entitled to a PC exclusive battlefield game.

Jg4xchamp tagged me. Sooo, yeh, here we go.

1. Put Your iTunes (or other music player) on Shuffle.
2. For each question, press the next button to get your answer.
3. You must write down the name of the song no matter how silly it sounds!
4. Put any comments in brackets after the song name.
5. Tag at least 10 friends.
6. Anyone tagged has to do the same, because fun pointlessness spreads like a virus.

I do not have itunes. So, I'm breaking these rules above and i'm just going to answer the questions. Jg4xchamp was the second to break the rules, and I am the third.

1. If someone says, "Is this okay?" You say
This question really needs some context.

2. How would you describe yourself?
Awesome of course.

3. What do you like in a guy/girl?
Like-minded. Open-minded. Smart. Responsible. Honest. Rational/Logical. Fun. Loves playing games and watchin' movies. Takes care of themselves. Can bake the perfect cheese cake. Pretty eyes. etc.

4. How do you feel today?
Little bit tired, other than that, pretty good.

5. What is your life's purpose?
Live it. Then die.

6. What is your motto?
Jump in. Sorry, I couldn't actually think of one, so I stole Xbox's.

7. What do your friends think of you?
I'm not going to ask them.

8. What do you think of your parents?
Love em'.

9. What do you think about very often?
My man crushes.

10. What is 2 + 2?
Four. Take back everything you ever said about Americans being stupid, Eurolanders.

11. What do you think of your best friend?
Pretty cool for knowing how to keep me from falling asleep at the wheel on our 10 hour car rides around California.

12. What do you think of the person you like?
: D

13. What is your life story?
I was born. Got my hands on a controller. Gamer ever since. That's the most important part anyways.

14. What do you want to be when you grow up?
Graphic designer, Multimedia.

15. What do you think of when you see the person you like?
: D

16. What will you dance to at your wedding?
I don't know. That's up to Ms. AAllxxjjnn.

17. What will they play at your funeral?
Something from Ennio Morricone.

18. What is your hobby/interest?
Games, movies, listening to music, walking, alone time/relaxing in bed, hanging out/talking with friends, posting on gamespot, photoshop, etc.

19. What is your biggest fear?
Spiders.

20. What is your biggest secret?
I can't tell you my awsum sekrits!

21. What do you think of your friends?
I think they're pretty great. All of them. Even you internet pals.

22. What will you put as the title?

I got tagged n' stuff.

Well, now it's time for my trip up north to my friend's cabin. Or will be in a few hours, we wanna leave early to avoid the traffics. Last minute packing time now.

No, I don't remember/Anna Ternheim *cute accent*

Hey, what's up gamespotters. My studies ended recently, so I needed something to do with all this extra time, and since I haven't done one of these in a while, I thought I'd do one. I actually started writing this at the end of May, and have just been slowing adding to it since then. I think this blog might be too long actually. So long, I had to split it up, because of gamespot's 20000 character limit. I'll give you a cookie if you read it.

I've really just been relaxing a lot this summer. Drove down the coast to Santa Cruz, where my friend got a little too drunk, ended up in a dress and then walked down to 711 to buy more alcohol. Other than that I haven't done much.

Also, I saw Inception with a friend the other night. We got there at 10pm hoping to see the 1030pm show, but the theater sold out. So, we decided to just buy tickets for the 1140 show and walk around the empty mall/theater for a couple hours. Nothing exciting to say about that, it was empty. Inception was pretty good though, I really enjoyed the story and set pieces. Sound design kicked much ass as well. Characters could have been more developed but whatever, everything else was so well done. I hella wanna see it again actually. The only other movie i've seen twice is...I can't remember, but i've only ever done it once, I know that.

Oh, by the way, I got a kitten. His name is Cooper. Here's some pics. :]

The rest are here.

Space Western

I've been watching the very awesome Firefly series again. For those who aren't familiar, It's this great mix between the sci-fi and western genre's, with a cast of characters that are the embodiment awesomeness and lovable. It's basically how I would design my heaven. Like all my favorite shows though, Firefly was killed off very early in it's life. ugggghhhh.

Anyways, Check it out. It's only 14 episodes, so it's not too much of a time sink. The movie Serenity compliments the series quite well too. (Both are on netflix instant watch by the way).

Captain Mal kicking some dude into Serenity's engine.

Saving Private Carmine

Save Clay Carmine!

Seriously, It's about time the Carmine family's luck changed. I want to see him kick some ****in' Locust ass. Look at this guy, Born 2 saw!

But if he does die, he needs to go out in the most epic way possible.

Doom

I just shot myself through knee deep seas of dead carcasses, passed through the shores of Hell, dove straight into Inferno and destroyed Hell itself with little more than a shotgun. On Ultra-Violence. B)

My boredom reached new heights last month when the first rain of the summer hit, so I decided to try out the Doom II demo on Xbox Live Arcade, and found myself addicted to it. This is my first time playing these games and i'm kind of surprised how much I am enjoying them. They're hella good, despite being old as hell (pun intended lawl). I'm currently playing Doom 3, and while it's good, I don't think it's as good as the previous two, mainly because it's a lot more claustrophobic. Not saying that's a bad thing, I just like the sty1e of Doom II a bit more. Shooting demons is still fun though, and it has it's somewhat scary moments when played under the right conditions (midnight, lights off, headphones on). It's doing a good job fulfilling my macho man fantasies while I wait for Gears of War 3. :]

Can't wait for Doom 4 now too. I'm ready to dive straight back into Inferno and kick some demon ass! There are some rumors floating around that it is going to be a lot more like Doom II as opposed to Doom 3, and that it's going to take full advantage of the current PC hardware. Crysis killer maybe? :O I'm hoping they show it at Quakecon next month. :]

Timesplitters 4?

I'm really craving a new Time Splitters game. I LOVE Timesplitters. The series is the definition of fun. In singleplayer you traveled through time, running around places like Siberia in 1990, Notre Dame in 1895, and, my favorite, Neo Tokyo in 2019, which had this really awesome Blade Runner vibe going on. Each place had it's own little narrative and characters that tied into the overall story, which I thought was cool, even though the story wasn't any good. As for multiplayer...all I really remember was being able to play as a Monkey, "Badass Cyborg", Bear, Zombie, Mob Boss, Undead Priest, and a huge variety of other ridiculous characters. So much awesome.

There aren't many over the top ridiculous shooters like TS anymore, and it's a shame. Not to mention TS's artsty1e would look awesome with CryEngine 3...well, anything would look good in CryEngine 3, but you know what I mean. Unfortunately, Crytek UK AKA Free Radical is currently busy developing the multiplayer portion of Crysis 2. Bummer. :[ I NEED MY FIX CRYTEK!

It's a beta ffs!

Yeh, it's kind of late to be talking about this now, but whatever. Bunch of my friends bought Halo ODST in order to get into the beta, so I followed along and bought ODST at $30, cause i'm an idiot. Oh and by the way, ODST honestly has one of the worst FPS campaigns i've ever played. The narrative structure is cool, but the gameplay is mind numbingly boring.

I gotta admit, I was pleasantly surprised by the beta. I haven't really had fun with a Halo game since Halo CE. They've just been really dull. Reach is just way more fun to play. The armor abilities make for some awesome twists to the gameplay and the guns all feel very fun to shoot, in part because of the kick ass sound design. They have this really visceral feeling to them. Also, level traversal is far more awesome than in past Halos as well, with sprint allowing for some ninja-like jumping around the level. I love ninja jumps, always a welcomed addition.

The beta wasn't perfect, some of the things are unbalanced, but that's to be expected since well...it's a beta. Not a lot of kids seemed to understand this. It's a beta, you're suppose to be finding glitches by like reloading in weird places, the game isn't finished yet.

Also, Blood Gulch is returning. :] If they brought back death island that would be epic, especially with the new jetpacks. You cannot deny the potential for awesomeness there. Basically every CE map would be cool...yeh, ok, I'm still hella wet over Halo CE. So are you though.

Got rid of the Jet Engine.

I'm talking about my Xbox 360. That console was way too loud. I could not handle it any longer, so when MS announced the new S model with quieter fan and disc drive, I ran to the store and bought one. I broke the promise I made to myself to never shop at Gamestop ever again, but the trade in deal they had going on was too good to pass up. I got $155 for my old Xbox 360 + Controller + 20GB HDD. I only ended up paying around $150 for the new Xbox. That's about what I would have had to spend if my old out-of-warranty Xbox died on me for a 3rd time, which would have happened eventually. For some reason, I trust that this new Xbox will not die, which is pretty stupid considering Microsoft's past, but you know, maybe they've learned from their mistakes? I'm Hopeful. However, all that really matters right now is that thing is really quiet. New Xbox 360 is to quiet as Laura Vandervoort is to sexy. She's a good actress from what i've seen, not that into the shows she is in though.

I hate Kill cams.

I really do. Players don't even have to put any work into being a vindictive *** hole anymore. Now everyone just gets this nice little screenshot giving away the position of the guy who killed them. Bad Company 2 for example. I can guarantee you that if I snipe some guy's face off, 9 out of 10 times he's gonna run over to where I killed him from and try to get me back. 10 out of 10 times they get a bullet in their head. I got motion sensors, I know you're coming!

Truth is, Kill cams punish me for being a well hidden sniper. If the opposing team cannot figure out where I am without the use of kill cam, then either i'm playing the c1ass effectively, or they're blind. Most likely the earlier, because I'm practically a god at Battlefield games. Honestly, even when i'm the one in the sniper's crosshair, I'd rather not have the game show me where he is, because part of the fun is hunting down those pesky ass snipers with only a rough idea of where they shot you from.

**** killcams.

Crydiators - Trailer

I've been wishing for a non-shooter game from Crytek for quite a while now, and that wish was finally fulfilled. :] They announced "Codename Kingdoms" at MS's e3 conference, and unfortunately, exclusively for the Xbox 360. I'm a little bummed it won't be on PC, I mean, It's not like i'm going to go sob into my pillow and boycott Crytek over it. I really wanted to see the full power of Cryengine 3 unleashed on an ancient setting though! I'm sure it'll still look great though.

Anyways, I'm very interested to see what Crytek can do outside of the shooter realm. The imagery is pretty cool so far, heavily reminiscent of Gladiator or 300, both of which I loved. As for gameplay, I'm hoping for an action/adventure game with some down to earth combat, as opposed to something like Devil May Cry or God of War where you're defying gravity, jumping 4 stories into the air and juggling your opponents. Co op would be awesome as well, which is something I think the trailer kind of hints at by showing three characters. Don't disappoint me Crytek!

Portal 2 - Trailer

Do I really need to say anything? It's Portal minus the cake is a lie jokes. Just what everyone wanted. Looks like Valve is building upon Portal's gameplay mechanics in some pretty cool ways as well such as the Propulsion Gel that speeds you up as you slide across a surface coated with it. The puzzles look a lot more elaborate, which is always good. :]

Best of all they're adding a co op campaign. It's separate from the SP and you play as these two little robot guys, who i'm sure will have a ton of personality. Well, hopefully they aren't silent. Unfortunately, all my irl friends are getting this for the Xbox 360, and i'm not going to buy a Valve game on a ****ing console. C'mon. So, who's down to play some Portal 2 co op with me on PC a year from now!?

Start spreading the news... - Trailer

The Nanosuit has a new playground, the desolate streets and towering sky scrapers of post-alien invasion New York City, and looks wise, it's ****en beautiful. It doesn't look as good as the original Crysis, but then again, we've only been shown the 360 version. I expect the PC version to look hella better.

I'm still cautiously optimistic about whether or not the "I came, I saw, I conquered" sty1e of gameplay is executed as well as in the original. The level shown at E3 wasn't particularly large, which is disappointing, because part of what made Crysis great were the huge environments that allowed you to take a number of different paths. It took me a couple playthroughs before I discovered a lot of what Crysis had to offer. Like the sewer system under the Harbor on Assault, and the hidden side path in Onslaught that allowed me to easily flank the Koreans position. If they cut back on the options, then Crysis 2 will be a step backs compared to Crysis' evolutionary design. Crytek did say the level shown at E3 was a resized for the event. Guess i'll just have to wait and see. Also, I regret to inform you all, there will be no chickens in Crysis 2. :[

Aside from that, I liked what was shown. Sliding into cover and being able to pull yourself up onto ledges are great little additions. Aliens look a lot more fun to fight too. Oh! And the demo's atmosphere really stood out to me. It was top notch, It felt very threatening and desperate. Reminded me a lot of Cloverfield actually. Also, they totally destroy the "Maxlife" building and "New Central Station" in a matter of seconds. Total awesomeness.

Oh, just what we need, another first person shooter, bawww! - Trailer

Ok, yeh, i'll admit i'm getting a little bit of shooter fatigue (tiny bit), but Bulletstorm looks pretty damn awesome. It's all about comboing moves/weapons and killing your opponents in the most kick ass ways possible in order to earn skill points that you can spend on upgrades that allow you to kill your opponents in even more kick ass ways. That's how Epic explained it at at least. It looks like hella fun to play. The E3 demo had some completely stupid dialogue, but does that even matter? The right answer is no, because the gameplay and set-pieces look incredibly insane. I can't wait for this game.

CliffyB already has me sold by describing it as, "the Burnout of shooters, with a little bit of Duke Nukem, and a little bit of Firefly and Serenity on top." Hell yeh.

New Zelda looks like Zelda. - Trailer

It has this awesomely beautiful artsty1e though, it's almost like a nice mix between Twilight Princess and Wind Waker. I love it. The Wind Waker's art still hold the top spot in my heart. I am hoping that someday they do a console sequel to Wind Waker...or remake...whichever. I don't care what anybody says, sailing around and exploring the ocean in that game was hella chill. I don't want this to turn into me going on and on about how incredible Wind Waker was, but that's where it's headed, because if you couldn't tell already I love Wind Waker. I think it's the best 3D Zelda game. Ocarina of Time was cool too, but I can only play up to the water temple before I murder my N64. Yeh, I know, hating on the Water Temple when discussing OoT if kind of played out.

Anyways, i'm interested to hear some more on Legend of Zelda Skyward Sword. Sounds like flight will be a form of transportation this time around, which sounds pretty cool to me.

LIMBO

I've actually had my eye on this game since the first trailer back in '07? Somewhere around there. Didn't really hear much about it after that which worried me since it looked really cool. They really only started talking about it again this year and it finally released it on XBLA this week, so I downloaded it, and played through it. It didn't take me long, it was only about 3-4 hours long, but I think that's just the right length for this type of game.

You play as this little boy in Limbo searching for his sister. The game doesn't really communicate this to you with words or text, and I only found that out by looking at the Limbo page on Xbox.com. So, the game is set in Limbo, which is filled with all sorts of deadly environment puzzles and platforming. There's a lot trial and error involved, so you'll find yourself dieing fairly often in some very brutal ways; such as getting stabbed in the face by a giant ass spider, or being decapitated by a bear trap. This is never really a problem nor is it frustrating, because dieing isn't the end of the world in this game. You're in Limbo, so death only puts you right back in Limbo. There are definitely some puzzles that really require you to think, but I never found myself screaming in frustration.

Limbo's artsty1e is one of the most eye catching i've seen in a while, it creates this wonderfully depressing atmosphere, and despite the whole game being made of silhouettes, each new place you visit looks very distinct. The sound design is also really stand out, I think it's just as strong as the art direction. There's no music, just ambient noise accompanied by some very cool sound design. Especially the rain. Limbo has some awesome rain sounds. I leave the game on and fall asleep to it. Seriously.

There's been a bit of talk about whether or not the game is worth it's 15 dollar price tag, when you're only getting around 4 hours of gameplay at most, but I think it's definitely worth it, because the gameplay experience is just so awesome. It's a pretty cool game, check it out. I feel like doing a video walkthrough of this game...maybe w/ commentary =P.

New sig

Made a new Crysis 2 sig. Comments/suggestions? :]

I wanna use either of these two images in my next sig, because I like the composition. Which one should I use?

Well, that's it. I lied about the cookie. Sorry. I didn't lie about the hawt chicks though (unless you have a really strong hatred of airbrushed to hell models). You can find part 2 below.

These couldn't fit in my blog. So I had to seperate them. :[ Damn gamespot's 20000 character limit.

Alan Wake & Red Dead Redemption 'review'.

Alan Wake

Insert generic comment about Alan Wake's development time here. blah blah whatever, I loved it.

So, Alan Wake's main gameplay elements involve using a flashlight and firearm to combat these enemies called The Taken. They're enveloped in a "dark presence" that makes them invulnerable to damage. So, you shine the Energizer Flashlight on them until this dark presence shielding them explodes, leaving them exposed to your bullets. You also have this dodge function. If timed right, allows you to duck out of the way of enemy attacks in very cinematic fashion. Since, The Taken just love running in close (they're a lot faster than out-of-shape washed up writer Alan too, good luck trying to run) you'll be using this a lot. These mechanics all come together exceptionally well and make for some very unique combat and intense moments. There is little variation in the enemies though, and it can start to feel repetitive at times. I had hoped there would be some Taken animals wandering around the woods, like Grizzly or Koala Bears. It would have added more variety and surprise.

Atmosphere is one of Alan Wake's most memorable attributes. Remedy did an awesome job with crafting the world of Bright Falls, As a whole it feels like a cohesive, believable pacific northwest location. You'll come across these beautiful vistas which show off landmarks you've been to in earlier episodes, now miles away, as you progress through the game. It's remarkably immersive and the environments are exceedingly detailed and dense. I felt as if I could get lost in the wooded areas despite the levels being very linear. One of the more awesome things is when fog rolls in and the trees start to blow in the wind as the forest comes alive changing the mood in a matter of seconds. It is very unsettling.

The storyline is expertly woven, with some awesome use of ambient storytelling and in-game narration, such as the manuscript pages that flesh out some of the characters and foreshadow events to come. Contrary to many of the reviews, I loved the ending. It leaves a lot up to interpretation, but it's a good conclusion.

Anyways, Thanks Remedy. :] Hopefully it sells well, because you guys deserve it.

Red Dead Redemption.

You'd think devs would have seen the potential for a western setting a little earlier this. I enjoyed it, but at the same time I was disappointed. Maybe I set my expectations so high.

Most of the disappointment stems from the inconsistent, anti-climatic story and dull mission segments. You literally move from character to character doing chores for them for the bulk of the storyline, and when the climaxes do hit, they fall flat. The story lacked focus and I never found myself caring about what I was doing. Most of the characters that are actually interesting are never really around long enough to be developed. There's not much else I can say, it was very hit or miss. I did like John though, and I really loved the ending.

What RDR does best is the free roaming. One of the coolest things is the world's A-life/Eco system, there are a number of random events that can occur at any given moment. For example, I crossed paths with a man who pleaded for me to save his wife from bandits, and I got to play the badass 'Man with No Name' role. It makes the world feel very alive. Rockstar nailed the western atmosphere perfectly. Especially the sunsets, they are are beautiful. So beautiful. And they're different almost everytime. The skies in general are actually really amazing looking.

The gunplay feels nice, it has good feedback and the animations are awesome. The controls are just ok though. Running around and trying to get into cover feels very clunky. Even trying to get through doors can be annoying as your character gets stuck on the frame constantly. It feels like they put complex animations ahead of control responsiveness. I was also disappointed with the duel mechanics. Rockstar really failed at capturing the essence of duels. They lack any sort tension or suspense. C'mon, if you're going to make a western, you better make the duels mind blowing. Come ****ing on.

I know all of this sounded kind of negative, but I do like the game. I just think it had the potential to be way better that it was. Tired of games letting me down.

Just finished watching Twin Peaks again. Awesome show, unforgettable characters, though it's not strong in the second half of season 2 compared to the first. If only ABC hadn't rushed David Lynch and cancelled it after only 2 seasons...the series finale still leaves me feeling sort of empty, because it leaves a lot of characters in places I'd rather not see them stranded. I shouldn't dwell on what-ifs though. Regardless, it's one of the best TV series ever. I'm never able to pin-point what my favorite game/movie/band is, those lists are usually put in no particular order, but in this case, hands down, Twin Peaks is my favorite TV series.

So, I changed my signature and avatar to two characters from Twin Peaks:

Ava:

Agent Dale Cooper

Sig:

Audrey Horne

I've been getting lazier and lazier with my signature crafting. I used to actually try, now I just crop some random image I like, and if i'm in a working mood I might put a border around it. Looks like I wasn't in a working mood.

Oh yeh, I also payed off my Alan Wake Limited Edition today. :] Usually, I think LE's are a waste of money, because I never get any use out of the junk that comes with them, and I tell myself i'm an idiot everytime I buy them...but...i've been waiting 5 years for this game. LE comes with the soundtrack too, and from what i've heard, it sounds like sex on a disc. Also comes with game add-on token, so this doesn't seem as idiotic of a choice as was the case with the Mass Effect 2 LE (they kind of tricked me on that one though, because EA said it came with a "Limited Edition Cerberus Network Card", so I thought I might as well buy the LE to get into the Cerberus Network. Turns out Cerberus Network Card came with the regular editions of the game too).

LE comes with:

• Game Disc in box with unique art
• Exclusive In-Game Audio Commentary and Hints by Remedy
• "The Alan Wake Files" – a 144pg book that includes a short story written by Alan Wake and compiles the FBI dossiers investigating the events in Bright Falls, WA
• Exclusive Audio Disc with Soundtrack and Score
• Game Add-on token redeemable on Xbox LIVE for the first Alan Wake add-on content pack
• Exclusive Xbox disc with special content: Alan Wake Xbox Live Theme and Alan Wake Avatar for Xbox LIVE

I think that's it for now. Thanks for reading, take care.

Alex

 

Top 20 (You'll have to right click>view image to see the whole poster. I thought it would fit, unfortunatly it doesn't.)

 

What I want games to improve on in the future

-Better story telling and characters...or just don't even try. Example: Gears of War 2. Epic tried to take the game more seriously by building upon Dom's search for his missing wife. They didn't succeed in making me care though, and it came off really half assed and silly. It would be great if they'd just go full on over the top, the giant worm that was sinking entire cities was a great start. That was hilariously awesome.

-More immersive/open/creative level design. Sorry, but i'm going to use Gears as an example again, even though i enjoy those games a lot, I have some problems with them. Games like Gears just feel like a bunch of mini arenas that i'm being funneled through one after another. I guess there's nothing wrong with that, but it's just not something I find very engaging. Games like Half Life 2, Resident Evil 4, and Metroid Prime don't feel like this. They make me feel like i'm in an actual environment. They're immersive and draw me in with their level design. I'd like more games that do this.

-More interactive level design/destructibility. I'm not asking to be able to completely level buildings, I just want a little more interactiveness to game environments, like Crysis for example.

-More gameplay variety/better pacing. Spice things up, I don't want to be shooting the whole time, look at Half Life 2, Valve mixes things up thoughout that game. The pacing is perfect.

-Better body language and animations. Bioware games seem to suffer from this disease, the characters voice acting doesn't match the body language and it comes off very akward looking.

-Stop using cutscenes for things that I could be playing myself!

Alright, those are my demands devs.

Happy New Years! :]

Alex

Haven't written one of these in pretty long. Been sort of busy with my classes, which just ended the other day. Still embarassed about my term paper in film...it was so badly written i didn't even want to turn it in. : \ I'm usually a perfectionist when it comes to that stuff, but this time i just got lazy and waiting till 10 hours before it was due to start, after receiving the assignment well over a month in advance : P. I definitely kicked the final exam's ass though.

Don't have to think about school for a whole month now, a whole month of barely anything to do. Well, one thing i have to do is catch up on Dexter by finishing season 3 + 4. Great show btw, anyone reading this should definitely check it out.

Then there's Christmas, which should be fun. Probably gonna go hang out with family, or whatever I'm going to be mad if the sun is out again on Christmas day. It might sound silly, but it just doesn't feel like christmas when the sun is out. I want it to rain, and be cold. Unfortunately, it doesn't snow here in San Francisco. :[

Also, again, to anyone reading, recommend me some upbeat movies. Lately, I keep picking out depressing movies to watch, like Dog Day Afternoon and The Proposition, which are great films, but they're bumming me out. Any suggestions? Maybe i'll just watch 'The Princess Bride' again, which just overflows with charm, cuteness and personality.

Sorry Bioware, you're game wasn't AS lame as i predicted...

Yeh, so I bought Dragon Age, and I was semi-right about it. It's fantasy design is super generic. The facial animations are awkward. The plot is pretty cliche. BUT, the characters and dialogue are actually pretty great. They make the game. I'm not gonna go into a whole lot of detail, but I loved all the characters and the ending i got made me kinda sad, didn't cry though, lets get that clear, k? >_> The gameplay is also a lot fun, was a nice change of pace, my trigger fingers have been getting tired lately. Ok, i'll admit...it's my favorite game of the year, even more so than Uncharted 2, which was a nonstop roller coaster ride of ass kickery. Well, actually i don't know which i liked better now that i describe Uncharted 2 that way...hmm.

Modern Warfare 2 Singeplayer Review

I'm going to keep this short, like the singleplayer. It had it's moments (like the part after the EMP bomb goes off and you're walking through the streets), but the actual gameplay started to feel super stale 2 hours (beat it in 4 and a half hours). PS - Why in Spec Ops mode can the AI see me from a mile away through the tree tops? I seriously see tracer rounds coming at me from across the map through trees. That's ****ing cheap.

Megaman 10

Trailer

Hell ****in yeh! Love that poster. It's epic.

That reminds me I still need to beat the frustratingly hard Megaman 9...before a certain Finn.

Dead Space 2

Got my brother's Game Informer issue in the mail, and Dead Space 2 was on the cover. The cover was like this awesome painting of Isaac Clarke (Main character from the first game) blowing some necromorph away. Immediatly got super pumped.

I really enjoyed the first game, despite it's faults. It had great atmosphere and a cool Alien-esque setting, gameplay felt a lot like RE4, another game i loved to death. Also, (oh, and warning ahead of time to those who have not played the game and plan on playing it eventually, there's a spoiler in the link i'm about to post) the final boss' introduction was sooo awesome! Here's the vid. Just everything about it, was so well put together, the sound design, the lighting, the camera movement, Isaac's movement. So good. Unfortunatly fighting the thing wasn't nearly as intense (cept for that part where it grabs you by the leg and stuff) but whatever.

For Dead Space 2 it seems they're going in the Aliens direction. Bringing the fight to the Necromorphs. They discuss in the article how your environment will play a bigger role in your survival. One of the examples they use is being able to break the airlock, thus everything in the room gets pulled out into space, which is really cool to me for some reason. Also it sounds like they're putting more variety into the environments you'll be visiting, compared to the first game. I'm excited for it. : P

Dante's Inferno

I'm not so sure about this one yet. I've never really been a big fan of action games like this before, they've always been good for 1 play through and then they collect dust in my room for the rest of eternity. The one exception to this rule is Ninja Gaiden (the first one, i'm not even going to get into how inferior the sequel is. To put it simply: It's a ****in' mess). Ninja Gaiden made me feel like a Ninja though. The combat was fluid and fun, while also being difficult to master, in part because the AI was so brutal. You could not mash buttons to win, unlike, well, God of War.

God of War has always been, to me, an incredibly average game compared to NG. Yeh, maybe it has better storytelling and presentation...but you know what? I couldn't care less about story in my action games. I'll take deep combat over some dude who cries for 2 games straight over how he killed his OWN family. Story isn't even great, really. Also, the Blades of Chaos suck as weapons. They seriously lack any kind of impact. They feel all feathery, like they do zero damage to whoever is in the way, that is, unless it's a quick time event. If that's the case, they feel ten times as cool compared to regular combat. Like when you slam that hydras face into the wall.

Anyways, this is becoming a God of War rant, which is fitting i guess, since Dante's Inferno plays a lot like it, except the Scythe Dante weilds feels way better than those stupid blades. I didn't really find myself enjoying the demo that much though. It felt kind of boring to be honest, because, well, you mash buttons to win. This is just the impression i got from the demo though, which might have no been a good represenation of the game at all. Probably not going to bother with this one, maybe i'll play the demo a bit more and then decide. I'm kinda disappointed though. I liked the idea of fighting through the 9 cirlces of hell, and each location (judging from the trailers) looks really cool and unique.

Crysis 2



http://www.maximumpc.com/article/news/crysis_2_announced

There isn't much known about this game yet, except that it's a sequel to Crysis, but today PC gamer announced that they're Feb 2010 is going to feature on article on it. Here's what caught my attention, "There's also an interview with the game's Executive Producer, Nathan Camarillo, which includes highlighted phrases like "far from tropical" and "increased verticality." I'm not a big fan of tropical environments, so this sounds great, also i'm really really interested to see how exactly this "increased verticality" is going to play out. I kinda hope they have co-op in the singleplayer, because that'd be some awesome coop considering the size of the levels.

I loved the original Crysis, which everyone should know by now based on how much i defend it on the forums (maybe i give it more praise than it deserves, but, i mean, what other game can i kill people with frying pans and chickens?). The game was a brilliant step forward for the FPS genre (which i have to admit, has been becoming VERY stale lately, aside from a few gems like STALKER and of course Crysis.) Seriously, can't wait for more info :]

Also, that cover art is badass.

Alan Wake


"Best possible roller coaster ride" of '10.

Red Dead Redemption

RDR Gameplay

Rockstar finally released some gameplay the other day, and it looks totally amazing. Seems like they've completely nailed the western atmosphere, and that they're giving you a reason to explore. I felt one of the problems with GTA was that there was nothing to do, and no reason to explore anywhere. So, i'm glad they're fixing that with RDR, it looks like it'll have plenty to do. Also, I love the idea of being able to take in bounties alive, and engage in some duels! Finally an open world game with my favorite setting. : ]

Final Fantasy XIII

Although i'm not the biggest fan of JRPG's, the lack of good ones this gen has kind of sucked. When i was a kid i strictly played JRPGs and thought WRPGs sucked. It's becoming more of the opposite now.

Lost Odyssey has been the only jrpg i've played this gen that'd i'd recommend. It really is one of the greatest RPGs ever to me. Yeh, design wise the game was very old school, but it brought
some new things to the table that added to the experience, like positioning your party members strategically on the field. Then again, i'm not sure if this originated in LO, but whatever. Soundtrack was top tier too, very very good, but what else would you expect from Nobuo Uematsu? I will admit, near the end it was beginning to feel like a chore to play, mainly due to the difficulty. :s Lost Odyssey 2 please.

I'm hoping FFXIII will follow in suit, being another amazing JRPG. And with the FFX team behind it, i have no doubt it will be. That might be an unpopular opinion though, since a lot of people don't like FFX. Yeh, Tidus was a little annoying, and Wakka was a very annoying, but other than that i didn't really have a problem with the characters. Overall i liked the story to, it had a lot of great moments. I think i should actually play that game again over my month of free time.

Anyways, back to FFXIII. Looking forward to March 9th 2010!

And i'll end this blog now. : p

Merry Christmas,
Alex

Started school a couple weeks ago, so i haven't really had the time to do a blog or anything.

Anyways, i changed my sig again. This time to Melanie Laurent from Inglourious Basterds. Loved her performance in the flick and she's super beautiful too.

Signature:

Second off, I uploaded this Crysis Warhead video of me kicking ass. B)


Dragon Age Origins

I've kind of been anticipating this Dragon Age Origins game for a while, because Bioware usually puts out pretty good games. The more i see of Dragon Age, though, the lamer it looks. I guess I want to like it, because the gameplay looks good, but holy **** does everything else (facial animations, dialogue, story, voice acting) seem really poorly put together. C'mon Bioware, i expect better from you guys, this is like a step back from Mass Effect.

They're trying way to hard to be dark/violent/whatever. They're basically trying to do what The Witcher did 2 years again, but instead coming across as a parody of it. It just looks really lame. The marketing campaign is bad too.

Actual Dragon Age Trailer

So, Gamespot, are you ready for the new ****?

Alright, i'll stop *****ing, and just not buy the game. =p I just hate to see potential thrown into the gutter. :




Prince of Persia

So, before College I started playing Prince of Persia ( 2008 ) again. Awesome game, even if it is repetitive. The game follows Ubisoft's recent discovery of 'ctrl+C/ctrl+V', just like Far Cry 2 and Assassin's Creed. Difference is, I loved this game, dispite the repetition. The game feels very inspired by Shadow of the Colossus and Ico. Oh, and its the first good PC port from Ubisoft i've played ever...still haven't forgiven them for that god awful Beyond Good & Evil port though.

The story and characters were enjoyable, and contrary to the majority, I loved the ending! I didn't see it coming at all. The final moments of the game will forever be ingrained in my mind. Very memorable.

Platforming is very fluid and fun to see in action, though it could have had some more varied obstacles and a bit more depth. It feels a little too automatic if you know what i mean. The level design is very impressive. Actually, the design in general is incredible, especially the art **** Really breathtaking environments and views.

There are several things i didn't like, but was willing to overlook. The game is very easy and there is no option to ramp up the difficulty. The only kind of combat you'll find in the game is 1 on 1, which i had no problem with, but i felt the combat could have had more depth. It is still a lot of fun and has some really spectacular moves that you can pull off.

I can't wait for the sequel. Ubisoft released a Epilogue DLC thing, but they decided not to release it for PC:[
I hope that doesn't mean the next Prince of Persia won't be on PC or sad Alex will be sad.

The Witcher

I also played through The Witcher again. I think it's one of the best video game stories told recently. The twist at the
end of the game was excuted flawlessly, i was still thinking about it days after beating the game. I also loved the morally ambiguous choice and consequnce system that had the effect of your choices made known much later into the game. The developers did an awesome job on the combat system too. Compared to most RPGs out there, it's a great system.

Soundtrack is really well done too. I especially liked "The River of Life" track. It has this really soothing vocal section in the middle of the song that i'd always wait for before progressing to next area =p. I found myself stopping to listen to the music quite a few times actually...

It's suprising that this was CD Projekt RED's first shot at game development. Masterpiece from the get go. Nothing else to say...waiting for a sequel, CD Projekt RED.

And by the way...i hope the combat in the sequel is more like what they had planning for the console version of the first one. Doesn't this just look ****ing badass!?

Movies

I went on this movie binge the few weeks before my studies started up again. I'm not going to write a review or anything for all of them. I don't even think I'm going to score them, just know that I recommend all of them, and
trust me, I know what i'm talking about. ;] They're all pretty good films. Cept, Gran Torino has some
bad acting, but whatever, still worth a watch, give it a try!

Blood Simple
The Cider House Rules
Paris, Je T'aime *Great Cast!
À bout de souffle
Inglourious Basterds
Gran Torino
Caddyshack

The three i'd most recommend though are Breathless (Fantastic preformance from Jean Seberg), Blood Simple (suspense done right, and awesome sound design), and Inglourious Basterds (really fun to watch, like most of Tarantino's films. Enjoyed it a lot. Every scene with Brad Pitt was hilarious, Christopher Waltz was just flat out amazing, and, again, great performance from Melanie Laurent!)

I aslo watched all of Kevin Smith's View Askewniverse movies. Not sure why i seperated them from the above flicks, but i did.

Clerks
Mallrats
Chasing Amy
Dogma
Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back
Clerks II

No surprise, i love all of these, my favorite is Chasing Amy and the original Clerks though. Chasing Amy is one of the few romantic comedies i've really loved. I love Holden's "big idea" at the end haha! Jay and Silent Bob are hilarious nonstop too. Snoochie Boochies!


Now, i have to write an essay, ugh.

PS: I really dislike those GS smilies.

Just woke up...at 3 in the morning, can't get back to sleep. :\ Had a dream that a girl kicked my ass at Street Fighter IV. That'd only happen in my dreams though, since women don't have the mind power or the facial hair to be good at fighters.

*****
Westerns

Anyways, weather has been pretty terrible lately, and i get bored pretty easily. So, i watched hell of western flicks over the week. I'd write a review for each of them, but i realized it would just be me talking about how much ass Clint Eastwood kicks and how incredible Ennio Morricone's scores are.

Keep in mind...i use the whole scale, so 5/10 would mean the movie is average, not a failure.

• Two Mules for Sister Sara: 8/10
• A Fistful of Dollars: 9/10
• For a Few Dollars More: 9/10
• The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly: 10/10
• Hang Em High: 8/10
• 3:10 to Yuma (remake): 6/10
• Once Upon a Time in the West: 11/10
• Unforgiven: 9/10
• Django: 8/10
• Sabata: 7/10
• Navajo Joe: 5/10
• Pale Rider: 9/10
• High Plains Drifter: 9/10
• The Outlaw Josey Wales: 10/10
• Paint your Wagon: .../10 ( Avoid this movie. I have no clue why Clint Eastwood is even in this. It's a musical.)

My favorite out of them all is Once Upon a Time in the West. It's a masterpiece. Extremely well put together and paced. Top notch soundtrack and acting. I really liked all the characters too...Cheyenne in particular. Charles Bronson's character, Harmonica, was great too, especially his back story.

I think i've had enough of westerns now...but if there are any good ones i missed let me know.

*****

Ennio Morricone

Awesome composer. He basically had Sergio Leone's back for all his movies (Once Upon a Time in America, Dollars Trilogy, etc). Some of the other movies he's worked on are: The Great Silence, The Untouchables, The Thing, and The Legend of 1900. He's most famous for the stuff he did with Leone though.

I don't think i've disliked any of his scores, they're all REALLY incredibleand fit the movies they're composed for perfectly. They definitely set the mood very well. Even if the movie Ennio works on ends up a mess, his score still kicks. For example, i thought The Untouchables sucked, but Ennio's score made Kevin Costner's acting bearable. Anyways, yeh, amazingly epic composer.

A few of my favorites that he's done for westerns:

• Duello Finale - Once Upon a Time in the West
• Il Grande Massacro - Once Upon a Time in the West

*Those two are somewhat the same.

• I don't know - Two Mules for Sister Sara

*for some reason this is all i can find of the Two Mules soundtrack on Youtube. The track i liked the most was Main Title Reprise or A Time for Miracles.

• The Ecstasy of Gold - The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

*this really was a given. Had to be there.

• Morton - Once Upon a Time in Mexico

*Very beautifully sad track i think, especially the last time it plays in movie.

• Il Triello

*****

Insanely Twisted Shadow Planet

Trailer

Seriously, I've never seen a 2D game so beautifully animated. Basically here's the game in a nutshell as described on the developer's site: "a side-scroller that would combine old school arcade sty1e game play with feature film quality design and animation...". As of right now it's only in development for the PC, i think. Looks like a lot of fun to play and it just bleeds amazing art. I need my sidescroller fix :]

Oh and by the way, Michel Gagne, the animator behind the game, has some really cool stuff on his main page, might want to check it out if interested. He's worked on films like The Iron Giant and American Tail, both great movies.

*****
Garage Sale

So my neighbors were like having this Garage Sale the other day. Most of it was total bull****, but among the countless piles of trash...there was a gem. A framed photo of Mr. Clint Eastwood. 5 bucks...

I still need to hang it, so he can watch over me, and inspire kick assery. Dunno where to hang it though...



*****
Fog

Along with the bad/rainy weather, we also got a lot of fog with it. I like the fog though, it's cool especially if you're above it, and you can look down into city below and see it just covered in a thick layer of fog. When you're in it though, you can barely see anything...and the city lights and car headlights create these silhouettes around people. Really eerie atmosphere. :p



*****
Jury Duty

So, I got summoned for jury duty. They don't waste their time sending this crap out, i just turned 18 last year. Not looking forward to this at all, then again, who would be?

On the letter: "Welcome to jury service in San Mateo County. We hope this will prove to be an interesting experience for you." Yeh, i'm sure it will be. :

*****

Well, I guess i'll...start practicing guitar now. Three in the morning, nothing much else to do. I have to perfect a song by August 1st for my **** I chose Earth Angel. It's not a song i like, but it's very simple to learn.

So yeh, thanks for reading, take care. :]

PS: Glitchspot's message writer thing gets worse and worse every time i use it. Now every time i attempt to center an image it centers everything OR it moves the images to the bottom of the page.

Changed my Signature and Avy the other day:

^Sam Rockwell in Moon

^Elliott Smith's memorial wall..Might change it back, i dunno.

****

Moon

The other night i went and saw Moon, and loved it. The basic premise of the film is that earth is suffering from an energy crisis and we figure out that the Moon has this untapped source of energy. So, Lunar Industries sends this guy, Sam Bell, up to the moon in order to oversee the harvest. Sam begins to hallucinate...and I'm not gonna say anymore about the story.

I'd go as far to say it's on of the best directed and acted films this year, also one of thebest sci fi films of the decade. Soundtrack kicks ass as well. SO much ass. Great flick, definitely should try to find a theater playing near you.

****

Downtown

So, i went to see Moon again today, cause it was just that good. But this time the only theater it was playing in was in downtown San Francisco. Downtown is a ****ing nightmare to drive through...but i went anyways and it sucked. At least there wasn't a baseball game because that would have literally been hell. Think of what Hell is like, and then think of what it would be like if Hell was 5 times worse, that'd be downtown SF when there is a baseball game. Today only reinforced my feelings on that.

Finding free parking was a hassle too. Took me 30 minutes (ok, maybe over-exaggeratingon this) to find parking...then after the movie i find my car is boxed in because some guy in a GoCar tried to squeeze in between me and this other car. :x

This is what a GoCar is, they're for tourists, and you probably couldn't pay me to drive one around:

I'm taking the Metro next time.