As we all know the fall gaming season is upon us. Most of us have had at least one game come out in the not to distant past that we were really looking forward to. Personally, I had two as of this writing, the Medal of Honor reboot(?) and Fable 3.
The whole idea of a non-Infinity Ward FPS set in a modern setting really appealed to me. Knowing that the campaign was going to be more or less the same as any Modern Warfare game I really set my sights on the multi-player.
Ask anybody with an internet connection and they'll tell you that DICE developed multiplayer games have a completely different feel than MW so I wanted to give it a shot.
The very first day I had it... the servers were broken. No bueno. The second day? Same deal. Ok, now I'm getting pissed.
After a few days eventually the multiplayer came around and I dove in. It took a little while to get used to the new feel of a DICE game but once I did I really started to enjoy it.
The simplified class system is refreshing and honestly gives me a sense that results are more based on skill than on equipment. At a certain point in MW the higher level players are so overpowered with gear that it really detracts from the fun for people who just started the game or aren't as dedicated.
I really took to the Combat Mission gametype. The matches last longer and actually force players to act together... at least as much as an FPS can.
The only thing I wish they had done was allowed me to customize the look of my actual in game character for multiplayer. The Rainbow Six games do this and I just always thought it was a cool idea that I never understood why more games didn't include it. If having a beard is a choice then why can't the rest of my look be?
Even despite having these great things to say about Medal of Honor I feel kinda let down by it. I know the servers were only screwed up for two days but that really made me upset and as someone who holds a hell of a grudge for nothing this is one thing that I can't forgive. Say what you will about IW but their servers absolutely work from the word go.
I'm just not drawn to this game. I don't sink hours at a time into it. I play about 30 mins to an hour a night but never sitting down on my day off and blowing the whole day on it like I had with the Modern Warfare series.
Now, lets get to some real disappointment... with some qualifiers. I'm about to discuss why I was let down by Fable 3. Needless to say there will be spoilers all over the place. So much so that I won't even bother pointing them out. I'm just going to write my thought process in italics. If you don't want to know anything about Fable 3 then don't read the italics.
I won't lie. I LOVED Fable 2. It was as close to a next-gen, old-school Zelda game that has ever been made. Simplified combat. Big world. Stuff like that. In addition to all that the good/evil choice, the real estate, the relationships, the way the world changed over time, and most importantly, the dog, just really made me love it. That's right. I loved the dog.
Fable 3 really hit home for me because its a game that if ever there was a target demographic for this game, I was it. It's a fantasy game with a political twist. Holy crap! I'm a fantasy nerd with a political science degree! This is perfect.
Oh, wait. No, it's not.
All of Peter Molyneaux's hype leading up to the game was basically this idea of instead of becoming king of the land at the end of the game, why not make it in the middle of the game this way you can actually spend time ruling over the kingdom that you just rescued?
The first part of the game (rescuing the kingdom) is very Fable-esque. Just like the last one, I was thrilled. However what really blew my hair back was the idea of being king! I couldn't wait.
Let me just say that being king sucked. You made a series of 5 or so decisions, went on two quests, fought the last boss (which was supposed to be impossible to beat) and then went about your day living with your decisions as to how you ruled.
How the king portion basically breaks down is this. Your first order of business is to decide on the taxes for the kingdom. For every gold piece in the kingdoms treasury you save a life of a citizen. If you raise taxes and make the people miserable you save their lives. If you refuse to pay for social services, they hate you but you save money to save their lives.
You basically have to decide to save and raise money in order to save the kingdom from this unstoppable force. I was a benevolent ruler, gave everyone what they wanted and was 1.5 million gold in the red when the final battle occured. How'd it go? I beat it easily by myself and then when the game continued every single NPC that once lived in Albion is now dead.
That's it. It's complete and utter crap. I wanted a horrible ending where my subjects utopian lives were completely destroyed and the entire kingdom along with it because we didn't have enough money for an army. Instead, I go out BY MYSELF, kill this great evil and the entire kingdom remains intact just all the people are dead. What a bunch of crap.
I'm so angry I might not even play through again as evil just to see how the world is different at the end.
From what I've figured the only incentive to save my citizenry is just so that I can continue to do quests once I've defeated the great evil? What a jip.
Enough ranting for today. Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood comes out Tuesday. Hopefully that will live up to they hype.
Anyone disappointed with something they bought recently? Come on, you New Vegas owners.... I know you have something to say. Let it fly!
Take care and happy gaming,
Laughlyn