December 23rd, 2008 Tengaport
Dead Space is another one of those ‘perfect’ games for me. I’m such a sucker for space-thrillers when it comes to movies, and survival horrors when it comes to games and Dead Space appears to be a great combination of the two.
Maybe it was because I was playing the game alone & with the lights out, but Dead Space creeped me the hell out. I was honestly scared as I walked around the dark and foreboding spaceship. The game immediately jumped into a very Alien-esque vibe, as I felt completely unarmed and unmatched for the monsters that lurked about. The sci-fi design and the sounds made the environments absolutely terrifying. As I walked down vacant corridors my heart raced in anticipation of what may come. I was no super-space marine here. The developers did a great job of making me feel I was literally fighting for my life.
I can’t recall the last time I actually ran from enemies in a game, let alone ran from them praying that the door was going to shut behind me. That is exactly what I found myself doing in Dead Space. My ammo was depleted, and my odds of survival were slim so I made several mad dashes to try and save my skin. Speaking of skin, the game does an stupendous job with it’s menus and HUD to keep you immersed. Kudos and hats off on an excellent job. Your suit displays your vital stats, your weapon displays your ammo count – my only complaint is not knowing immediately how much ammo I have left in reserves (aside from what’s already in the chamber). Perhaps there is a visual clue there that I haven’t picked up upon yet though.
I loved every minute I’ve spent with Dead Space so far, only stopping last night because I couldn’t take the stress anymore. The game reminded me of what first drew me into Resident Evil way back when. I’ve got high hopes for the remainder of this game, can’t wait to play some more.
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December 22nd, 2008 Tengaport
I’m ashamed to admit it, but I had one of my not-so-best gaming moments this past weekend during some public matches of Gears of War 2. It was the first time while playingGOW 2 that I frustratingly threw my controller, got up off the couch and abandoned my team (along with the game for the rest of the evening). Gears inconsistencies coupled with disconnections and round after round ofglitchers just got he best of me, and I completely gave in to the dark side.
When the playing field is level, I don’t care whether I win or lose – I’m playing to have fun. When the playing field is distorted (as it can be at times with Gears) each ridiculous death I suffer raises my blood pressure higher and higher. This past Friday as my shotgun missed point blank targets, my lancer had the stopping power of aNerf gun, and my chainsaw revved with the ferocity of a Play School toy I finally reached my breaking point. I began a downward spiral of getting decimated round after round. It was as if I left for a war forgetting to bring bullets along with my guns. Blasting away at my opponents did little to their health and even less to my score as I ended round after round with zero points. Despite my screen showing fountains of blood flying off my targets as I emptied clip after clip my shots simply just did not register to the game’s score keeper as if he was turning a blind eye to my best efforts.
As much as I love Gears of War I want to strangle the game for it’s network code. GOW1 was a blight to play on-line at times, but Epic seemingly fixed those issues with GOW2. Now it appears that they’ve only masked those issues, and after nightly, lengthy play time with the game that mask is starting to fall off.
Match to match I have no idea what to expect from Gears of War 2. Will I be firing blanks during the round, or will I actually be able to damage my on-screen opponents? More often than not my attempts to keep my head attached to my body prove to be futile as theWMD’s my enemies posses lay waste to my pee shooter. Sure, time after time I have the drop on them. I sneak up from behind, jam my shotgun into their backs and pulled the trigger repeatedly. This normally tried-and-true tactic is no match for their bullet dodging abilities and their Mike Tyson-like melee as they drop me to the ground in a supremeWTF moment. I change up my tactics to try and avoid repeating that scene. I keep my enemies at a distance only to see clip after clip of lancer fire do nothing to stop them as they run right up and obliterate me with the same one two punch shotgun melee.
This scenario repeated itself more times then I could bare that fate-full evening, until I reached my breaking point which caused the controller to fly from my hands.
While I know it’s “only a game” my anger boiled down to the simple fact that: I really like Gears of War, I want to keep playing it – but I am not having fun, and why do I want to play a game that is not fun?
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December 9th, 2008 Tengaport
After reading a post on Goozex.com yesterday about a pseudo-illicit way of obtaining the Resident Evil 5 demo (currently only available in Japan) I decided to give it a shot.
I downloaded the necessary files, burned a DVR and dropped it into my 360. Thanks to my crappy DVD burner however, the disc just sputtered in the drive and the demo never magically appeared in my game library.
Attempt #2 involved a cheapo CDR I found lying around the house, and viola! there now on my TV was the RE5 demo in all it’s glory (or is it gory?).
Let me first say that I’ve been playing quite a bit of Gears of War and Left 4 Dead, so settling in on RE5’s controls wasn’t easy. The game has the grit of an Unreal Engine shooter, so I half expected it to control the same way. I’m no stranger to Resident Evil, but it has been while since I played RE4 so everything felt a bit stiff and clunky.
I’m sure it’s just a matter of time before everything sinks in, unfortunately that cheapo CDR I burned the demo onto just couldn’t keep up with the 360 and I kept getting dirty disc errors within the first few minutes of playing.
I tried a few times to push on further with the demo before eventually giving up and jumping back into Gears. I may try to burn a new copy tonight and give it another go as I’m extremely anxious to put the demo through it’s paces. I know a US version of the demo is imminent, but I don’t think it’s happening for a few weeks yet.
Resident Evil 5 is one of my MUST have games for 2009. Though I originally started with the series when Resident Evil 2 came out, I’ve been a huge fan ever since.
I have so many fond memories of RE including sitting in my old bedroom late at night with the lights out, headphones on and zombies around every corner. Even many years later when my wife and I first started dating, we tackled the Resident Evil remake and Resident Evil Zero on the Gamecube together. Sadly, she never quite got interested in Resident Evil 4 but I’m hoping co-op play in RE5 will bring her back into the fold.
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December 4th, 2008 Tengaport
In all my years of gaming I don’t think theres ever been a time where I’ve been quite as overloaded with the amount of quality games available. While I am currently making good progress on my ‘pile of shame’ I have to throw my hands up in the air when I think of all the games I still have yet to buy. With more and more games that I’m eager to play being released every week I wonder if I’ll ever find the time to get to all of them.
There’s a good chance the next generation will be upon us before I finally take to the rooftops in Mirrors Edge, or scream where no one can hear me in Dead Space. Even with a generous average of 3hrs a day to play I still doubt I’ll ever be able to make it through all of the games on my want list.
Don’t get me wrong, I certainly am not complaining – I am just overwhelmed at the sheer amount of gaming there is to be done. My current want list just seems to keep growing and growing:
* Fallout 3 (360)
* Mirrors Edge (360)
* Dead Space (360)
* Farcry 2 (360)
* Prince of Persia (360)
* Legendary (360)
* The Force Unleashed (360)
* Silent Hill (360)
* Uncharted (PS3)
* Ratchet & Clank (PS3)
* Resistance 2 (PS3)
It’s not looking good, especially when the first 1/4 of 2009 has Skate 2, Killzone 2, and Resident Evil 5 to name a few.
How is everyone coping with this onslaught of games? Is your pile of shame reaching new heights, or is your want list now running off the page (or both)?
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