Barts News

Goodbye and thanks for all the fish.

noreply@blogger.com (Barts) — Fri, 30 Dec 2011 22:00:00 +0000

This blog is now officially dead.

It’s always difficult to put to sleep something that one has invested time and effort into. This applies to Barts News as well, since I have put quite a bit of my time and soul into it. Nevertheless, everything must come to an end and so does this little blog (that could). Barts News started as my little pet project in late 2006 as a result of my review being rejected from a gaming site (for the record, it was Dungeon Siege : Throne of Agony for PSP, you can read more here). I wanted to write about games, I wanted to share my little review with the world and I also wanted to have something to occupy my mind with, since I was badly ill and on a verge of depression.

Blogging turned out to be quite fun and not only did it work out quite well as a therapy of sort, but it also broadened my gaming knowledge (indie games, background information, development process etc.), connected me to many interesting folks in the industry and even took me to Tokyo Game Show. 2007 was definitely the best year at Barts News, what with TGS, many cool games, meeting Jessica Chobot and so on. 2008 was way more calm, but some of the posts that I am most proud of date back to that year. 2009 was much more hectic, with a lot of interesting posts from different fields. In 2010 I was already shifting gears, but I got quite a bit of pocket money out of the blog, thanks to a certain sponsored article on poker games (there’s only one on this site, so it’s rather easy to find). 2011 saw me give up on regular posting in favour of occasional updates, which then stopped. Unfortunately, I don’t have neither time not motivation to blog in English anymore. Why?

First of all, I am writing for two major Polish gaming websites owned by two different publishers and to what I consider to be the best independent gaming blog in Polish. I also get my reviews and articles in print every now and then, which is probably the most rewarding thing when writing about games (right next to being paid for it, which is now happening on a regular basis, too). Secondly, my writing in Polish is much better than my writing in English. I am not a native speaker and I will never be as good as folks from RPS or Eurogamer in English – but I can be quite good when writing in my mother tongue, which makes it very fulfilling. I simply like what I am writing in Polish much more than what I could produce on this blog. Thirdly, there’s money – there isn’t any in blogging, but there is quite a bit in selling my articles and posts. Fourthly, I have changed my job last year and this year – which resulted in having much less time for anything, including gaming and writing about games. If you can’t beat the system, join it – and in the times of crisis having well-paying job is a must.

As a result, I have made the decision to put Barts News to sleep. It was fun while it lasted, but I don’t have time or the motivation to continue. Actually, October 2011 marks full five years of this blog, so it's actually not too bad. So what happens next with Barts News? Well, not much. The address will change at some point, because I won’t be paying for domain name if I am not using it. New address will probably be its standard Blogspot one: bartsnews.blogspot.com. I believe you can remove Barts News from your RSS readers, since I do not plan to be writing anything soon. Those of you who are actually still following this blog all know me, so if you want to stay in touch, you know where to find me. Those that don’t, well, I’m surprised you are still reading this post...

So, thank you for all the comments, tips and whatnot. It’s been a pleasure.

Barts signing out.

Status update - July

noreply@blogger.com (Barts) — Mon, 18 Jul 2011 11:00:00 +0000

PC gaming

I had to surrender the borrowed PC I mentioned early, which means I didn't get to play Witcher 2 after all the trouble I went through in order to run it. On a positive side of things, it has given me the prod and I finally completed Dragon Age: Origins. I consider this game to be one of the best role-playing games ever - it definitely jumped into my personal top ten.

In my version of the tale, Alim, my elf mage, romanced Morrigan, but finally fell in love with Leliana. He has seen the leave of both Morrigan (no agreement for forbidden ritual) and Alistair (disagreement over recruiting Loghaine). Anora became queen, Loghaine redeemed himself by slaying the archdeamon. Alim sided with Mages in Broken Circle, managed to save Connor from his Deamon, helped Witherfang and werewolves (convinced elf lord to end his life), protected Andraste's Ashes and killed the cultists, sided with Lord Harrowmont in Orzammar and destroyed Anvil of Souls, allowing the Golem to rest in peace. In general, my hero was a good man, but sadly lost his best friend and first girlfriend on the way to repelling the Blight. Fortunately, he lived to tell the tale, received well-deserved respect and went on to travel with his redhead love. All in all, excellent bitter-sweet ending, although I am still sad about how the Alistair's story arch ended.

PS3 gaming

First of all, I finished Batman Arkham Asylum - it turned out to be a rock-solid game, although I don't think it would be that much fun to play on keyboard and mouse (similar to my impressions from Mirror's Edge). I was indifferent to incoming sequel, but after comleting the first part and seeing two brilliant trailers (check them, seriously - one is here, the other here), I am now impatient to play it.

I bought and started playing Grand Theft Auto IV, but it has to convince me yet. I mean main character is interesting, the city is pretty and large and graphics are quite fine, but the story is disjointed, framerate is chugging when there's a lot happening (police, fires, lots of cars) and resolution is mere 720p. I am continuing to play the game, I am doing my best to like it and not to nitpick, but I quite frankly don't understand why it sits on the top of Metacritic PS3 all time best list - it's just yet another GTA with slightly better graphics and slightly less obnoxious protagonist.

I also restarted Dragon Age: Origins, right after the aforementioned PC was taken away from me. Why, I hear you ask? For one, its story can change so much on different playthroughs that I wanted to give it another go. Secondly, I was curious how it would play on PS3 - turns out of strategic top view and changed user interface result in a completely different game experience. Additionally, it looks really nice on my huge tv, so I guess the addicition isn't over just yet. The fact that I am so eager to replay Dragon Age: Origins right after having finished it speaks volumes of its quality.

I have revisited Flower and sweet Buddha, what a lovely game it is. It deserves all the praise it got and then some more. When winter comes in Poland and it's dark, cold and snowing outside, the fact of having a huge window into warm grasslands full of floating petals is warming my heart. Right now, in rainy Polish summer, I just enjoyed how beautiful it all looks, especially the level where player can paint the grass with their petals. It is a brilliant game and I will absolutely buy Journey when it comes out, no doubts about it.

Other highlights include Limbo, the game that was one of the first things I wrote about on this blog. I think it is somewhat symbolic - the beginning of my blogging in 2006 coinciding with announcement of this game and now its downfall in 2011 highlighted by the game finally being released on a system I own. As for Limbo itself, it is absolutely great - beautiful, eerie, unsettling, stylish and with some really smart gameplay. Obligatory game to have, no matter what hardware you play it on (note: Limbo is also available on Steam). Oh, and by the way, I completed it, only using walktrough two times.

Other than that, I played Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix (geez, what a long name), Little Big Planet with my girlfriend (this game is absolutely brilliant, charming, funny, sweet and uplifting), quite a lot of Mortal Kombat demo with a friend (when this game gets cheaper, I am so buying it). I have Virtua Fighter 5 queued (my brother comes visiting, if you get my point), Red Dead Redemption on my radar, thanks to this extremely cool trailer, as well as Mass Effect 2 (Bioware RPG, I want more!). The only problem is I don't have time to play them all!

Status update - June

noreply@blogger.com (Barts) — Mon, 04 Jul 2011 20:28:00 +0000

Just a brief note to wrap up June.

My PC gaming was quasi-nonexistent, mostly due to spending too many hours struggling with running Witcher 2, which I didn't play then, as I was sort of disheartened. I played maybe half an hour of Witcher 2 altogether - not much, really. I still haven't gotten around to complete Dragon Age: Origins, which I might get to do during next weekend and on the double - because it seems that I will have to return my borrowed PC all of a sudden.

As for gaming on PS3, the situation was much better. I finished Uncharted 2, which turned out to be bloody brilliant (it really deserves a separate post on how cinematic it can get), I played quite a bit of Batman: Arkham Asylum, also an excellent game on many levels. I have also gotten myself Little Big Planet as a part of Sony's Welcome Back programme in order to play it with my girlfriend - but it is her who spends more time with the game in the end. The other title I have downloaded was Dead Nation, a co-op zombie shooter, which I didn't really fall in love with - should have gotten InFamous instead.

My PSP also received some loving, if only due to my holiday trip. I didn't have time to prepare the gaming library, so I played some Lumines (always cool), some Tales of Eternia (pretty, but yawn, how cliche the story is) and some Persona 3 Portable ('cause it's great, period).

My other gaming-related activities included drooling over Playstation Vita, writing yet another batch of articles and a script for video-feuilleton on Zelda and finally reading Bissell's Extra Lives, which I have found to be largely overrated. All in all, a good month.

E3 2011 - Day One recap

noreply@blogger.com (Barts) — Mon, 06 Jun 2011 20:37:00 +0000

Trailer bonanza

This year I have mostly been following excellent GameTrailers stream - all the information from E3, with only slight delay (and they use remixed jingle from Lumines, don't think I didn't catch that!). Let's start chronologically, with Microsoft conference. I don't have Xbox360 and I don't really care about the games on the system, but I watched the stream nevertheless and here are my thoughts:

Mass Effect 3

I got bored by Mass Effect 1 (despite having made my mirror image in it), so I was rather indifferent - until I saw the video which showcases how Kincet can be used to catch voice commands. What's so impressive about it? Well, for one, player can actually choose Sheppard's responses by reading the lines from the screen and secondly, they can give squad orders by shouting in front of their console. Seriously: advance, fall back, fire! Immersion level goes throught the roof, it is like physically being there. I didn't expect myself to say that about Kinect - but it was incredible.

Tomb Rider

A very stylish debut trailer that was shown a few days back did restore my faith into the reboot, but E3 video showing actual gameplay solidified this. I am now officially looking forward to this game.

The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim

Skyrim got me sold on it the moment I watched the trailer that contained the music that had tones and melody from both Oblivion and Morrowind. Tear of nostalgia, feeling of coming back to fantasy reality I have known and long forgotten. Now, having watched some gameplay, I think it is going to be better than Oblivion and might even be on par with Morrowind. I love the trick with assiging two hands to shoulder buttons, allowing for dual swords wielding or powerful two-handed spells - it is a simple patent, but noone thought about it earlier.

Sony Conference

I have already written that I want PSVita aka Next Generation Portable. After seeing Sony show, I stand by that opinion. Price point seems reasonable: 250EEUR for Wi-Fi version is okay, especially when compared to Nintendo 3DS. There are mentions of crossplay with PS3 (Wipeout), continuing PS3 game on PSV (Ruin), backwards PSP compatibility (wonder how GoW looks on this?). Frankly, how can you not love it?

Announced games:
Wipeout 2048 - selling point for me, love Wipeout series (trailer).
Uncharted: Golden Abyss - I am not that much of Uncharted fan, but it looks great.
Little Big Planet - as happiness-inducing as always.
Oddworld Munch's Oddysee and Stranger's Wrath - I still didn't have time to buy Oddbox.
Super Stardust Delta - brilliant shooter, loved PS3 and PSP versions.
Little Big Planet - hapiness-inducing as always.
Blaz Blue - neat beat'em up.
Ruin - Diablo-like dungeon crawler that looks rather pretty.
Bioshock Vita - not sure what it is exactly, but come on, Bioshock Portable!
Dragon Crown - Golden Axe / Dungeons & Dragons beat'em up clone with sweet 2D graphics.

Other various news

Not strictly E3, but somewhat Xbox360 related, apparently there are signs that Limbo is coming to Steam. Would love to see that happen!

Ubisoft announced that there will be no Beyond Good & Evil 2 before next generation of consoles - but maybe they mean PSVita? It is next-gen after all, right?

Desktop Dungeons gets a proper standalone version for Mac and PC, as our ever-vigilant Gnome swiftly informed us (and IndieGames blog, too). You can play the E3 demo online for next three days, too.

Not bad for one day, eh? I don't know if other days can top this first one.

I want NGP

noreply@blogger.com (Barts) — Fri, 03 Jun 2011 10:08:00 +0000

me want nao

A whole slew of Sony's newest child, NGP aka. Next Generation Portable aka. PS Vita, has hit the street. You can read previews of games: Uncharted, Wipeout, more Wipeout, Sound Shapes, more Sound Shapes, Super Stardust Delta and much more. You can listen to Sony boasting (and rightly so) or read hands-on impressions from Eurogamer or Ars Technica (two best gaming websites out there). But for me it was enough to see this movie:

...and now I want NGP. I know it's silly, I know that it's too large and too expensive (probably), that I don't even have time to play my current games on PC and PS3, that I am turning into Sony fanboy and general no-life, that I am an adult and should be more rational about my spending choices. I know all that. But I can't help it. I want one.

It would be amazing how one neat trailer can turn me into a drooling fanboy, if it wasn't scary. And I thought my gadgeteering days were behind me.

Status update - May

noreply@blogger.com (Barts) — Tue, 31 May 2011 22:00:00 +0000

April, May, decay

May has been an extremely busy period in my life, especially on the professional plane, which meant having even less time than usual for gaming and writing. There are a few things to share, though.

The fourth Film Music Festival in Krakow was a highlight of this month. Beautiful music, famous artists (yes, I consider Hironobu Sakaguchi to be an artist), Distant Worlds and Joe Hisaishi - it could hardly get better than that. I congratulated myself for buying tickets early and paying for good seats (11th row, very close to the scene, two rows behind Sakaguchi-san). Read more of my impressions here.

Mirror's Edge - let me repeat myself: this is a brilliant game. I have beat it again, on hard this time, something that I don't do often. The thing is, Mirror's Edge is more of an experience than a story and the whole running-and-evading-bad-guys thing chills me out and provides fun. I also love visuals and music. I think this game deserves a special note, maybe a retrospective here on Barts News, maybe an article somewhere else. I really feel sad that such an original thing didn't get praise it deserved.

Persona 3 Portable - I finally received my collector's edition via mail. Persona 3 is another brilliant game and if you remember my review here on Barts News, I was totally charmed by it. I have played a few hours as a girl (you can chose female main character), but only a few, due to time constraints. I have to say, though, that coming back to the imaginary world of Gekoukan High and Tartar was a pleasure comparable to revisiting classic games of old times - which means P3P has officially become one of my favourite games ever.

PSN failure - spectacular and epic fail. Not only I could not buy Outland, I also had to invalidate my credit card (just in case) and suffer snide remarks from Xbox360 fanboys and morons who only use prepaid cards, instead of embracing XXI century. I've heard that there will be free games from Sony to make up for that (I'll probably get LBP and that zombie shooter), but really, the whole thing was ridiculous and left me with bad taste in my mouth.

Witcher 2 - now with all the love and admiration I have for this title and its authors, this was the embodiment of why I have grown to hate PC gaming. Hours spent on struggling with patches, updates, drivers, papadongs and shit - instead of playing. I will write more about the game itself when I finally get to play it.

I still need to finish Castlevania and Dragon Age: Origins. The first one has become a little too difficult for casual gaming, the other one has become a grindfest and since I need to go back a few hours due to particularly bad choice I made along the road, I have hard time motivating myself to do it. The story calls me, though, and I really would like to finish this game. Well, both of them actually.

To wrap this post up with a teaser of news to come that you won't find anywhere else, I have become involved with a certain indie game event - but I will write more about it as the whole story unfolds. 'till next time, folks!

Problems with Witcher 2

noreply@blogger.com (Barts) — Tue, 31 May 2011 05:48:00 +0000

AAAAARRRGGGGHHH

This is one of the main reasons why I have grown to hate mainstream PC gaming. I have bought Witcher II last week, eager to give my money to brave Polish developers from CD Project Red. On Saturday I sat down to play it on a powerful PC - what could go wrong? Well, a lot of things.

I installed the game for the first time, then downloaded the patch. Patch refused to install, claiming the version of the game is wrong. Right, I did install English voices, maybe that's the problem. Oh, there's now way to remove them without removing the whole game? All right, uninstall, reinstall, patch. What, still wrong version? Googling, googling... ah-ha! I have English version of Windows 7 and need to install Polish character encoding for non-unicode something. Okay, I will. It is a little strange that a Polish game has problem with Polish diacritic characters, but I will. What, I need to restart computer after that? In XXI century? Whatever.

I finally get to run the game. Five samey animations reeking of standard After Effects effect? Mmkay. Menu - wow, pretty. I can't see the actual menu items, but it's still pretty. I start playing, see Geralt running, then tortured, then someone asks him a question and game hangs. No, wait, it didn't hang. The game is actually waiting for me to chose an answer... but I can see them! Yes, each line of text only shows itself when I hover above it with cursor. Dammit.

So I quit the game, run it again a few times with different settings, nothing changes. I chose to install newer ATI drivers then, which turns out to be a big mistake. Blusescreen of death. Two hours and four different drivers later I give up and fall back to system restore. Unfortunately, the only option is to go back to before Withcer installation. Which means another reinstallation, once the restore process is over. After two more hours of furious googling and one more restore, I finally find a way to install ATI drivers without bluescreen. Another hour goes by trying to find a combination of Witcher and Catalyst settings that would allow me to see dialogues and menu items - but to no effect.

Let's sum it up: half a day on Saturday plus one or two hours on Sunday, lots of nerves, lots of googling - and I still didn't get to play the game I paid for. It is not entirely CDProject Red fault, of course, ATI and Microsoft are also to blame for crappy drivers and hopeless operating system, but the outcome for me is that I have just wasted a chunk of my life.

Why I wrote "mainstream PC gaming" in the first sentence? Well, strangely enough, I rarely had this kind of problems with indie games or consoles. Some might say that it is due to their simplicity, but frankly, I don't care. What I know is that each time I want to play AAA title on a PC, I get into seventh circle of hell, full of drivers, reinstallation, patches, dlls and wasted hours.

As for Witcher 2, I still am very much rooting in favour of its authors and the game itself. I am glad I could give them my money, I would have done it even if I did not have a PC. But the fact that I can't really play it due to combination of bugs and drivers being shit is really sad.

The Fourth Film Music Festival in Krakow

noreply@blogger.com (Barts) — Sun, 29 May 2011 03:22:00 +0000

Not only film music.

Contrary to its name, the fourth edition of Film Music Festival in Krakow was not only about movies. The first day opening concert featured Joe Hisaishi, the creator of music for Hayao Miyazaki anime films (all right, so these technically qualify as movies, but still), while the second day concert featured Distant Worlds: Music from Final Fantasy and suite from Witcher 2. As you can surely understand, dear reader, I just had to be there!

Now, having participated in the grandiose event, I can safely say that it was absolutely brilliant. Joe Hisaishi was great - a small, smiling Japanese gentleman, whose music charmed the audience and smart remarks during interviews entertained everyone. We could hear scores from "Nausicaa of the Valley of Wind", "Laputa - Castle in the Sky", "Princess Mononoke", "Ponyo by the Sea", "My neighbour Totoro" as well as from Takeshi Kitano's films "Brother", "Hana-bi", "Kikujiro" and others. There was also silent movie (Buster Keaton's "The General") played that evening and a special musical thanks for help after tsunami and earthquake, something I found very touching. All in all, the music was beautiful and since there are so many emotions in it, I almost shed a tear. You can watch (and listen to!) an overview of the first day concert here:

The second day saw the presentation of suite from Witcher 2, appropriately epic, bombastic and heavy, as well as Distant Worlds concert, featuring music from almost all Final Fantasy parts. We've heard One Winged Angel, Bombing Mission and Main Theme from FF7, Vamo Alla Flamenco from FF9, Liberi Fatali, Love Grows, Fisherman's Horizon and Don't Be Afraid from FF8, as well as lots of other songs. A special treat for the audience was Opera Maria and Draco from FF6 performed with real opera singers, really classy addition to otherwise great music roster. Watch and hear the second day concert below:

Third day concert was also a little unusual: "Pirates of Caribbean: The Curse of Black Pearl" screening with live music rendition. It was extremely well pulled off (timings!) and sometimes one could forget that the music was being produced on the fly. The live version, however, was so much more powerful than the prerecorded one - even the main theme was richer and somehow more enticing than the regular version everyone heard in cinemas and from their TVs. Fourth day followed up with similar performance, this time including Polish series "Czas Honoru" ("Time of Honour"), but I skipped it, due to lack of time and energy.

All in all, the event was absolutely brilliant - the energy, the emotions, great music, it was all there. And as an additional bonus, I managed to get Hironobu Sakaguchi's autograph. Yes, the very same, father of all Final Fantasy games! As you can imagine, I am extremely happy that I could be there and I will surely join the fifth edition next year.

Status update - March & April

noreply@blogger.com (Barts) — Tue, 10 May 2011 08:47:00 +0000

Just a short update to stay in touch with those of you that still haven't removed Barts News from their RSS readers.

PC gaming

Alphaland - played it after Gnome’s Lair review. Not as great as I expected, but interesting nevertheless and ending was somehow very uplifting.

Dragon Age: Origins - still hasn’t completed that one. Made a wrong choice, need to backtrack a fair amount and I can’t force myself to do that. Also, grinding is getting on my nerves.

PS3 gaming

Heavenly Sword - got bored by story and annoyed by gameplay, sold the game.

Valkyria Chronicles - same here. People that claim that this game is a misunderstood gem need to play more good games. Anime cliches, weird battle system, generic characters make for a disappointing game. Sold it too.

Castlevania - after great time initially, I realized it is a damn hard game if you are playing from time to time. I forget exquisite combos, rules to use for Light and Dark magic, and as a result I am getting my ass kicked. I would really like to finish it, though!

Portal 2 - extremely good game, but nowhere near the brilliance of its predecessor in terms of ambiance. Strong 9/10, but not 10. Completed the game in about 8 hours, won’t be going back in next 6 months or so. Perhaps I should sell it now?

PSP gaming

Persona 3 Portable - revisited this great game because my Collector’s Edition from Ghostlight arrived in mail. Played as a girl and had fun!

SEGA Megadrive Collection - also known as SEGA Genesis Collection. I reviewed it long time ago, now I am playing it from time to time just for a bit of retro fun. Bought it on the cheap, too. Interestingly, it got my non-gaming thirty-somthing buddy hooked - food for thought.

Final Fantasy IV: The Complete Collection - got a review copy, wrote a review, handed it bakc after a week. It is a fine game, but it feels very dated even despite the audiovisual rehash it received. I won’t be buying it, most probably.

Other than that, got hit by PSN outage but not too bad - I don’t play online much recently anyways. I couldn’t activate my Lara Croft and Guardian of Light (yup, bought it to play with a certain reader of this blog), but that’s all the inconvenience. I would love to play Outland, though, so I hope Sony restores PSN some time soon.

Additionally, a few of my texts got published on various portals (mostly Polygamia) and on a special occasion in a daily newspaper, too (FFIV review) - however, since it was all in Polish, I won’t be bothering you with them.

'till next time, folks!

Status update - February

noreply@blogger.com (Barts) — Thu, 03 Mar 2011 07:37:00 +0000

Not-so-short update, in fact

PC gaming

Only Dragon Age. While the story is still neat, unskippable grinding and occasional bugs (game controls plus fancy Logitech mouse equals lots of pain) make it a bit of a drag to finish. I want to complete the story so badly, but the whole gameplay part is getting in my way. Hmm. Not giving up just yet.

Dragon Age II demo was sad, really. The art direction was changed (why the fuck would you change Flemmeth like that?), there seems to be even more repetitive fighting, dialogues are good, but the dialogue options are far more limited and developers have decided to inflate Isabella's breasts which I find an insult (why oversexualize a character that was sexy because of what she did and make her a sex-doll fantasy thing? why?). Overall, I don't expect good things from this game based on demo, which is sad.

PS3 full games

Valkyria Chronicles - played another two hours or so and it's even more meh. Frankly, I've heard it is an underrated gem, but so far it has turned out to be a very bland strategic jRPG. I don't care for characters in the slightest, graphics are mediocre (except for that watercolor filter effect, but take that away and the rest is barely okay), story is cookie-cutter bad empire invasion thing. I am pushing on, because I've heard that there is a great game somewhere inside, but so far I am more and more disappointed.

Prince of Persia - this 2008 game was bashed by everyone, but it is so gorgeous looking that I bought it for PS3 in order to admire the views. There is a shitload of bad design choices in it, such as repetitve fighting, button-mashing fiesta in one of boss fights, lots of backtracking, but there are also spectacular and visionary graphics that make me endure the gameplay for the sake of watching it. I sometimes fall for pretty things like that, my ex-girlfriends will tell you.

Mirror's Edge - now that's underappreciated gem right there. I played PC version for a short while long time ago, it didn't click, I deleted it. I bought it for PS3, because it was dirt cheap (20PLN, which means something like 5EUR), just to give it another shot. And this time, wow, it was great. While the aesthetics of Mirror's Edge have always appealed to me, I failed miserably playing it on mouse+keyboard combo - changing the input method to PS3 controlled made miracles. Not only the control was great, but force-feedback made the interaction with the world so much more real - this game got it nailed. Player can feel passing trains, Faith's (the protagonist) beating heart, friction while sliding down on the cable or the shock of being electrocuted. It adds so much more to the immersion. Also, the story, penned by Rhianna Pratchett, turned out to be good, too: the story about totalitarian regime in white gloves, for once depicted as almost perfect utopia... as long as you don't stick out, because then it's gun time. Much more realistic than evil empires with quasi-fascist emblems. There's also great music, excellent flow-like experience of running and this magical element that makes you go back to it after you have failed a level for fifteenth time - buy this game, if you haven't yet, it is great, even if a little on the short side.

PS3 demos

Killzone 3 - pretty, but boring gameplay-wise.

Bulletstorm - beautiful, but boring gameplay-wise

Dragon Age II - same as above, plus I can't get through boss fight on PS3 (tried three times, then gave up - took me one try on PC). Massive disappointment.

Castlevania - wow. Beautiful and atmospheric graphics, excellent soundtrack, great voiceovers (Patrick Stewart! Natasha McElhone!). I was a sceptic, but I am so buying full game after playing this demo. It is like being starred in your private Dracula movie.

Undergarden - boooring.

Yakuza 4 - even more boooooring, I mean who is paying for this shit? Fighting based on repetitively mashing two buttons, groups of enemies that attack one by one - nineties called, they want their game back.

Ridge Racer 7 - boring, but it's Ridge Racer, so it is expected.

Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light - actually quite interesting in two player co-op, we might consider buying it.

PayPal

I have removed my PayPal account and hence the advertising (not that people were exactly queueing to buy it, too). Other than being complete and utter dicks (Wikileaks case, Notch case, Bradley Manning case), PayPal support sucks massively. Someone was pestering me by making tens of automated transactions with small amounts of money being sent to my account and all that PayPal support could reply is:

A) that I can always deny them all (and waste my time on clicking through all of them, because you don't have a fucking Apply To All option, thank you so much)

B) that I should create new account (this employee apparently can't understand English complaint, I'm serious, copy-paste from that mail is irrelevant to the question).

Well, it's been a pleasure (not), bye-bye PayPal.

Other things

There has been a bunch of my articles and posts appearing on Polygamia website, but it's in Polish, so I am not linking them here - if you are by any chance able to read this strange language, you know how to find them. There's also been a few interesting short news worth of your attention - check Blip/Twitter channel on the right to have a look at them.

Status update - January

noreply@blogger.com (Barts) — Tue, 08 Feb 2011 17:25:00 +0000

Still Alive

A handful of updates, for those remaining faithful readers who have not yet removed Barts News from their RSSes yet:

1. I started playing Dragon Age: Origins on PC and I absolutely love it. Witty dialogues, likeable protagonists, many, many, many options and choices, branching storyline and lots of respect for LGBT players, including being able to pursue bi- or homosexual romance. Graphics are a little dated and there's a lot of unavoidable fights, which gets somewhat repetitive later on, but overall this game is brilliant and everyone should play it, especially if you value storytelling, atmosphere and witty humour. Highly recommended!

2. A bunch of my gaming articles appeared on Polygamia, the Polish gaming site. For those interested, they were on Hydorah, brilliant indie schmup from Locomalito, Dwarf Fortress, equally brilliant indie strategy-sim hybrid, Voxatron, incoming indie voxel arena shooter, Rogue Survivor, yet another indie (do you see the pattern here?) game, neat zombie roguelike, and finally interesting info about Pink Knight add-on to Castle Crashers, the money from which will fund breast cancer research.

3. I have bought PS3 and huge plasma TV. My old article on games I would play if I had PS3 went through the window, of course. First, the games I considered promising and they delivered:

- Wipeout HD turned out to be great and my girlfriend loves it (she kicks my ass, too).

- Heavy Rain was a blast, I absolutetly love it - this game alone justifies buying PS3.

- Flower is brilliant, albeit short.

Next, games I thought I'd love, but didn't:

- Heavenly Sword is boring and its gameplay is devoid of fun (sadly).

- God of War 3 demo was so violent and tasteless that it discouraged me from buying the full game for now.

- Uncharted 2 is fine and dandy, but a little annoying gameplay-wise and I'm blocked early in the game.

- Valkyria Chronicles so far is meh.

As for the other games, Scott Pilgrim demo was cool, but my girlfriend didn't like it, so we went for Castle Crashers instead (brilliant game, by the way), Killzone 2 is impossible to play on the pad (at least for me) and Street Fighter IV was rubbish, both graphics- and gameplay-wise. Another bunch of games I bought were the ones I have found on the cheap: these include Dragon Age (for replaying it on console instead of PC), Mirrors Edge and Prince of Persia 2008 (prettiness!).

So that would be it for now. Some cool games, some less cool games, some writing, new hardware. Not too bad for mere 30 days period, eh?

Important announcement for 2011

noreply@blogger.com (Barts) — Mon, 03 Jan 2011 06:00:00 +0000

This year will see less activity on Barts News. That is not to say there won't be any more posts, but they will be few and far between.

One reason for it is that there are some projects that I would like to complete and I have to start working on them now, if I want to ever see them materialize. Writing on Barts News, while fun, is a bit of a distraction and I need to focus on other priorities.

The other reason is more prosaic: a new job. I am now working much harder and need to be very careful about what I spend my remaining time on. Also, I have to keep myself in good physical and mental shape in order to effectively conduct my work.

This does not mean I won't be writing at all. There will surely be a post here and there, maybe on that Flash game I intend to finish some time and maybe on that new indie game that I just need to share with everyone, but chances for anything more than one post per month are very slim.

So add Barts News to your RSS readers, but don't refresh the page every day, as there won't be that much new stuff going on here. You can also check Blip (box with short messages on the right) and Twitter (if you dislike Blip), since I will be posting sometimes to remind everyone I am not dead.

Now with that out of the way, happy New Year, everyone!

PC Games I want to play in 2011

noreply@blogger.com (Barts) — Tue, 28 Dec 2010 06:00:00 +0000

2011 preview

If I get PS3 for Christmas, you already know what I will be playing. However, I will still have a powerful gaming PC sitting under my desk for a good chunk of the incoming year, so let me share with you what games will make it sweat in 2011.

What I might and might not have written is that I got this PC from a travelling friend of mine who didn't quite feel like selling it, but didn't want to leave it at his grandma's place. It truly is a monster machine, far more powerful then my voer four-year old rig (which in the meantime got sent to my parents, so that they have some decent hardware at home). Some time around June next year this multi-threading roaring beast will be taken away from my flat, though, and I will be left with only a small 13" Macbook. So, I should profit from it while it's still there. Hence, the list.

Tier 1 - Games I absolutely need to play

The list is short and sweet, with the first game on it being Starcraft 2, the epic continuation to the epic game, the single player campaign of which I still haven't finished. There is a risk involved, however: I fear that I will then get consumed by its multiplayer mode, which is why I have been putting it off.

The next game I absolutely need to play is new Deus Ex - being a devoted fan of the original, how could I miss it? I also happen to quite like what the trailers show us. Gold is cool. Unfortunately, this one will be delayd, so it might arrive when I don't have the hardware anymore.

Portal 2 is no-brainer. The first part was absolutely brilliant, the second one promises to be at least good. As with Deus Ex, the risk involved is Valve-time hazard. If Portal 2 gets postponed even further than it already is, I might not have the PC to play it when it finally arrives.

The last title on the list is Bulletstorm, of all things. I have mixed feelings about this game, but there are chances it is going to be something epic, with incredibly huge bosses overshadowing even those known from Painkiller and literally thousands of enemies, similar to Serious Sam series. I would like to have a go at Bulletstorm, even at the risk of realizing it's not my cup of tea - I just want to try it.

Tier 2 - games that I would like to play or finish

These are mostly the games I have already played, but have not finished them due to lack of time or their extreme hunger for PC resources. The list is longer, but I won't go into as much detail here. Dead Space, because I always had something pop up whenever I tried to complete it, and this space horror is totally worth it. Left 4 Dead, which I had completed with over 200 hours invested into online play, but which has recently seen yet another DLC bonus, together with great (and free!) comic. Prince of Persia, the game with mediocre gameplay, but engaging story, likeable characters and wonderful graphics that made my old PC chuckle - I want to fully appreciate its beauty, hence the replay. Gears of War, which I have begun playing three times, only to have something happen to me, my PC or my friends that would make me abandon this excellent game. And finally Dragon Age, which I was told is really as cool as every reviewer claims it to be.

The only problem is when to find time for it...

2010 Wrap-Up

noreply@blogger.com (Barts) — Sat, 25 Dec 2010 06:00:00 +0000

In short: good year, lots of games

From the point of view of gaming 2010 has also been a very good year for me. I have played a ton of Left 4 Dead, redeveloped an addicition similar to previous infections with Battlefield Heroes and Enemy Territory (I obviously have a soft spot for online FPSes), but contrary to these cases, I managed to peacefully part with the game when it became too taxing, among other things thanks to loving support of my lady. I also played a ton of different indie titles this year and helped spread the indie love.

Money from advertising on Barts News, especially from a certain sponsored article, was partially spent on getting a new PSP with a bunch of games, and partially saved for Playstation 3, the buying of which is becoming something of historical inevitability to me.

I have also inherited for a limited time a powerful gaming PC from one of my travelling friends, which allowed me to fully experience the marvels of Crysis, Prototype, Dead Space, Prince of Persia and Gears of War. Yes, I know, not exactly the newest games, are they? But they are great titles that I wanted to enjoy and now was the time. I also look forward to playing Portal 2, Deus Ex 3, BioShock 3, Bulletstorm and maybe Dragon Age on it, but if developers take any longer than currently expected dates, I might very well have to give the machine back.

My PSP had a great year, too: Persona 3 Portable and God of War: Ghost of Sparta not only turned out to be one of the best games on the platform, but also among the best games I have ever played. Additionally, the story of P3P has given me incentive to speed up realizing my life goals in order not to miss the deadline. Other great PSP games I have played this year include gorgeous Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep, surprisingly good survival horror Obscure, and unforgiving retro gems of N+, What Did I Do To Deserve This My Lord and No Heroes Allowed.

So gaming-wise, 2010 turned out to be spectacularly satisifying. Staring at the pile of titles I have played and/or completed this year, I am surprised I managed to find time for doing anything else than games. I guess I do have some organizational skills after all.

As for me and game journalism, if you can call my scribbling that, 2010 also was a great year. My articles and reviews have appeared in the most popular daily paper in Poland, Gazeta Wyborcza, in somewhat leftist weekly magazine Polityka, as well as on two popular Polish gaming websites, Polygamia and Gamezilla. Some of my writing also fueled now defunct retro blog Karawana and cultural magazine Esensja. If we add to this over a hundred posts on Barts News and revamping the blog's look and feel, I can safely say that I am proud of what I accomplished.

So 2010 turned out to be a great year indeed. Let's hope that 2011 proves to be at least equally good!

Sacrifice - free comic

noreply@blogger.com (Barts) — Wed, 22 Dec 2010 06:00:00 +0000

Left 4 Dead is Still Alive

I first wrote about Left 4 Dead in 2008 and promised you a review. You might have noticed that it never came - I started writing two times, but there was always something more important (which sometimes meant playing the damn game instead). I think I have sunk more than 200h into L4D, which probably makes it my most played game ever. My Steam profile shows barely over one hundred hours, but it is my second Steam account - I have sold the first one together with game when I realized that I was getting addicted to it.

But while the review remains to be written one day (or not, because of what use would it be now?), there is one thing in particular that I wanted to draw your attention to, namely a free Left 4 Dead comic. Yes, good people from Valve are giving away a full-blown (120 pages!) digital graphic novel for the price of nothing to accompany to the release of the latest L4D DLC. Now if that's not long-lasting support of their game, then I don't know what is.

The comic in question is called Sacrifice, just like the new episode, and it tells the story of how one of the original four heroes of Left 4 Dead sacrificed themselves in order to let others live. I expected much less from it, what with it being free and all, but it is, in fact, a very good graphic novel, one that I would probably pay for in normal circumstances. The story gives a little background to our rather anonymous game protagonists and at the same time bridges the original title with its sequel. The art direction is really neat and quite characteristic - I immediately recognized the style of Michael Avon Oeming (Wiki note, official site), whose work I have remembered from B.P.R.D. comic, a Hellboy spin-off.

Not only can you watch the whole Sacrifice comic online, but also download it in PDF for watching on your netbook or iDevice (click on Extras to go to download page). Valve, I love you.

Persona 3 Portable review

noreply@blogger.com (Barts) — Tue, 21 Dec 2010 06:00:00 +0000

Personal impressions from Persona

I promised you a review of Persona 3 Portable earlier this year and I am going to fulfill that promise. Unfortunately, I am somewhat short on time so I will only highlight some aspects of this brilliant game and will provide you with links to more in-depth analysis and better reviews.

What Is It?

Persona 3 Portable is a port of a title from Shin Megami Tensei series, originally published on Playstation 2 in 2006 under the name Persona 3. The game is a clever mix of visual novel, dating sim and 3D dungeon crawling. The original free roaming world was substituted by 2D backgrounds in the PSP version (dungeons remain 3D), but other than that the transition from PS2 was a rather faithful one.

Story

The story in Persona 3 Portable revolves around Dark Hour, the additional hour in the night that starts at midnight. During that time, which most people are not aware of, a mysterious tower of Tartarus appears over the city and evil creatures called Shadows come out of it to prey upon humans. A group of high-school students is leading fight against the monsters...

I know this sounds a bit like Buffy the Vampire Slayer and honestly, there's a lot of anime cliches in the story, but to my surprise, it actually turned out to be good, like something written by Joss Wheddon himself (that's a huge compliment in my book). Characters are likable, there's enough of twists and surprises to keep the player interested throughout the story and the overall tone is surprisingly dark (suffice to say more than one protagonist will be dead by the end of the game).

Mechanics

While on the surface it looks like a blend of dating sim (during the day) and typical jRPG dungeon crawler (during the night), there is so much more to it. Game developers from Atlus studio have intertwined these aspects in a way that can only be described as brilliantly innovative.

The source of powers for protagonists are Personas, strange deities that are manifestations of one's true character. Maintaining and developing relationships (called Social Links) with various people during the day directly influences the power of Personas. This ties two facets of Persona 3 Portable together in a very interesting manner - in order to stand a chance against the creatures of the night, player needs to connect with other people during the day.

This only scratches the surface of what P3P has to offer: there is traditional RPG character development, items gathering, mission taking, but there is also the whole aspect of breeding and crossing Personas in order to obtain stronger ones, spell fusion, Social Links management, job system and so on. There is significant depth in this game for the ones who are not scared to invest their time in it.

Audio And Visuals

As mentioned before, some things were lost in translation from Playstation 2, most notably 3D world exploration during the day, but overall this port is very well done. The graphics look pretty on PSP screen in 32 bit color, from 2D portraits to 3D fight sequences. Persona 3 Portable does not reach the technical excellence of God of War series, but it does the job well enough to not detract from the experience.

As for the audio, players will be treated to a beautiful soundtrack, enhanced by a few additional tracks for female character. As for dubbing, it is excellent and some voices are just spot on: I liked listening to Yukari's voice perhaps a little too much (seriously, I would take this voice for a date). Fuuka's lines were somewhat annoying, but other than that P3P's sound is perfect.

What Makes It Brilliant

There are so many great things about Persona 3 Portable that I will only briefly list them, in order not to make this part too long.

The most powerful thing about Persona 3, both Portable and the original one for PS2, is the story. While I expected it to be cookie-cutter jRPG standard, I was proven wrong. The theme of this game is accepting one's passing, dealing with death and the question of how we use the time of our life - quite serious issues to deal with in a video game. The ending is very touching: it left me a little shaken and when one day later I was still pondering upon it, I realized that it was not only one of the best PSP titles I have played, but also one of the best games I have ever completed. The story and message of P3P are very strong and make it a unique experience.

Other highlights of Persona 3 Portable include its lovable character cast, some cool story arcs told via Social Links sub-plots and the fact the scenario becomes slightly different for every player, due to some specific events and choices. The execution is also excellent, from great audiovisuals to extremely complex, yet approachable, Persona fusion system. For those who have already played the original there is an alternative scenario in which the main protagonist is a girl.

And then there are the little things. One time when I played as a boy and took only girls into my monsters fighting team. When I stopped in the dungeon to chat with one of them, a whole discussion broke about me making a harem and this being a typical male fantasy. I have to say that at that moment I smiled, my girlfriend giggled and we were both sold on Persona 3 Portable.

Assorted Links

As I said, I wanted to elaborate more on some of Persona 3 Portable numerous interesting aspects, but since this post has already grown beyond what I planned, I will just point you out to some great articles on the subject:
- P3P review on Eurogamer is much more in-depth than mine, read it if you are curious about the game and would like to find out more;
- incidentally, this review of the original Persona 3 is also worth having a look;
- this post on real life lessons from Persona 3 mentions many of rather serious issue that the game revolves around;
- this post on tyranny of pink from a feminist perspective is a smart observation on how gender stereotypes are manifested through the use of colour;
- this interesting comparison between Persona 3 Portable and Mass Effect shows that under the hood these games are essentially very similar;
- and speaking of pink and female perspective, here are some impressions from a fan - love the drawings!
- one more review, in case mine wasn't enough;

Final Verdict

Persona 3 Portable fully deserves its Metacritic rating of 91, because it truly is one of the best games in the PSP library. For me, it is also one of the best games I have ever played, thanks to its lengthy story, touching ending and memorable cast of characters.

Speaking of length - Persona 3 Portable took me about 60 hours on the first playthrough with male character, plus another ten so far with female protagonist. Few single player games managed to do that in the last two years - and I have played on easy difficulty setting.

But the most important thing about Persona 3 Portable is that it managed to stir my emotions. I was a little shaken by the ending, which did provide catharsis of sort, even though what happens in it was not unpredictable. The game made me think about what I am doing with my life and what I want to have accomplished when it's over. I laughed at some dialogues and I will keep some others in my mind next to excerpts from great books I have read and great movies I have watched.

During most of the time, Persona 3 Portable is just a very good game, but at some points it reaches absolute brilliance and its complete story is something memorable. If you have a PSP, then you should have it in your collection.

Short story about a pretty girl and game music

noreply@blogger.com (Barts) — Thu, 16 Dec 2010 06:00:00 +0000

Or what pick up and Civilisation IV have in common

Today, I am going to share an anecdote with you. Once upon a time, when I was more into picking up random pretty girls on the streets, I saw a beautiful young lady in front of me on a tram (due to construction of Polish trams, we were sitting facing each other). I wanted to talk to her, but she had headphones on. Incidentally, I was also listening to the music, namely Baba Yetu from Civilisation IV:

The necessity is the mother of all inventions, so have decided to use radical means: I have taken out a notepad, scribbled "Let's exchange headphones and guess what music we are listening to!" and put it in front of her face. At first the girl was shocked, then she started laughing, then handed me her headset and I gave her my earplugs. Of course, the girl didn't know Baba Yetu - but after hearing it came from a computer game, she slightly frowned her beautiful nose...

While that didn't break our conversation, it did trigger nerd alert in her. However, now I have a very powerful counterargument to that as Baba Yetu has recently been nomited for Grammy Award. I guess it makes it more mainstream, more mature and less nerdy, so remember this information, as you never know when it might come in handy, as my example goes to prove.

[ via Joystiq ]

PS. As for what happened with me and the girl later on, that is another story, not for the gaming blog.

A late TEDx Kraków 2010 wrap-up

noreply@blogger.com (Barts) — Wed, 15 Dec 2010 06:00:00 +0000

Fun, education and Wojtek the soldier bear

TEDx Kraków, independent TEDx event based on TED conference that I wrote about on Barts News and helped to organize, took place in Kraków on 15 October this year - precisely two months back from today. I should have written this post earlier, but at first I was waiting for official photos and videos to be published (it took forever) and later I was swept off my feet by waves of work and other unpredicted events (don't ask).

In the upper hand right corner: yours truly with his girlfriend and coffee-sipping buddy

From gamer's perspective, the most important presentation was the one on Black Sheep's Strategy, delivered by noone else than Michał Kiciński and Marcin Iwiński, two gentlemen behind Good Old Games and two Witcher games. I found it very interesting, despite knowing most of facts presented and despite my gut feeling that not all of their choices were as concious as they were claiming them to be. I also felt proud, because it was my idea to invite them, one that I have conducted from the very beginning (early event planning) and executed through all stages (convincing Speaker Committee, contacting Marcin and Michał, suggesting themes and so on).

The dynamic duo behind GOG and CD Project Red

As for the other presentations of TEDx Kraków, it was similar to all independent conferences, meaning that some were brilliant, some okay and some downright bad. Let me highlight a few ones that I thought to be interesting.

From a geek's perspective, I especially liked the one given by Pawel Moskal on medical imaging with anti-matter. Explaining rather difficult scientific topic in a way that general public can follow, smart remarks on how science works and some witty jokes. I really enjoyed this one, even if the author was not the most confident public speaker ever. I was a little disappointed by the presentation by Paul Mankiewicz from Gaia Institute - the topic was extremely interesting, combining modern-age ecology, high technologies and urban planning, but unfortunately the delivery was nowhere near as appealing as the subject. Other nerdy presentations included Szymon Slupik's thoughts on future of mobile computing and overview of technical center in Wrocław by Mirosław Miller.

The event gathered about 500 participants

There were also non-technical presentations and some of these were truly excellent: the audience responded particularly well to Charles Crawford's Physics of Diplomacy, I found Uwe and Gabi von Seltmann's story touching and endearing (you can read the transcript here), John Scherer's talk on finding one's passion was really neat (as much as I normally abhor motivational speeches) and Richard Lucas' account of Wojtek the soldier bear was just hilarious. It was all topped by musical performances by Sambor Dudziński (very moving show), Andrew Shapiro and Olga Szwajgier (Youtube movie doesn't do her justice, her voice was off the scale).

As for presentations I didn't like, they were given by two people obsessed by food sovereignty - Jadwiga Lopata and Sir Julian Rose. The first one essentially spent all her time claiming that natural food is better (of course, but why exactly?), GMO is bad (she didn't explain why) and Polish countryside is a reservoir of knowledge and kind folks (which it isn't). I know many similar old ladies, but they aren't usually invited to conferences - why this one was is a mystery to me. As for the other speaker, he was extremely annoying, manipulating facts about GMOs and using insinuations bordering on lies - but this comes as no surprise from somewhat unstable gentleman from Prince Charles' circles.

You can read others' impressions of TEDx Kraków in English, as well as in Polish (here and here). The overall reception was very positive and the event went down in the history as one of the more successful TEDxes in Poland . You can judge it for yourself by checking the presentations on Youtube, but in my personal opinion it was much better than TEDx Warsaw and at least on par with TEDx Poznań (no link, because website expired).

One more afterthought: while TEDx Kraków turned out to be an enriching experience, I was unpleasantly surprised by reactions from some people who, upon hearing that I was organising a TEDx event, went to extremes to explain to me why it was hipster bullshit with no educational value, a complete waste of time and so on. I know from experience that whenever someone is doing something pro bono for others, they meet with mixed reactions, but the amount of negativity I've received from some (prior to the event!) was something I did not expect.

Humble Indie Bundle - The Sequel

noreply@blogger.com (Barts) — Tue, 14 Dec 2010 21:38:00 +0000

Not that humble any more

This post is just a quick heads-up to let everyone reading this blog know that a new Humble Indie Bundle has gone live today (if you don't know what this is all about, click here for previous posts on the subject). This time the set includes Braid, Cortex Command, Osmos, Revenge of the Titans and Machinarium - quite a selection indeed! What's more, all games are available for Windows, Mac and Linux (yes, even Braid).

If you are unsure what to expect of these games, have a look at the trailer - it shows all of them in movement. I have to admit that I have not bought any of them yet, so I will throw a few golden coins at the developers in order to make up for my lack of decisiveness (or, to put it bluntly, being mean). I highly recommend that you do the same, dear reader - even a simple dollar or euro will add up. Now if only I had more time to play them...

Cat Astro Phi

noreply@blogger.com (Barts) — Sat, 11 Dec 2010 11:02:00 +0000

I can has spaceship

Both me and my girlfriend share a soft spot for felines. We consider cats to be one of the nature's more successful creations (as for humans, well, not so much). Terry Pratchett once said that cats only tolerate humanity until someone invents can-opener that can be used with a paw and there's something in it. So it comes as no surprise that the new Flash game from ever-excellent Photon Storm tickled my fancy. Entitled Cat Astro Phi (read it out loud, please), it is a tribute to felines, Gameboy games and movies about aliens, not necessarily in that order.

The graphics are of sweet pixel art variety in all four levels of green, sprites are 8x8 pixels in size and everything is encased in Gameboy-like console box. Sound is also retro, using just 3 channels, and music tracks were prepared by talented Disasterpeace, whom we know from Rescue The Beagles game. The whole experience just feels like something taken out from the late eighties, with greenish hues, oldschool gameplay and quotes from numerous sci-fi movies. Oh, and the cat that astronaut is trying to save is called Jonesy, just like in Alien.

After you complete Cat Astro Phi, which frankly, you should, there is a lengthy outro with a lot of personal comments from game's author - I particularly liked the comment about the tribute to Gameboy, only twenty five years later. Play the game on Newgrounds and have a lot of retro fun!

[ via IndieGames ]

No Heroes Allowed!

noreply@blogger.com (Barts) — Thu, 09 Dec 2010 06:00:00 +0000

Holy sequels, Badman!

Umph. I didn't even have time to share with you how great the second game in Badman series was, and the third one has just hit EU and US PSN.

What is this game about? The premise is similar to Dungeon Keeper, the great game of the DOS era: player is an evil overlord running his own cosy little dungeon and getting rid of those pesky heroes. But while the old classic was more about designing the dungeon and managing the creatures, this game is more about creating the appropriate ecosystem of monsters and letting the problem of heroes solve itself.That's right, player does not have control over individual creatures, their task is to create a living, thriving dungeon full of different inhabitants - think SimCity for monsters.

The second part, initially bearing a wonderful title "Holy Invasion Of Privacy, Badman! What Did I Do To Deserve This? 2", took away from me a good number of hours that I could have spent on something else. It is charming, with tongue-in-cheek humourous dialogues, numerous references do different classical rpgs and appropriately retro pixel art graphics. I did not finish neither part, due to rather steep difficulty curve and long levels later in game, but I did have bloody great time with it.

I intended to write more about No Heroes Allowed!, but unfortunately my new work is keeping me very busy, so you can have a look at the above trailer or read a proper review here, here, here or here. If you are able to read Polish, you can also check my own review on Polygamia. In short, I heartily recommend No Heroes Allowed! to anyone who enjoys logical or puzzle games, especially if they have retro tendencies. You can get it on PSN for cheap.

Free music with hint of Japan

noreply@blogger.com (Barts) — Fri, 03 Dec 2010 06:00:00 +0000

Ichi-ban ongaku desu!

This is going to be a rather short post, containing exactly what the title promises: a bunch of cool music with Japanese tint to it, available for free. Yes, you've heard that one correctly, not a penny.

The first album, approprietly entitled Nihon (meaning Japan in Japanese), is an eclectic mix with very definitive influences from the Land of the Rising Sun that comes from Naturetone. The music can be slightly strange at times, as if it was meant to accompany a bad trip, but this is obviously intended and some of the tracks are just brilliant. The production values are very good: Nihon could very well be a commercial release. Here is what its author says about his creation:

It's a full-length tribute to the music and culture of Japan, blending live instruments, synthesizers and Golden Era Hip Hop production influences.

I would never qualify it as hip hop, but then again, I know next to nothing on how to write about music, so I guess I'll have to live with this description. The album can be downloaded from Bandcamp or from other sources.

The rest of the music comes from a band called The Kyoto Connection. The description from Free Albums Galore blog states that their music is "chilled out electro-pop mixed with a generous amount of Japanese sounds". It might very well be, I don't know, but what counts is that these tracks make for very enjoyable listening, quite different in tone than Nihon, but also very pleasing to the ear. My personal favourite is Samurai Spirit (not to be mistaken with certain game series). In case the links are down, you can find The Kyoto Connection on Jamendo.

So there you have it. Like it? Hate it? Let me know via comments. As for me, both Naturetone and The Kyoto Connection's music is my cup of o-cha.

Garden Gnome Strikes Back!

noreply@blogger.com (Barts) — Wed, 01 Dec 2010 06:00:00 +0000

With apologies to Gnome from Gnome's Lair

I first wrote about Garden Gnome Carnage almost three years ago - yes, the game is that old. But it also happens to be a ton of wicked fun in the spirit of Monty Python, so its recent release as a flash game gave me an excellent excuse to bring it up again.

Garden Gnome Carnage by Daniel Remar is a great example of what indie games can offer: very addicting and fun game based on very strange set of abstract rules, so abstract in fact, that no commercial project would ever try to build something upon them. Player controls a building on wheels (!) that has a garden gnome attached on a string (!!) and must use it to shake off hundreds of malicious Santa's elves tat try to enter the building via chimney (!!!). Sounds strange? Just you wait, there's more.

There are also airborne elves that fly in on their sleighs and some particularly malicious one that when shot down, leave behind parachutist elves hidden in presents (I won't add any more exclamation marks, since it is becoming to look ridiculous, but feel free to add them yourself). These parachutists are particularly hard to shake off the building, but they can be swept while in air by controlling gust of winds. The gnome can also rip the bricks out of the building facade when he is flying by and throw them at elves. Think it's weird? We still haven't gotten to the really weird part.

Because there is also a cat that can refill the bricks on the bulding's facade, there's a trick to get him to sparkle, which results in obtaining explosive golden bricks, there are airstrikes and princess that can replenish them, there's reinforcements that can arrive... Yes, the premise of the game is delightfully absurd, but the funny part is that it actually works. I've been playing Garden Gnome Carnage every now and then for about a year until I reached some wicked sick highscores - and seeing the comments on Newsgrounds, I get the feeling that I am not the only one to be hooked by its addictive nature.

Garden Gnome Carnage has been revamped for its flash release: it now features slightly refreshed graphics (or maybe they just look better when not upscaled, I am not sure), new options screen, new chiptune music, even the minigames have been altered. The occasional slowdown happens from time to time when there are hundreds of elves climbing the building, flying in the air, being blown up and falling down, but it is never too annoying. All in all, the port is a slightly enhanced version with some tweaks to gameplay that actually make it more accessible for your average player out there.

What more can I say? Follow this link and play Garden Gnome Carnage on Newgrounds (or alternatively on Kongregate) and if you want to have a go at it on your netbook on the go, download the original standalone version from Daniel's site or from TIGSource.

[ via IndieGames ]

Hydorah

noreply@blogger.com (Barts) — Mon, 29 Nov 2010 06:00:00 +0000

Gozilla versus Hydorah, nyerk, nyerk

I know I am seriously late to the party, but Hydorah deserves a mention on every serious gaming blog, so I hope you won't mind. I missed this game when it came out, because I am not that into the shooter genre. However, when reviewing L'Abbaye des Morts I came across Hydorah trailer (embedded below) and decided to give it a try, despite my staggering incompetence when it comes to traditional shoot'em-ups.

And man, what a blast Hydorah is! The graphics, the music, the gameplay, it is all spectacular. This game is the labour of love, reincarnation of the best parts of oldschool shoot'em-ups without their flaws. Okay, maybe there is one flaw - the game is damn hard, far too hard for my aging reflexes. I have not managed to complete it yet, got stuck somewhere around later levels. Despite the difficulty level, Hydorah kept me hooked for far longer than many more advanced games do - the gameplay is extremely addictive, just like the games of old times.

If you have some free time and loved shooting genre as a kid, then you absolutely need to try Hydorah, period.

How I helped with My Little Restaurant game

noreply@blogger.com (Barts) — Sat, 27 Nov 2010 09:08:00 +0000

Tapper 2010

I think I should put My Little Restaurant in the list of My Games above. Although I did not program it, design it or draw it, I had a little bit of input in its creation, as meager as it was. I guess I could call myself a language consultant, but that would be stretching it so badly it might rip apart. So what did I do? How did I meddle in the design process of the game?

Since I used to work and live in Japan, as well as study Japanese, I got asked by my friend to help to provide a few words that a Japanese chef overlooking player in sushi-making minigame would shout out in approval. The friend in question was Marcin, the one that long-time readers might remember from my visit to now defunct OpenOKO game company. He is now leading his own small indie game dev studio in Poland, focusing primarily on iPhone development.

As for the minigame and Japanese words, the idea was that player is making sushi and if they make it well, they hear applause from Sushi-Master. I came up with the list of words, some of them got approved, some of them didn't. So truth be told, my input in My Little Restaurant is minimal - but nevertheless, it was my first contribution to a commercial game title.

You can watch the trailer on Youtube, buy the game on iTunes or read one of the reviews here. It seems that My Little Restaurant is generally well received, so if you have an iPhone and a bit of spare change, now you know where to spend it.