Freemantim's gaming thoughts and reviews

New Year, New Tech

noreply@blogger.com (Freemantim) — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 16:43:00 +0000

It has been several months since I last posted anything here and for any regular readers I apologize. I've been busy with real world work, but I've also become a regular contributor to VGBlogger.com. But since it is a new year I wanted to take a moment and write about some of the new tech I've recently started using as well as some of the new gaming goodness that will be available next month.

First off Christmas was a pretty good time for all the gamers in my house. My kids got iPods and Just Dance 3 for the Wii (which is something that I find enjoyable to watch, but almost impossible to play with my own "white man" sense of coordination) and I got Skyrim. The other big game-friendly tech that showed up at Christmas time was Sony's new PlayStation 3D Display. All I can say is wow. The image on the display is absolutely amazing.

I typically have my PS3 hooked up to a 42" Westinghouse, which is sadly showing inevitable signs of decay and poor health. Which is a shame since the TV is only four years old. The HDMI ports on the big unit are dead, the TV tuner seems to be on the fritz, and the menu system doesn't seem to keep the settings I've adjusted. Fortunately, Santa delivered the 3D display this year and so I found myself clearing off a desk next to my entertainment console where the new beautiful display sits. While the viewing space is only 24" diagonally, I find that sitting in my desk chair (at a desk no less) I have the perfect distance and center "sweet spot" for watching all that is pushed out from the screen.

Okay. I'm sorta getting ahead of myself though. The PlayStation 3D Display is Sony's newly released panel with gaming as the core focus. In the box is one pair of active shutter glasses, a 5' HDMI cable and of course the display and base (oh and a copy of Motorstorm Apocalypse). Set up took less than five minutes, put the display into the base, connect the HDMI cable and fire up the PS3. The display itself is a marvel to look at, a super high gloss front, thin, like super thin. I'm blown away by how thin the display is compared to my chunky Westinghouse. Speakers are built into the sides of the display and a sub woofer is built into the back. There are 2 HDMI ports as well as 1 component cable for a total 3 inputs and a 3.5 mm headphone jack for audio out.

Turning on the display is a bit of a design flaw. The power buttons, menu and volume buttons are on the back of the speaker on the right side. The same side that the HDMI cable connects at. I found that turning the display on or adjusting the volume, I would have to be careful not to bump the HDMI cable (it's kinda freaky to see the pristine image suddenly flash green and jumble and then reset back to pristine all by accidentally bumping the HDMI cable while attempting to adjust the volume). That being said, Sony has coincidentally release an update to their PlayStation Blu-ray remote. While the remote isn't included, I would strongly recommend picking it up (but more on that in a bit).

So the PS3 is hooked up, the display is on, how does it look playing games? The first thing I noticed was just how much sharper items on the XMB look. Trophies look better, installed game icon's look sharper, everything looks cleaner. Now maybe that's because even at 1080p the screen real estate is that much smaller, and thus things look better, but I'd guess that the 3D display just has more going on to make the images look that much better.

Since Motorstorm Apocalypse was included in the box, I fired that up first. I got a second pair of glasses with the display because one of the coolest features touted by Sony is the SimulView technology. Basically it allows the 3D display to send a full screen 2D image to one set of glasses while sending a second 2D image to the other set of glasses so that instead of having a split screen two player local experience, each player gets a full screen view of their game. This works really well with Motorstorm Apocalypse. Turning off the Simulview, I switched to a single player 3D experience and the game really gives a great sense of depth and scope to the massive destruction that all of the races are centered around.

One of the cool things about PlayStation 3 games is the simple fact that lots of them had 3D capabilities that were enabled after firmware 3.30 was pushed out to the PS3. Because of that I was able to sample 3D on a fair amount of games in my back catalog. Super Stardust HD, Pain, Wipeout HD, were just a few downloadable games I gave a 3D go at. Pain only has 3D enabled during a bowling section, which is fun and definitely takes advantage of the 3D display, it is nothing worth gushing over. Wipeout HD in 3D is fairly impressive, except for the fact that everything is moving so fast the 3D effect is lost in the blurring speed of all that is going on. Super Stardust HD is amazing. The game displays at so many depths of field at the same time, all the while asteroids and ships and explosions are careening about giving a true feast for the eyes.

As far as disc based games go I've played a fairly wide range of titles to see just how well the display responds. MLB 11 The Show is really awesome with 3D enabled. Batting in 3D, you get a really great sense of when the ball is crossing the plate. The rest of the game is fun to see the stadiums come to life with 3D. A greater sense of how different each field really is and how that can impact a home run being just a double, depending on where the ball is hit.

Killzone 3 and Resistance 3 both support 3D output. Killzone 3 also supports SimulView for two player local co-op. As of right now Resistance 3 does not support SimulView, but hopefully Insomniac has a patch to add the feature at some point in the future. Both games look awesome in 3D. One aspect I hadn't even considered before playing a first person shooter in 3D was the simple fact that a game in 3D would actually give the effect of looking down a gun barrel and feel real! Of course the environments pop and add a greater depth of field in both but the effect of a gun barrel sticking out in front of my nose was truly an experience I hadn't considered before.

One of the most recent titles to come out that I've probably spent the most time on while playing in 3D has been Batman Arkham City. With over 20 hours playing in 3D I found myself impressed with how the world pops, and the various levels of field depth add to the overall immersion of the game. My one complaint about Batman Arkham City was the initial darkness of the game. When the active shutter glasses kick in, a dark hue plays across my field of vision. Since most of Arkham City is played in dark alleys or dim lit buildings, I had to adjust both the level of brightness and the level of 3D being pushed out. Once I found the sweet spot I found that I my time the game world quickly added up.

Two things I'd like to note before closing this post. First off, I wish that developers would all figure out a way to allow for adjustments in how strong the 3D is displayed in the same section of the menu structure. Some games would only allow for adjustments at the main menu and thus testing to see if a level was too intense couldn't be discovered without loading the game, "testing the waters" and then hoping all the way back to the main menu to adjust if necessary. Other games allow for adjustments directly in the thick of action, which is much easier to adjust the level of intensity without losing the flow of game play.

The second closing comment I have is regarding the lack of remote control. Since the display doesn't come with a remote, one of the first things I did was look to replace my original PlayStation Blu-ray remote. Of course the original only remote only worked with the PS3 and not with any TVs because it only communicated via bluetooth. The new remote connects via bluetooth and infrared and adds some additional buttons (to switch control between PS3, TV and Amp) as well as volume and channel control. Since I don't have a cable box hooked up to the display (and there is no TV tuner built in) the channel control doesn't add any benefit, but the volume control is an absolute must in my opinion, so that you don't end up screwing up the HDMI connection as you reach behind the panel to adjust the levels. One of the other nice enhancements on the remote is the circle directional button. On the old remote, the directional buttons felt loose and would sometimes lead the cursor to move in the wrong direction (up instead of left for example). With the new remote, the directional buttons almost click and have a slight snappy push back when navigating on screen menus. The new remote is a tad longer, but is thinner and feels good even though there are additional buttons placed across the surface. The one thing keeping the remote from being perfect is the lack of backlit buttons, but for just about $20, the remote is more than capable given all that it can control.

As a person who spends a pretty large amount of time in front of displays (both at work and at home gaming) I have to say that the new PlayStation 3D Display is just short of spectacular. The sounds produced are good and the visuals (both 3D and non) are a feast for the eyes. The price is incredibly good as well right now. Best Buy is listing it at $299, Amazon is listing it for $399. Depending on the store, the package is still incredibly good. A pair of glasses included, an HDMI cable, plus a game. Sony has been promoting 3D as one of the incredible features that the PS3 is capable of, and now has given gamers a truly affordable way to get a feature that really does enhance the overall gaming experience.

Check back next month as the new tech continues to roll out. I'll be giving a review of the new Wireless Stereo Headset once my order from Amazon arrives, as well the new PlayStation Vita as soon as that becomes available.

Two to get ready for 3

noreply@blogger.com (Freemantim) — Sun, 04 Sep 2011 17:20:00 +0000

This Tuesday marks the release of Insomniac Games latest title, Resistance 3. As a way to build excitement for their latest shooter, Insomniac and Sony have released a bundle pack of the first two PlayStation 3 titles in a Dual Pack collection. Both games were titles that I was aware of but had never really any strong desire to play. That is until this teaser trailer for Resistance 3 came out.

I'm not sure what suddenly made me really excited for the franchise. Perhaps the desolation, or the weariness trapped in these folk's face or the droning pulse of the fantastic "Masters of War" cover. Something clicked. I was faced with a double edge sword of wanting to learn more about the series but didn't want to read any spoilers. Of course since Fall of Man was a PS3 launch title all sorts of stuff has been written. When Resistance 2 came out many fans of the original were disappointed. Having avoided much of the Internet's impressions of the game I finally took to playing the series last week.

As I mentioned above Resistance Fall of Man was a launch title for the PS3 back in November 2006. As a fan of pretty much every type of game, I've played my fair share of first person shooters. I'm not a big fan of the Call of Duty stuff, or any standard military shooter for that matter. I prefer shooters with a little more imagination, the little man going against the odds a la Half-Life, or Half-Life 2 (gee go figure where my blog icon comes from?). I find myself enjoying FPSs that tend be a bit more fantastical, like Killzone or Borderlands or anything else that doesn't necessarily fly in your face at a hundred miles a second yelling at you to "Go Go Go". Additionally I prefer to play games that tell a story and aren't just a second thought put in place to satisfy a small crowd while focusing solely on mindless multi-player deathmatch.

Fall of Man supposes an alternate history to that of our own. Instead of World War II happening, an alien force has wiped out most of the eastern hemisphere. You play as Nathan Hale, a soldier that has mysterious ties to the invading plague known as The Chimera. Hale is infected with the virus that has wiped out most of humanity (or at least Europe and Russia) but somehow survived and due to his exposure is now able to face insurmountable odds, battle the Chimera and live while troops all around fall like so many red shirts on an away mission.

The first thing that struck me as I started Fall of Man was just how much it feels like an early PS3 title. The environments are built with a level of detail that when compared to PS2 titles would seem amazingly rich. Compared to PS3 titles now and the game oozes freshman status. Building models have plenty of detail, but character animations are very static. There are very few times when another character is on screen, looking directly at the player camera and talking. When this does occur, the voice work barely matches the mouth and facial movements. To get around this early console development limitation, most of the narrative is delivered through voice over work and animated cut-scenes. Debris that would be almost overdone in newer titles starts to flesh out the world, but only seems to really become apparent in later levels.

Insomniac Games are known for the wide array of weapons in their games. Fall of Man continues that tradition with standard military assault rifles, sniper rifles, alien rifles, and then some big guns. The Chimeran Bullseye has an alt fire mode that tags an enemy and then all ammo fired after it is tagged will course correct and find the target. The Auger is another great weapon that fires through walls or other obstacles to hit their mark. Hedgehog grenades explode in a shower of large stakes. Weapon play is very good and one of the key things to Fall of Man is Hale carries all of the weapons once he's come across them. The weapon wheel is something that should be put in more games. Sure it seems silly that one person would be able to carry 9 or more weapons and all the associated ammo, but it is a video game. A video game about shooting aliens mutated from humans.

I bring this up because Resistance 2 does not have the weapon wheel. Resistance 2 (R2) picks up basically from the end cut scene in Fall of Man. A brief VTOL (Vertical Take Off/Landing) ride later and suddenly the action picks up and never stops. As I mentioned above, Fall of Man felt very obviously like a freshman launch title for the PS3. Resistance 2 sheds that feeling in a major way. Battles are vast, huge in scope and visually jaw dropping. The story picks up with The Chimeran forces now making their way to the United States and quickly spreading the virus to eradicate humanity in the Western Hemisphere. Interestingly, while Europe and Russia are devistated by the Chimera, US isolationist policy has kept our troops out of battle and seemingly allow science and man to build up defenses to combat the impending invasion.

Of course defenses are broken and every level show homes destroyed, cities crushed and the only humanity left are the ones running along side Hale fighting off the overwhelming odds of the Chimera. One mantra I've always been told with writing is show don't tell. Meaning convey the message in action over direct exposition. R2 still has semi-hidden intel scattered throughout the levels, but a lot more story is revealed through cut scenes, voice over during battles and my favorite, radio broadcasts. The battles and pace of the game are metered with large waves of enemies and then quiet (almost eerily quiet) calm, allowing the player to reflect on the devastation brought by the Chimera. Most levels have an area where a radio can be found that triggers a broadcast coming from Philadelphia. The broadcast can be overlooked or missed as the sound from the radios doesn't travel very far, but the human story that unfolds is so rich. The desperation emitted from Henry Stillman during these radio broadcasts point out just how badly the Chimeran forces have destroyed the US. Thinking back I'm sure that I've missed one or two of these gems and I am tempted to replay the game just to find out if I did indeed miss any.

The problem with going back through the game to find if I did miss any broadcasts, is that I would have to go back and play through the game again. Now that's not necessarily a bad thing, but my overall experience is that the game overdoes the grandiose at almost every turn. First off without a weapon wheel I found myself struggling at times to finish off waves of enemies that swarm in large fast numbers. Second, most sections of battle put you in combat with one or two squad mates. The problem with that is they can be stone cold stupid. Waves of Chimera run at you and your squad will stand facing the direction the Chimera come from and don't turn to face any that got past them. I encountered two very specific moments where this happened. Once a room with three other commandos were waiting for the trigger to occur for them to attack the impending rush, but apparently that trigger never fired because I fought off ravaging hordes of Chimera, their bodies bumping into and over the commandos, and not one of them fired a damn shot. Such a disappointment.

Add to the broken AI for squad mates, the sheer number of Chimera rushing at you at any one time is just mind boggling. Sure I don't mind one type of enemy in large numbers coming at me. But add two, three, or SIX types all at once, oh and also add in the new special "Predator" type Chameleon that one hit kills you charging through the other six types of bad guys and you are faced with insta death and respawn on a highly frustrating level. Fortunately R2 has a more liberal checkpoint system. Sadly I had to find out how quickly the game could load from checkpoints more often than I would've liked.

I enjoyed Fall of Man because of the sense of discovery and unraveling a mystery at my own pace. It was basically me as Hale (which felt like playing as a hero without the bravado) fighting enemies at a pace that was controllable. Resistance 2 takes a different view of Hale. He speaks with a machismo found in dude-bro shooters. Fall of Man felt like it was clearly set in the 50s with little in the way of modern or futuristic weaponry or body armor. Resistance 2 environmentally is still set in the distant past, but that's about it. Apparently when the rest of the world is being devastated by an alien scourge, US scientists are given a research boost to advance military weaponry and personal communications to levels found in today's military. The idea of show don't tell is almost brought to full realization, but instead of showing with lots of flashy cut scenes or static intel to be discovered, story is related to the player through commando voice communication. While it works, the sound is still a little off putting, as the audio comes across as if being heard through distant radio waves with squawks and crackles even when the person speaking is standing directly in front of you.

I liked Hale, or the idea that he represented in Fall of Man but I found myself disliking him more and more as the game progressed in R2. His interactions with the other commandos seems selfish and uncharacteristic to what I had projected his personality to be from Fall of Man. Fortunately (and while yes this is a spoiler--it is a spoiler that even Insomniac has openly stated) Hale is killed by one of your dude-bro commandos, Joseph Capelli. Capelli, like Hale, is one of the few humans to survive the exposure of the Chimeran virus and even admits earlier in the game that he should've died in a crash but his regeneration kicked in at the last minute to save him. My guess is Hale will return in Resistance 3 much to Capelli's potential demise.

This is what irks me about the story up to this point. Hale and Capelli, plus other commandos, are all known as Sentinels because of their resistance to the Chimeran virus. It makes them capable of sustaining all sorts of damage and regenerate health. This is all fine and dandy as a game concept. In fact the history and research presented by another central character introduced a the beginning of R2, Doctor Malikov, is completely fascinating. I just wish more of that was the focus of the game. Instead it is relegated to cut scenes, hidden intel, or even to a broader extent a web based promotional game that teased and helped build a lot of the story before the game was originally released. Sadly the web based stuff is exposition that can be easily overlooked if you are an average game player who only wants to shoot things.

A comment was made to me on Twitter about how much R2 seems like Half-Life 2. I can see how some comparison could be made, but overall HL2 beats R2 in spades with storytelling and pacing. It is curious though how much I find Fall of Man to be a close attempt at being the PlayStation 3's Halo. The female narrator/guide, the various aliens with more advanced combat routines, the almost gleeful chatter from said aliens when they die. All remind me of Halo. The fact that Fall of Man even had story mode co-op really touches on that title trying so hard to be a Halo game. Sadly though a lot of the stuff that made Fall of Man good were overlooked in R2. It is almost as if Fall of Man tried to be Halo and R2 tried to be Gears of War. Too much dude-bro. Too many over the top epic battle set pieces.

Now that's not to say that I didn't like R2. I enjoyed a lot of the game. Survival horror elements creep in and really give a sense that all of humanity is gone and the only things left are mindless Chimeran converts swarming to take the next prey. Tension is built to some degree by the lack of weapon wheel. You have to make sure every shot counts. Attention to environmental detail is top notch. Debris and textures never feel like you are looking at the same ten re-used objects. Navigation through levels is linear to a point, but never feel like a narrow corridor. Weapons are scattered throughout often hinting that a new battle is about to being. The key to progression I found was making sure you have the best weapon to get through the forthcoming battle.

Playing through R2 was a chore at times. But well worth the experience of learning more about the Chimera and their past. If you are a fan of story driven games, both Resistance games are worth playing through. Just be ready to die, respawn, die, respawn until you figure out the best approach to many encounters. Insomniac Games knows how to make rich worlds with interesting characters. I may not like every character they have created in the Resistance series so far, but the world is deep enough to really make me look forward to Tuesday's release of Resistance 3.

Assassinating the Summer with gaming

noreply@blogger.com (Freemantim) — Sat, 03 Sep 2011 11:54:00 +0000

With Summer almost at an end I find myself looking forward to several upcoming titles. Uncharted 3, Skyrim, Rage, Resistance 3, Batman Arkham City, Assassin's Creed Revelation and holy crap this list just keeps getting longer and longer the more I think about upcoming games. I'm a bit of a gaming completionist. Yes I love gaming to collect trophies (although my hobby looks like a tiny pebble compared to some folks), but I'm a completionist more in the sense that once I've started a game for a story I want to continue playing new games that continue a storyline.

In 2009 Ubisoft published Assassin's Creed 2 to much acclaim and accolade. It was certain well deserved. The game play was refined from the first title, the story was rich and intriguing, and it was a game that I absolutely couldn't put down once I opened it on Christmas morning that year. In the summer of 2010, Ubisoft announced that they would be releasing the followup to AC2 that fall with Assassin's Creed Brotherhood. In the announcement, the only thing in announcement, hell in all of the announcements up until almost a week before the game was released, was how ACB had a fantastic multiplayer mode. Very little was said about the continuing saga of Ezio. The end of AC2 was such a dramatic cliffhanger that all the talk of multiplayer and no mention of the single player story frankly turned my own excitement into a meager flicker, relegated to the column of well I'll either get the game at Christmas from someone outside my immediate family or wait for the price to drop.

I ended up waiting for the price to drop. So for my birthday this year I picked up a new copy of Assassin's Creed Brotherhood. The end of AC2 was a distant cloudy image, but the second I started up ACB I thought, hey I remember this. I remember how I got here. Just as many reviews stated last year when ACB was finally released and ground through the many review and media outlets, the game picks up immediately from where AC2 finishes.

Gaming and muscle memory are a funny thing. You play something for 20 to 30 hours, and your hands instinctively just know what to do. Even after a year and a half of not playing AC2, my hands just picked up on how to move and attack and jump and manipulate the camera. Of course this could be put back on the developers of the game, making additional refinements to an almost perfect game play mechanic. When something works, don't break it by changing shit. Instead, the fine team from Ubisoft enhanced the game play by making combat work better. Or so most people would say. Yes you play and assassin. Yes you kill people because you are an assassin. But the hook of the game is that you sneak around and assassinate folks typically in a one on one scenario. The "enhancement" to combat in ACB was to fix the moments where many, many, MANY, (too many?) guards would rush around you and (if you were lucky) you could fend some off, take down the guards eventually, or escape. This didn't happen too often in AC2, but there were definitely some times (intentionally of course for trophies) where the odds were stacked against the player in a combat system that wouldn't necessarily help the player. If I wanted to play a game like that, I'd play Batman Arkham Asylum, God of War, Bayonetta, Darksiders, Enslaved, or Wolverine, hell any game with the combat built for such overwhelming odds stacked against you knowing that you are a badass and you can handle hordes swarming against you.

Mind you the combat isn't bad in Brotherhood, it just isn't an "enhancement" that I felt was necessary. Sure you can dodge enemies that you see are coming up from behind swinging a broadsword or mace, but as I mention above, I enjoyed the stealthy bits, the moving across the city on rooftops, avoiding combat over directly confronting guards. But because Ubisoft "fixed" or "enhanced" the combat to allow for better group battles, the game tends to force you to have to play that way. Fortunately my muscle memory learned really quickly how to use the medicine that Ezio carries if I was ever caught in a battle that felt a bit over the top with too many overly armored guards with big swords or long pointy spears (I'm sure there is some hidden joke here about what those guards are compensating for).

Anyway, Brotherhood picks up immediately from the end of AC2 and quickly unfolds more layers to the crazy twisting past of Templars and Assassins, all via the ancestral bloodlines viewed through the DNA of Desmond Miles with technology stolen from Abstergo. Makes sense right? So much of this game is tied to historical events skewed with artistic flair to make any conspiracy theorist question whether any of the events could have actually happened. Of course it is just a game, so many of the key moments that are tied to historical events are played with an over-the-top, OMG, I can't believe I just did that style of play. Sneaking through actual landmarks in Rome is amazingly realized in Brotherhood. Parkour jumping, climbing, and swinging through rafters of old abandoned cathedrals, hidden temples and lavish palaces revive that spark of joy I had playing AC2. Unfortunately Brotherhood takes place in Rome. Only in Rome. There are a few flashbacks of Ezio as a younger man in Florence, but the rest of the time the game is set in Rome. That's not a bad thing, but to me, there was nothing that really distinguished one part of the city from the next. The map and the way point marker system was something I used more often than I felt I should have needed to in order to get around. All the buildings felt the same. Sure there are more open expanses to ride around on a horse this time, but you can't parkour leap from building to building on a horse.

I guess what I'm getting at is that while I have enjoyed my time with ACB, it just doesn't leave me with the same gamecrush that AC2 gave me. Combat in Brotherhood is okay, but adds a little more of what I don't want to experience. The world, while richly designed, detailed and beautifully rendered, just felt too samey from one part of the map to the other. The overall experience was worthwhile but I just wish there was less of some game bits and more of others. Fortunately I came to Brotherhood looking for a continuation of the great story told from AC2 and the game delivers. Delivers to such a degree that I uncontrollably, yet completely under my control with no other choice, had to finish the game. Finished the game with a crazier, "can't wait to play the next game" cliff hanger ending.

Ubisoft has announced that Assassin's Creed Revelations will complete the stories woven from Assassin's Creed, Assassin's Creed 2, and Assassin's Creed Brotherhood. Of course they've also announced that ACR will include multiplayer again. Admittedly I have not played any of the multiplayer in Brotherhood, but that's not why I wanted the game and it's not the reason I'm looking forward to Revelations. I hear the multiplayer is good, but I can wait for a price drop, or someone to give it to me before finding out what revelations are revealed in the next and final chapter of Ezio and Altair and the continuing saga of Desmond Miles.

Summer gaming

noreply@blogger.com (Freemantim) — Wed, 17 Aug 2011 19:42:00 +0000

Traditionally summer is the slow period for new games. There are pluses and minuses to this tradition. On the upside it is usually nice out and if you don't have the "new hotness" that you must play, well maybe you'll end up getting some exercise and a nice tan. On the downside no new games are coming out to play and thus by virtue of nothing else to play, you end up going outside and getting some exercise and a nice tan.

Alternatively, you've got a huge glut of games over last winter and because nothing new (or good) has come out recently, you find yourself finally getting through that pile of shame. The last few weeks have been a bit of all of the above for me. I keep finding games that I've almost finished (or have "finished" in the story sense of the game--but need to clean up a few more trophies to get the ever illusive Platinum), Add to the picking and choosing of older titles, I've won a game or two, got a game for my birthday and my son has found a gem worth playing that he borrowed from our library.

I can say that I typically enjoy all types of games, Action, Adventure, First Person Shooters, RPGs and occasionally a sports game. Seeing that it is summer and the thick of our Nation's pastime, baseball, I decided to give MLB 11 The Show another swing (pun intended of course). I'm from Detroit. I don't follow sports all that closely, but given the chance to go see a Tiger's game, or Red Wings game or the Lion's, I'd accept in an instant (Basketball doesn't count--is that really a sport?). Sports games intimidate me. I'm not sure why. I understand the basic mechanics of the sports, but the big titles all seem to want to add Manager functions, Dynasties, full seasons, playoffs, championships. I don't care about that stuff. I just want to play the game. My first attempt at playing MLB 11 The Show back in April ended abruptly after 3 innings with me giving up 9 runs to some team I don't recall and all of batting attempts ending as strike outs. Sports games look awesome, but learning how to play them, and play them successfully are different ballgames (again pun intended).

I put MLB 11 in last week and figured I'd give it another shot. I picked Exhibition Match. Easy. One game. I can survive that. I pick The Tigers, I pick Comerica Park. Yet somehow the game threw me for a loop. The opposing team was the San Francisco Giants. Even though we were playing in Comerica Park the game decided that the Giants were the home team. Huh? The entire crowd in Comerica Park is decked out in Giants fan gear. Seriously? To add insult to injury when I finally managed to get a triple and get into scoring position the entire stadium booed. The whole experience just felt wrong. Comerica Park is where The Tiger's call home. Such a disconnect. How can a stadium can look as good as it does, faithfully recreate the ball park, but then queer the whole experience by booing what should be the home team? After a fierce battle at the pitching mound I ended up winning the Exhibition match. Learning how to interpret the game and get a better feel for the controls, I find myself wanting to go back and play the game a bit more frequently.

One of the really cool things that MLB 11 does is the Challenge of the Week. Each week the game pits you as the League's hottest batter against the hottest pitcher. Each hit you get increases your point multipler so the incentive is to keep getting hits for a homerun of a score (pun intended of course). The catch to the Challenge of the Week is that only the first attempt is free. Any subsequent attempts are unlocked by buying attempts in bulk. Devious. Just like crack. We'll give you the first hit for free but then you need to buy if you want more. The best part is the additional attempts are cheap. A quarter will get you 5 more attempts. Who can't afford spending a quarter right? So far I've avoided the temptation, but with weekly and monthly prizes awarded I can see how some folks who are really into the finest game ever created (Baseball--not necessarily MLB 11) would easily put down extra money for a chance at winning fame and fortune from playing a video game.

Summer typically means spending time outside, enjoying nature while it is nice out. Seeing a baseball game with the kids. In true gamer geek fashion I find myself enjoying spending time in front of my TV and playing a sports game in the dark without having to deal with the crowds, traffic, parking and price of a beer and a hot dog. MLB 11 is really a great way to enjoy baseball without all the associated baggage.

More Shooter 2

noreply@blogger.com (Freemantim) — Tue, 26 Jul 2011 20:24:00 +0000

In my last post I briefly described my thoughts about PixelJunk Shooter 2. I've spent some more time with it and have had some time think about the game and where it shines and where it doesn't.

When Shooter 1 ended I was filled with anticipation as to what additional environmental fluid elements were going to be added. Afterall, the game ends with your ship being swallowed by a big beast. At the time when we finished the game, my son and I bounced ideas back and forth as to what type of liquids, be it stomach acid, poo or anything else. Shooter 2 doesn't disappoint. There are purple gas bubbles that restrict your ability to move and change your direction, there are green tadpole-like eggs that spawn and multiply, as well as gel-like acid that spreads like Zerg creep. Returning are of course lava, water, ice, steam and magnetic oil, but the one that I find the most interesting and at the same time frustrating is darkness.

Progression through the game makes sense as you battle your way through and eventually out of the beast that swallows the ship at the end of Shooter 1. Back tracking through ice and lava to face an amazingly created second boss. I tweeted at the time that I'd never really like bullet hell shooters until I played Shooter 2. I still stand by that notion. I've got some video of the second boss battle that I love to just watch. Geometry in motion. Beauty in danger. Almost like deadly fractals.

Once the second boss is defeated, a path is cleared to fight though an abandoned industrial complex, to find freedom at the surface. Or so the game would promise. See, here's where I find myself loving the game, but becoming completely frustrated with it at the same time. Each division of the game ends with a boss battle. Traditional game design. Each division of the game has stages with miners to save and diamonds to collect. Again no problem. If a stage in the game is a bit too long for your particular gaming session, the latest patch has added in a fantastic feature that lets you save at the last checkpoint, exit the game, and upon restarting pick up from that last checkpoint. Fantastic! Perfect! Sublime even. Except, well say you're on the final boss. You've battled through three or four rooms of increasing difficulty, finally gotten to the ethereal head cheese (or eye cheese in this case). The battle raged but couldn't beat him on the first run, so you saved it knowing that the game would let you pick up again from that checkpoint the next. Start up the game a day later, all refreshed from a good sleep, caffeine flowing, only to be beaten back again and again by eyes floating in the darkness, spawning into gray jelly, which then becomes spattering lava. Exciting stuff. See the clip below to see just how close I was to beating the boss on the second day, second attempt. Yet family obligations came up so I saved the game knowing I could return.

I returned for a third go a day later, fired up the game and attempted to best the final boss. I'd watched the video and prepared myself for what was to come. Knowing what to expect at each stage of the final fight helps, but quick reflexes are all that matter in the thick of things. Of course in my house gaming doesn't take precedence over visitors or uncles who come baring tools to help fix broken A/C units. So I paused the game. Time flies when you are working on something in the heat. Apparently 2 hours fly really quickly. The PS3 has an option to turn itself off if there is no inherent activity. I have mine set to shut off after 2 hours. Watching movies sometimes a little warning will pop up saying the system will shut off shortly, but a quick press of the pause button resets the 2 hour mark. The same warning pops up if you have a game paused. But what if you're outside working with your uncle on the A/C and not sitting on the couch to notice the pop up? How do you reset the 2 hour auto shutoff? You don't. Instead you come in defeated by the A/C unit to find that your PS3 has thoughtfully shut itself off. Sadly in that act of self preservation it neglects to save the game. Yup. The time spent battling through the last stage to finally see the boss has been struck back to 0. Sure I don't have to redo all of the sections leading up to the boss level, but I still have to face the creeping darkness, the rabid fish ghosts, the miners I've already saved and diamonds I've already plucked. GAAAAHHHHHHH.

I've tried to psych myself back up to battling through the level again, but the defeatist in me says, "You'll never beat the final boss so why try again?" I've attempted on two separate occasions to regain my footing in the last haunted catacombs of the bosses lair only to face defeat and frustration. Take a deep breath, take a walk, play something else. All have been done. I hate not finishing a game. I hate feeling like I need to lower the difficulty to be able to get through awful battles just to find out what happens next in the story. Now to be honest Shooter 2 doesn't have a Dickensian plot, but the stories told from the unique minors, plus the amazing visuals for each stage is enough to keep me going. But. But. To be so close and then lose it just takes the wind out of my sails.

On the upside while I finish building up the gumption to finish the single player side of things there is plenty to do with the on-line Battle mode. The Battle Mode consists of you vs a random player taking turns being on the offensive, capturing miners while staying alive. Meanwhile the defensive side must hunt the other player down and capture the damaged ships "shadow". The catch is there is only a limited cone of view coming from the front of the ship to allow you to see where the other player is. Cat and mouse meets Spy vs. Spy. On the offense you race to capture and hold miners for points, while hoping the defender doesn't find you. Matches are mostly balanced pitting you against players of similar experience. If you win a match you get points to spend on ship upgrades as well as points to advance you to the next level of experienced player. If you lose, you still earn a small amount of points toward buying upgrades, but you remain at the same competitive level. In my time with the online battles I found that I was able to defeat most of the players in my same level of experience. But as you gain experience your chances of being pitted against a more experienced player becomes likely. I battled one opponent on several different engagements and found myself quickly being embarrassed by how quickly he was able to dispatch my efforts to rescue a miner or stop him from rescuing the miners. During our last challenge I was vindicated though. On offense you have to find the miners and return them to your rescue circle. On my first round of offense I managed to save two miners. My fine challenger though had secured five miners. Now the best part of the online battle is that you win as long as you have saved more miners than your opponent. Do or die time. I had 2 and my opponent had 5. I raced to his rescue circle knowing he was looking for me on the opposite side of the map. Quickly I grabbed one of his miners from the circle and "oops silly me" I dropped the miner to his death. Mwhahaha. Quickly I grabbed another miner and proceeded to drop him as well. 2 to 3. Another quick grab and drop and suddenly we were tied. Obviously my opponent realized what I was doing and raced back to his base to find that I had grabbed the game point from his circle. Seconds left on the clock until victory was mine. I moved as quickly as possible to avoid his blaster fire. Time was up. I had won! I could only imagine the cursing my opponent was hurling at me from his home. I did a little dance (of course while still sitting on the couch). Victory never tastes so sweet without the foreknowledge of defeat from the same opponent over and over again in past engagements.

This. This fine online Battle Mode is what keeps me from giving up on the last boss. Knowing that while I may face defeat with some opponents, I'll find victory just as often. But you need to be sneaky about. Cat and Mouse. Spy vs Spy.

I can't say enough good about the game. There are moments that are frustrating, but like any other game, once you've learned how to best utilize the tools at your disposal the game (at least for me) just puts me in my Zen state. The one thing that I would hope for (at least once PixelJunk Sidescroller comes out) is a checkpoint system during boss battles. Maybe not even a checkpoint system during the first attempt. Maybe the checkpoint system would trigger after 10, 15, err 40 attempts at a boss? At any rate, the quality of Q-Games has never diminished and Shooter 2 is worth playing and does a fantastic job of balancing challenge with fun and keeps you wanting more each time.

PixelJunk Shooter 2

noreply@blogger.com (Freemantim) — Wed, 13 Jul 2011 12:39:00 +0000

Just a quick note to say that PixelJunk Shooter 2 is on sale this week. Shooter 1 was one of my favorite games from the tail end of 2009. The music, the visual style and the subtle humor all went a long way to making a great game. While the challenge ramped up toward the end, the game never reached the point of making you want to through your controller through the TV like other PIxelJunk games are want to do.

Earlier this year Q Games released their first true sequel to any of their PixelJunk games with Shooter 2. The game continued the story from the fantastic cliffhanger ending of Shooter 1, but added some new components in the form of online battle modes as well as new forms of liquid death.

I've only begun to play the game but it immediately sucked me with the precise controlling, the need to save all the miners who have managed to survive the lava, stomach acid and various baddies out to kill your ship, the miner's savior, and finding the glorious diamonds hidden through each stage. (Wow if that wasn't a run on sentence I don't know what one is!). One of the things that I loved about Shooter 1 was the ability to record gameplay from within the game and post it to Youtube. I wish more games did this. Of course I had to test it out and so I've added some quick footage of my solo game play below.

If you haven't picked up PixelJunk Shooter 2 yet (or Shooter 1 for that matter) do yourself a favor and get it this week. Shooter 2 is on sale for 30% (or 50% for PS+ members) this week only.

A sad tale

noreply@blogger.com (Freemantim) — Wed, 29 Jun 2011 12:51:00 +0000

I suppose this isn't so much a sad tale but rather more of a realization that as a parent my habits can be easily, unknowingly, be passed down to my kids.

I finished LEGO Harry Potter this morning. I realize that the game is over a year old but I finally got around to getting the platinum on the game this morning.

I had rented it when it first game out to write a review for a site (which never published it--grumble grumble) but never got the chance to clean up the last 6 or so trophies I needed for the plat.

My son borrowed it from my nephew the other day and discovered something that is the reason for this post.

When we played the game last year, my son was basically on the way to getting his first plat. He loves all things HP, and of course LEGOS. In game he is at 98% complete but only 69% complete as far as trophies go.

He plays on his own profile, and when I was starting to have lots of issues with my original PS3 back in the fall last year I created a PSN account for him so that I could make sure his trophies were saved. He is autistic but most of the time (through lots of therapy) you'd never know it but there some things that really highlight his autism. He is very cute when he plays a game and earns a trophy. His immediate instinct is to have me to log him into the PSN (I intentionally keep the password not saved so that he doesn't play online all the time and add randoms) so that he can see his progress meter increase with any and all new trophies he earns.

He was very excited to get the HP disc from his cousin so that he could finish getting the 100% and see about finishing up for the platinum. While at work I got a chat from him the other day saying something was wrong. He kept telling me that the game was showing he was at 0% for trophies. I told him that when I got home we'd figure out what was the problem.

Of course the second I got home he was anxiously waiting for me to sign him in and sync his trophies. Sure enough the HP trophies reverted back to 69%. So we went into the game and started his save. The game then popped up on the screen a message that took the wind out my sails and basically destroyed my son. The message stated that the save was not from his profile and so trophies were disabled.

I tried to explain that even though I backed up all of our saves before swapping to the new PS3 some games were a little more finicky about profile names and game save. I told him that if he wanted to earn any more trophies he would have to delete his save (which again was at 98% complete) and start over. His face sunk and he shrugged and then said "Maybe some other time."

Now I can understand why Sony wants to protect the trophy platform and keep it from being gamed by folks who would just trade saves to boost their levels, but what kills me is the fact that I backed up all of the saves for all of the profiles using the native XMB tools and restored using the native XMB tools and this still happens.

This isn't the first game that this has happened to him either. He had earned his A class license in Burnout Paradise but the save wasn't recognized for him after we got the new PS3 and so he has to start all over again (which is a depressing notion from my point of view--I can't imagine what it must feel like for a 10 year old autistic kid).

I guess I'm just posting to vent a little bit about the trophy system and the hidden negatives that most people don't see. I just wish there was a way for me to be able to keep the saves (in the future) so that he doesn't run into this problem again. I makes me sad when a hobby that my son and I both enjoy dishes out a bit of a bitter pill to swallow. What makes it worse is that the pill is only for my son, who is the last person I want to see hurt (well--I don't want to see my other kids hurt either). I'm not sure if my son will delete his save and start over. He has slowly started over in Burnout and the fact that LEGOS and Harry Potter are the bees knees to him, I think he might. Call me a bad parent for wanting him to play games, but I'd rather see him happy doing something that isn't destructive to others and gives us a connection that will remain through both of our lives.

Two games in one

noreply@blogger.com (Freemantim) — Wed, 22 Jun 2011 13:46:00 +0000

L.A. Noire is the latest game from Rockstar Games and Team Bondi. You play as Cole Phelps a decorated war hero from WWII trying to overcome some haunting events during a battle in Okinawa. The story unfolds as you move from a Beat Patrol officer to Traffic detective, up to Homicide, then Vice and finally pushed back down as an Arson detective. Without spoiling any more than that progression I will simply say that the story and especially the end, was one of the most satisfying narratives I've played in a long time. I love pulp fiction. I love noir crime novels. This game really hits that sweet spot for me. Rich characters, and an ever deepening, engrossing story that makes up for some of the less than perfect game mechanics.

Unlike other R* games this is very much two divergent games in one.
First off there is the traditional R* open world sandbox game play. You can drive around and just explore the 1947 version of L.A., find hidden golden film canisters (sadly no clip from any of the films), find historic landmarks, and stop street crimes. The street crimes are quick distractions meant to fill out the experience from the second type of game play (more on this in a moment). Street crimes range from car chases, foot chases, and shootouts. Characters from the main story litter the street crimes and are a nice way to fully flesh out and tie the two styles of game play together. R* has always been able to create rich worlds with lots of unique characters and deviant ways to distract from the main story. Playing as a Police Detective however forces you to play as straight as possible and keeps the world from being fully taken advantage of. For as richly detailed as the sandbox world is, once you've completed finding all of the hidden objects the world becomes boring fairly quickly.

Fortunately the second type of game play is where the game truly shines. Of course concept of the game is to examine crime scenes, collect evidence and interrogate suspects to solve the various crimes. What makes the game really shine is strong story and character interactions. During interviews you are given options to believe a suspect (Truth), doubt what they are saying (Doubt), or flat out call them a liar (Lie). The concept is sound but flawed. If you choose Lie as an option you must have the appropriate evidence to back up your claim. The biggest point of failure with the game is the interview concept. At times when you pick any of the options your character will end up at times almost verbally assaulting the character which breaks up the pace of the interview. That is my biggest gripe with the game.

Visually the facial character models can't be beat. After watching trailers and game footage from other upcoming games (Uncharted 3) I can't help but feel that the facial animation in U3 feels completely last gen after spending so much time with LA Noire.

The music is moody and really helps to build the noir feel. Like Red Dead Redemption, the soundtrack is available for separate purchase but sadly doesn't include some of the best in-game music sequences. I enjoy the original score composed for this game but wish there was a better way to listen to the licensed music while driving through the city. To me the best licensed music is actually the radio shows popular during the game setting. The other music reminds me too much of the tracks that loop in Fallout 3 and New Vegas (not a bad thing but they are still too similar).

One other mark that can be taken as good or bad is the game is very easy. Combat is peppered through the missions but if you aren't good at that style of game, the particular section can be skipped (after dying a few times). During interviews, if you botch an interview and the suspect won't talk any further, your partner will glean information elsewhere to help move the story along. Failure is an option but it doesn't stop the progress of the story. This is new to most games. Sadly it also isn't handled in the best manner. I'm reminded during moments of failure of the Price is Right sad trombone. The game points out your failure with sound queues but continues to tell the story. I would prefer to not have my nose rubbed in my failure by a lame sound queue. Rather give me the summation at the end of the mission (which is very telling in what objectives you missed) and let me play that case over again to see if I can get a better outcome. I've replayed several missions at this point over again and question what really differentiates a failure ending with a "correct--good" ending.

Overall this is a game that should be experienced. There are some really fantastic moments with character interactions and development. The overarching story is well plotted with plenty of twists and call backs to early character interactions. Plenty of stuff to do (and a good amount of DLC casework still to come). The interview process is a nice touch (when you pick the right choice), the stories are well developed and the overall atmosphere is fantastic. It's not my absolute favorite game I've played this year, but it is definitely one that I keep coming back to.

Stacking is out.

noreply@blogger.com (Freemantim) — Wed, 09 Feb 2011 13:14:00 +0000

Stacking is the newest game from Double Fine and was released yesterday on the PSN.

The story revolves around a poor family who's father leaves the house to get a job and disappears. After a few months of him disappearing the family is in financial dire straights and can't pay bills. The debtors take the children in the family to work as slaves to pay off the debt.

You play as Charlie (the smallest "runt" of the children) who can stack into a doll one size larger than himself. You can stack into larger and larger dolls to solve various puzzles to help free your slave bound siblings. Each person that you stack into has it's own unique attribute which can help to solve the puzzles presented in each level.

The story is presented as a silent film and the music that plays over the cut scenes are classic silent film type scores. The amount of detail and polish given to the entire game is top notch. Each section of the game has unique stackable characters to find and each puzzle has multiple ways to solve them. Even though I love playing puzzle games, I'm not always tuned to the same level of puzzle solving that the creators of the puzzle are. One great thing about Stacking is the ability to view hints to help solve the puzzles. There is no penalty for unlocking a hint (at least not that I've seen so far), the only dilemma is showing self restraint versus instant gratification. On a replay/gameplay extender front, there are unique dolls to find and stack into for each section of the game as well. Some of these unique dolls also can viewed as a puzzle themselves as some characters are so much larger than what you'd normally be able to stack into, you will spend time trying to find the right number of dolls to stack into.

Stacking is full of charm and is a great change of pace from so many of the current games that are available to play on modern consoles. Trophies for this game come naturally just by solving puzzles (all iterations of the puzzles of course), finding all of the unique dolls to stack into and completing the story proper.

The game is free PlayStation Plus members but has a price of $14.99 for non-members. If you enjoyed any previous Tim Schafer and company game (Psychonauts, Grim Fandango, Brutal Legend, or Costume Quest) then this is definitely a game worth picking up.

Are you Active?

noreply@blogger.com (Freemantim) — Wed, 02 Feb 2011 16:35:00 +0000

One of the stigmas associated with video games is that of being lazy. Sure you may not be physically moving around but depending on the game you can certainly get a healthy mental exercise. For Christmas one of the presents I got my wife was EA Sports Active 2. I know what you're thinking, "What guy gets an exercise program for his wife?" "What does he think of his wife if he gets her exercise games?" Stop right there with those thoughts. Secretly I got EA Sports Active 2 because I was tired of fitting into that stigma of being a lazy gamer. I'd get home from work (and if there wasn't Cub Scouts activities to work on or drive my kids to soccer or dance) and I'd want to veg out in front of my PS3. I could feel myself becoming an atrophied sack of meat and bones.

Now I've never been one to be completely gung-ho about exercise, but I do enjoy taking my mountain bike out and hitting the trails. In high school and college I used to go to the gym regularly. But now that I've got a job that keeps me a "slave to the man" and need to take care of three children, a wife and a house, regular exercise is not my top priority. At a doctor visit last year (or maybe even two years ago now) I was encouraged to get some exercise in the morning to help boost my energy for the day. Because my wife is fairly fanatical about exercise, we have an elliptical machine, a stationary bike, and a slew of exercise DVDs. I tried the elliptical for a while and even one or two of the exercise DVDs, but some how the elliptical has become "sabotaged" by one of the kids (none of them will admit to it) and I can't seem to get the damn thing to stop being a relatively painfully jarring experience.

So in my quest for being a good husband (rarely is the quest viewed as successful) I purchased EA Sports Active 2. For the PS3. We have Sports Active 1 for the Wii and my wife enjoyed using it. But for my own selfish reasons I wanted it on the PS3. For starters I can play the PS3 in the morning without worrying about waking up the children or the wife. Secondly with the PS3 everyone in the house has their own profile. It is so much easier to load the game under any one of the profiles and simply play (er um, exercise) without worrying about loading the game and exercising as the wrong person. My only mistake is that my wife doesn't understand how to use the PlayStation. So basically a gift to my wife has become mine (that never happens in this house).

At this point now I have been playing EA Sports Active 2 for over a month. The game has filled that need, nay void, for my morning exercise, energy boost, and stigma shatterer. I can't say that I've lost any weight (I may have been a bit aggressive with the Christmas and New Years food consumption so only time will tell if I do start losing any) but I do feel more, um, active. My body doesn't feel like it used to, an unused sack of meat used to sitting in front of a computer all day. I do have more energy throughout the day. So what's the secret? What does EA Sports Active 2 provide that the wonky elliptical or exercise DVDs doesn't? I'm not sure exactly. But I think it may be a combination of a great mix of exercises, stylized "pretty" environments, constant encouragement, oh and trophies. I'm a sucker for them. The thing with Active 2 is the fact that every trophy in the game is potentially obtainable, but you just need to work at it. Just like any other game. Except with this game, you get to move around.

The PS3 version comes with 3 motion sensors that you strap to your right leg and one on each arm. One of the motion sensors also includes a heart rate monitor. When the game loads up you are greeted with a stylized, lush southwestern exercise ranch. Beautiful steppes, vibrant green soccer fields, rolling mountain bike trails, waterfalls. A Utopian exercise retreat. Watching the opening I was excited to start exercising so that I could see how much of these varying locations would be utilized. Off the bat however, the game sorta hit a brick wall. Creating your in game exercise avatar wasn't the most intuitive. The menu system just isn't that well thought out, sort of. By sort of I mean, once you've created your exercise avatar the game then brings you to the meat of the game. Starting an exercise program is the first option selected. Once you do that you get the option to alter the specific challenges for that day's workout or to simply start the "game". If you want to go back and adjust your avatar, or any other aspect of your routine, you have to navigate to an Options menu that isn't obvious.

Active 2 offers a three week program to get intimidated users active with a light to moderate routine of exercises. There is also a nine week program. Additionally you can create your own combination of exercise challenges if you want to focus more closely on a specific part of the body. I've completed the three week program and have started the nine week challenge. Back to the menu issues I mentioned above. When you first create your exercise avatar you also get to select who will be your trainer. You can select from a woman or a man. Initially I chose the male trainer because the menu seemed to imply that the male trainer would focus more on muscle training whereas the female trainer would focus more on aerobic training. I hate aerobics. But once I finished the three week program I wanted to see if there was indeed a difference with the two trainers so I dug into the cryptic menu and found where I could change my trainer. So far the only real difference in trainers is now I have a nice cyber ass to stare at.

The three week and nine week programs let you select which days of the week to exercise. From there each day targets a different type of exercises--legs, heart, arms etc. Each routine starts out with four warm ups and ends with four cool down exercises. The challenges in between range from lunges, push ups, crunches, arm curls (using a provided exercise rubber band) to the more creative challenges of soccer head butting, boxing, mountain biking and mountain boarding. Oh and running. Stationary running. Knee lift running, foot kick running, sprinting and long extended running. If I wanted to go running I'd go outside and do that. Fortunately the running makes sense for the most part so I just accept it and feel a bit like a tool jogging in place. The one motivator (two actually) is keeping the trainer behind me, and know that eventually I will get a trophy for running (something like 600 miles--daunting when you think about it as a sole endeavor but combined with all the other challenges, just something that will come naturally).

I really enjoy most of the challenges. Boxing is fun, soccer is fun (both goal tending and head butting), mountain biking almost feels like you're zooming down a hill, timing it just right to hop over a "killer" rock. Mounting boarding is sorta like taking a skate board with monster truck tires out on the same type of path as the biking but there are rails to grind and point bubbles to collect.

My only gripe with any and all of the activities and challenges is that every once in a while the motion sensors don't accurately detect motion. For example there are bent arm side plank exercises where you lay on your side, propped up on your arm, and you raise your waist so that your body becomes a straight plank. Unfortunately the damn motion sensor doesn't always register when you raise your waist. Two things happen. The game "positively" encourages you to try the exercise repeatedly and it doesn't stop until you get the exercise right. The second thing that happens is I spout expletives at the damn trainer because it's fucking obvious to me that I've raised my waist and I'm struggling like hell to keep my straight plank position. When this happens I end up jiggling the motion sensor until it recognizes that it indeed has moved and I'm in the correct position. My other gripe with the motion sensor is when it identifies that it is moving even if I'm not. For example certain lunges and squats require you to stay in the squat or lunge position and hold it for a few seconds. I don't mind holding the position. What gets me to spout off another round of expletives is when the trainer thinks I've popped back up out of the squat or lunge early. Again the game won't continue until I've held the pose for what ever the given duration is. This is a minor quibble but something that does happen probably once a week during the various exercises.

Overall I've really enjoyed my morning routine of waking up groggy, firing up the PS3 and getting Active. This is a well designed game to keep folks healthy as long as you maintain the dedication and drive. Today is my day of rest during my new nine week routine. While I'd like to say that I'm actually resting, I would be a liar. Instead I get to be more active because of the great snowpocalypse that is covering most of the country right now.

Good bye old, hello new

noreply@blogger.com (Freemantim) — Sat, 01 Jan 2011 15:21:00 +0000

With a new year upon us now I wanted to take a few minutes a reflect on last year's gaming as well as what I am looking forward to this year.

There are several games that I have played in the last part of the year that I haven't had a chance to discuss the are certainly worthy of mentioning.

The first one that comes to mind is Pac-Man Championship Edition DX. This little downloadable gem takes a classic tweaks everything to make a new classic. The idea is that while you are gobbling up the little white dots you WANT the ghosts to start chasing you. The white dots are placed throughout the board in a direct path near sleeping ghosts. As you move past them they wake up and begin to chase you. Collecting all of the dots and fruit on one side of the board makes the opposite side of the board change the shape of the maze and puts down a new series of dots and sleeping ghosts. The payoff comes when you have a nice long chain of ghosts behind you and hit the power pellet. Suddenly that train of ghosts becomes a smorgasbord of edible delights for Pac-Man, chaining bonus points together for a huge scoring run. There are several different visual styles that are available as well as new maze patterns that unlock. The one thing I don't care for entirely is the way the leader board is implemented. Sure it lets you view global stats, your position in the global standings, and the leader board lets you see how well your friends are doing in the game. The friend leader board doesn't include your own points, so you have to switch back and forth between your global view and the friend view in order to see how you are ranked among friends. In game music is a collection of trance grooves that help set the tone and adjusts as the timer on each board counts down. This is definitely a must have game.

Another great downloadable title is Marvel Pinball from Zen Studios.

First off the pinball boards are unique for each character--Wolverine, Spider-Man, Iron Man, and Blade. Each board has themes, villains, etc that stay true to the comic book characters. Effects within each board are unique to either the hero or villain as well. One that really stands out is when Mysterio activates his mind control against Spider-Man and the flippers work in an opposite fashion, pressing the R1 activates the left flippers and pressing L1 activates the right ones. Such a devious twist. Blade's board is pretty cool as it cycles between night and day and the board is lit with an almost black light/neon sheen while in the night mode. I wouldn't have picked Blade as one of the initial Marvel characters, but I suppose that if they had put him in as a second choice to buy later, no one would pay for it. Battles between the heroes and villains unlock as you hit the ball into various ramps, the problem with that though is the random physics based nature of a round heavy ball, rubber bumpers, and varying velocity of said ball. Sometimes getting the ball to go to the same place three or four times in a row can be a challenge. One thing that is typical with Zen Studio boards is the fact that if you build up multipliers with one ball and you lose the ball, the multiplier also goes away. Building up a high score can be a challenge if you don't have patience. One flaw I could put to the game is that there are almost too many things going on with each board. This can make trying to figure out where to try and shoot the ball very difficult. The ball zooms around very quickly and trying to keep an eye on the ball as well as read the various messages on the board at the same time can make it hard to figure out what is being tasked during any given challenge. Zen Studios also allows you the option to view the board 7 different ways, which can be a blessing and a curse. One view may be good for one play style, but with so many options it can be a pain to figure out which view is best for each board.

One of the coolest aspects of the game is the meta game that has been added. As you play the boards and increase your score you increase your Hero score. If you have friends that have the game, their Hero score adds to yours for a Hero Squad score. They have a few trophies tied simply to the Squad score, so for anyone who wants to get all the trophies has to have a few friends that play and are really good. The only gold trophy is tied to having 5000 Hero Squad points.

Another neat feature is the multiplayer option. Basically 4 people are playing at once and the game ends once one player gets to 10 million. Each time you lose a ball you have 5% removed from your score so it pays to not lose the ball. A little meter shows where the other 3 players are in relation to reaching the 10 million so you can gauge how close you are to winning or losing. This MP allows for random players to battle for points against each other or you can invite people on your FL. The game also allows you to chat via the PS Eye, but in the few MP games that I've played so far I've only seen one person actually using their cam.

Zen has hinted that the next few boards will have some pretty cool additions, Hulk, Captain America, Fantastic Four and Ghost Rider. Hopefully those boards aren't too expensive.

Overall the game has a deep challenging level of game play for anyone who wants to get a really high score, but if you just want to play a good pinball game, the boards also allow for a fun quick distraction.

Another fine downloadable game that is worth playing is Joe Danger from Hello Games.

Sure I'm late the table on talking about this game, but this is a title that is worthy of picking up even now. The idea behind Joe Danger is simple. Race on a motorcycle performing stunts and jumps on various tracks. The tracks include several mini-challenges that make re-play on this title a joy. One run through may be an exercise in finishing under a certain time. Another run may be to land on all of the large targets, or collect mini blue stars. Controlling the motorcycle is what makes the game so much fun. R2 to accelerate, L2 to go in reverse, Square to crouch or bunny hop depending on the obstacle you are racing toward. While in the air you can spin the bike by moving the left stick left or right and Joe will do crazy flipping loops. Crash and the game starts you immediately back at the last check point, no long load times--which makes this game so easy to replay just to try and get that one last trick star or get a better time.

Once each race is complete a status screen loads to show what you have completed on that run. Additionally the stats screen loads up scores for everyone on your friends list. This game gives you that competitive drive to see just how many of your friends you can top or wonder just how in the hell they got such high scores.

Another great feature in this game is the ability to record your game progress and then upload it to Youtube for Internet bragging rights.

I look forward to see another batch of great downloadable games this year. The problem with downloadable games is typically the developers don't have the same marketing budget to announce their forthcoming games so a hidden gem is hard to find out about until the title has been released. The same can't be said for disc based games. 2011 is looking to be one of the biggest years for PlayStation 3 gaming. Here's a list of Sony exclusive stuff that is coming out this year:

Little Big Planet 2

Killzone 3

Motorstorm 3

inFamous 2

Resistance 3

Ico/Shadow of the Colossus HD re-make

Uncharted 3

The Last Guardian

DC Universe Online

Add to that list games that will be (or already have been) released for both 360 and PS3 and you may just go broke:

Mass Effect 2

Mass Effect 3

Dead Space 2

Batman Arkham City

Dragon Age 2

Rage

I'm looking forward to several games on this list and hope to bring you my thoughts in a more timely manner than last year. 2011 is going to be a great year for gaming.

Santa and the Culling

noreply@blogger.com (Freemantim) — Sun, 12 Dec 2010 16:31:00 +0000

I hate Christmas.

Let me clarify.

I hate retail Christmas.

I don't mind spending time in church, listening to carols, driving through neighborhoods to look at houses decked out in lights. But I hate what retail has done to Christmas. This coming from someone who isn't overly church-going. I follow Christian tenants, encourage my children to do the same, but I don't attend church every week.

Yesterday my family (my wife and after much prodding, all three children) tackled cleaning out kiddie toys in the basement. The culling as my wife put it. We aren't finished but we have gotten a huge swath of toys sorted, bagged, and processed (either for donation or garbage). During the process there was much, "I want to keep that", "What was that from?", "Oh look it's the kid's first X", etc. Along with those sentiments there were several tears shed by my youngest. The tears could have been from her seeing part of her childhood being bagged up and given away, or from a bit of a cold that she is fighting. Our society is very much a "give me what I want", "that's mine", self centered culture. Mostly due to Television and the constant barrage of the cool new thing. My family has fallen into that societal shift. The evidence of that is currently in my basement where there are seven rubber tubs now empty of what used to be stuffed animals, dolls, play sets, etc. I have three full 30 gallon sized garbage bags full of old toys ready for donation, a banquet table covered with play sets too big to fit into large garbage bags, and eight 15 gallon sized bags full of trash. Why? Seriously. Why do we have so much crap?

Santa. The big red man. The fascination of all that is new and exciting on television. And the idea that we don't want to disappoint our children.

So here's the crux of my posting today. Financially we aren't bad, but we also aren't in the position to give the kids everything they want. We've gotten them one or two things that should get use for more than the brief time that television says the items are "cool". But my question is do I bother getting that one more thing to perpetuate the myth of Santa? My kids are a hard sell. My 12 year old is pretty much a shoe-in for knowing the truth. My 10 year old is a different beast. He is still certain that if he had swallowed his last loose tooth, the Tooth Fairy would've hunted down that tooth in the sewers to retrieve it in order to pay him his coin. If he asks for something that is completely out of the picture, the of course I let him know that it isn't going to happen. He will coolly reply, "Santa will bring it then". I think that he is simply playing us to see who will flinch first and admit the big red man is none other than his parents. Sadly my 8 year old is the one I worry about. At her age she hasn't developed enough of style that isn't stolen directly from the garbage marketing on TV, but she does have her own unique tastes which are more refined and adult than her 8 year old body belies. Of course you can't just buy a gift for one kid and say it is from Santa and not get the other two something as well.

So the dilemma that I'm dealing with is whether or not to be up front with the kids and say, "Santa isn't real" (in terms of a big dude in a red suit) and shatter the coming weeks? Or should I give the whole retail monster more to perpetuate a lie for one more year? Or one final option, talk one on one with the kids to gauge their beliefs and then succumb to either of the first two choices?

Just curious what your thoughts are about this. Am I the only one wrestling with trying to not disappoint my children during this time of year without going completely broke?

Things to do without a PS3

noreply@blogger.com (Freemantim) — Wed, 17 Nov 2010 04:49:00 +0000

I got home on Friday last week after a long day of work to find my PS3 no longer able to boot. I went to boot up the console with one of my Dual Shock 3 controllers and heard the familiar beep and whirl of the fan and then a sharp beep beep and then nothing. Huh. So I pressed the power button again and nothing. A flash of panic hit me. I pressed the button again and saw the green light come on, the familiar fan whirling to life and then saw the green light flash yellow and then begin to blink slowly red. Poof. Gone. Dead. Just like that.

I bought my PS3 12/7/07. I know this because I still have my receipt from Toys R Us. $499.99 80 GB Motorstorm bundle edition. I remember that Christmas fondly. I agreed to not hook up the console until Christmas time. The PS3 sat in the box under a garbage bag stashed under my desk in my office in the basement in my house for two weeks. It taunted me. On Christmas morning I opened the console gift and tried to act like some of the kids you see on Youtube, over reacting when they open their first console. My kids (at that time were a bit too young to really appreciate my overreaction) got a little excited by my antics but were more excited by their own toys.

When we bought the PS3 back in '07 I agreed to get the extended warranty. I never do that. The 42" HD TV that the PS3 is hooked up to doesn't have the extended warranty. I think the reason I got one at the time though was the whole 360 RROD fiasco was starting to make waves and, at that time, I was the only one I knew that owned (or planned on owning) a PS3. So it was uncharted territory and who knew (at the time at least) whether buying an extended warranty was worth it. Fortunately I took the sucker bet and paid for the extended warranty.

Honestly though I don't really know what to expect from the PS3 being repaired. Every account I've read about the YLOD problem hitting PS3s has ended with a less than promising outcome. Repairs may fix the console for a few months, but then soon the same symptoms creep back and then I could be facing a dead console again. Not something I'm looking forward to. In the meantime what do I find myself doing sans PS3?

Going to sleep earlier in the evening. Sitting on the couch upstairs with the rest of the family watching dreadful kid-centric shows. I borrowed the original Halo from my brother-in-law and have started to play it on an Xbox that I got from a former co-worker. Watch a little more TV. Basically nothing I wouldn't be doing if I had the PS3 sitting back on the shelf in my entertainment rack. But it's just a void of something that has become a fairly integral part of my life.

When I packed it up on Saturday I couldn't help but feel like I was sending away a part of me and when it comes back, it won't be quite the same. I guess I find myself looking in on a culture that I have been a part of for the last three years and suddenly feel left out. Tuesdays are the day the PSN store updates. Several interesting items or out this week. Of course I can't partake in the fun this week. All I can do is hope the repairs go quickly and my console can be sent back without any major delays. It would be great if my PS3 was back in my house before Thanksgiving, but I'm not holding my breath.

In the meantime....well....there's always board games and actually spending quality time with my family.

Spider Man Shattered Impressions

noreply@blogger.com (Freemantim) — Thu, 30 Sep 2010 03:37:00 +0000

Last night I posted two tweets after playing the new Beenox developed Spider-Man Shattered Dimensions. They weren't exactly positive comments about the game. I don't regret tweeting them but I got a polite DM today asking to clarify my comments. Since it has been a long time since I've actually posted anything worthwhile here I figure I would expand on my experience with the game.

I haven't played any past solo Spider-Man games, but I have played X-Men Legends II: Rise of Apocalypse, Marvel Ultimate Alliance and MUA 2 as well as forming my early years nose buried in too many Marvel comics to list. I try to avoid reading too much about a game I want to play for fear of it skewing my feelings before getting to actually play, but I have skimmed one or two reviews to get the sense that SMSD has a lot of good but a few points that keep the game from being a game of year contender.

The story boils down to a tablet being destroyed on accident by Spider-Man and he must retrieve all of the pieces that have been scattered across the four different dimensions. Each dimension is designed around the four "types" of Spider-Man, Amazing, Noir, 2099, and Ultimate. Each dimension has a unique art style and a unique addition with regards to combat. Split into three acts, with one level for each dimension per act, game play is varied enough to keep the game from feeling repetitive. That's not to say that game play isn't repetitive, but by spacing out the dimensions they don't feel completely the same level after level.

Additionally as you battle the various bad guys, you can earn Spider Essence by tying combat combos together or finding silver or gold (or hidden) spiders. Spider Essence is then used to buy upgrades for combat perks or character perks. These perks are unlocked by completing Web of Destiny challenges that are defined for each level. The more challenges you complete, the more perks you have to buy. The challenges range from finding X number of spider, to defeating X number of bad guys, or performing level specific feats in a given time. The challenges give each level an added depth that could be viewed as an opportunity for re-playability or (in my case) an OCD player's dream or nightmare (depending on how good the game is). Fortunately I found the challenges worthwhile and their context worked well in each level. As challenges are completed the perks unlock alternating between combat and character which is great way to compel a player to finish challenges as the next best combat upgrade may not be available until you've unlocked character perks. The challenge then faced by a player is where to spend the Spider Essence. My only gripe with combat unlocks are the descriptions or rather the lack of description of when to best use the perk. I should clarify that my gripe about the unlockable combat moves is the fact that it is fairly hard to distinguish between moves even with a snippet of animation on the combat perk screen showing what the move should look like when successfully performed. Perhaps this is my own failing as a gamer to be able to know what a two triangle combo attack should look like versus a three triangle combo attack, but I think that it has more to do with the animation chaining the moves together becoming muddled and thus hard to know what has been registered by my input (or not) and what is actively being performed in the game at any given moment. Overall combat feels good, but trying to chain combos can be a bit of a pain if you want to get the most Spider Essence to buy all of the perks.

As I mentioned earlier each dimensional Spider-Man has a unique type of combat which is built upon by the perks (some perks are shared across all four dimensions while some are dimension specific). In the Amazing levels, combat benefits from chaining the bigger combos. The problem I have with this is while Spider-Man can target an enemy, the target doesn't "lock". If a chain starts, one of two things happens, either the enemy dies early in the combo hopefully a second or third enemy is close enough to take damage as well OR the combo continues with no enemy to receive the devastating attacks and Spider-Man is seen bashing at the ground with great gusto while the rest of the enemies line up behind him to take their turn at trying to squash him like a bug. Or a third thing happens, enemies shield themselves from the attack and no matter how much damage is dished out, the bad guy will stand there and take it. There are ways to quickly hop over the defensive enemy but the trick then is to successfully turn around to hit the bad guy while his back is still turned to you once you've hopped over them. Because of an overuse of enemies with shields in the later Amazing levels and no truly special attack (rather just brute force) I found myself playing through the Amazing dimensions as if they were a chore rather than a game.

The special abilities that the Amazing levels lack are put to mostly good, fun use in the other three dimensions. Comparisons of the Noir dimension levels to the entire game Batman Arkham Asylum are unavoidable. Stealth, moving through shadows, quick zip kicks from one stalking point to another, and silent take downs all feel similar to Batman. They say that imitation is a sincere form of flattery. I would agree. As long as the imitation is handled without a complete 1 to 1 copy. Also it helps if that imitation works as intended. Beenox puts enough of their own touches on the stealth mechanic that I found myself enjoying the Noir levels far more than the Amazing levels. My only complaint with the Noir levels deals with if Spider-Man is detected. Every goon near Spider-Man immediately starts shooting (with better accuracy than you'd expect from the sheer volume of street thugs who inhabit the levels) and if you're not quick enough you'll find yourself dead in seconds and facing a restart from the last checkpoint. Fortunately the quick zip escape mechanic works fairly well. Add to the escape, severely lazy bad guys who may rush to the last known location only to quickly rush right back to their designated guarding spot and you can typically escape and hide in the shadows long enough to recharge your health. The recharging health is one thing that I wish was applied across all of the dimensions, but for obvious reasons if it was in all of the dimensions the game would then end up being all about starting a fight, getting hurt, running away to recharge health and then continue the good fight. At least in the Noir levels hiding in the shadows fits with the rest of how Spider-Man would act.

2099 and Ultimate dimensions handle the special combat moves in similar fashions. In 2099 pressing the L1 button triggers a "bullet time" type of effect where all combatants slow down and give you a better chance of defeating large quantities of bad guys. In the Ultimate dimension L1 triggers the symbiotic tentacles of rage which basically causes Spider-Man to go medieval on bad guys in the same way you'd expect Wolverine or Hulk to cut through wave after wave of bad guys. Once the combat perks and Ultimate specific perks have been sufficiently built up I have to say that my favorite levels are playing with the Ultimate Spider-Man. There is something satisfying about going into a rage, see sybiotic spikes shoot out in every direction which then causes all of the bad guys around to go flying to their doom. Unfortunately the 2099 ability just doesn't help. Sure it would slow down enemies, but it also felt like Spider-Man was not moving any faster and any sort of input applied to the controller felt like it was being delayed along with all of the enemies. One thing that I don't understand from a design stand point is why the Rage could only be activated if the rage bar was filled completely but the 2099 "accelerated vision" could be activated whenever there is any amount filled in the bar.

Now the whole point of my writing this post stems from my complaint of how ineffective the "accelerated vision" is implemented specifically in the final boss fight. Through the previous 2099 levels, Spider-Man finds himself free falling, needing to dodge various objects (elevators, moving cars, explosive barrels, etc) to maintain his speed so that he can catch up to the various bosses within those levels. If during the free fall Spider-Man doesn't dodge the various objects damage is applied but the free fall sections don't last for any real length of time. The accelerated vision even helps to some extent with being able to dodge objects. None of this can be said about the 2099 section of the final boss fight. While it feels like Spider-Man is supposed to be free falling to Mysterio (who is sending out pulses of ringed energy that must be dodged) it feels more like a really long drawn out anime pan/zoom effect with lots of action lines flashing to make it feel like movement. Adding to the ringed pulse energy that must be dodge, Mysterio also shoots out purple energy blobs which also need to be avoided. The problem though is the rings and blobs start flying at Spider-Man in such quick succession that dodging fully becomes impossible. Activating the "accelerated vision" doesn't help either. Sure the rings and blobs have slowed down, but so has Spider-Man's reactions. Even if you think that you've managed to dodge a ring or a blob the game thinks that you have not and registers damage and applies the full body damage animation which then cause Spider-Man to change his positioning which opens him up to hitting even more rings or blobs or both, quickly reducing your health to nothing. This event occurs three times. Or I'm assuming it occurs only three times. I gave up.

I'm so close to finishing the game, but I absolutely cannot tolerate how bad this last section of the game is. Sure I may come back to this section of the game at a later date the same way that I finally beat Radec in Killzone 2 almost 5 or 6 months after becoming so frustrated with one little, minor section of a game. I don't understand how a good game can be so tarnished by one small section. How does something like this not getting tested, focus grouped or QA'd? Maybe it's because I'm an old man....I don't think that is it since I managed to play through even the less than great sections of the game without a severe urge to hurl my controller through my TV.

Visually Shattered Dimensions has so much going right for it, Four distinct art styles. Unique areas to find each level in. Fun voice acting. The story has a great balance between being a video game story and a comic book story. Did I have fun while playing the game? Most of time. Where there glitches? Yes. Once my PS3 rebooted after I got stuck re-playing a civilian rescue/escort mission during one of the Ultimate levels. I also found that some of the escort missions would see themselves as being completed without having to restart from the last check point. Not a great thing, but not a total deal breaker. With lots to OCD/obsessively collect, the game has some great things going for it. If you can tolerate little nuisances this is definitely a fun game to play. Just don't expect to have any fun playing the last level.

Little Big Planet 2

noreply@blogger.com (Freemantim) — Fri, 06 Aug 2010 01:08:00 +0000

I feel a bit obliged to post the new trailer for Little Big Planet 2 from Media Molecule because I post the announcement trailer a few months ago and because I haven't posted anything else in a while. (Dreadful thing having a summer full of gaming and chasing kids around--joking of course)

All joking aside here is the latest trailer for LBP2, which gives us the impression that the new game won't just be a whole new game engine to learn and build our own levels from, but a full 50 new MM created games. How can you not like Sackboy?

The Good, The Bad (Ass), and the Ugly

noreply@blogger.com (Freemantim) — Fri, 21 May 2010 14:24:00 +0000

I've been a fan of Rockstar games for a long time. I thoroughly enjoyed Max Paine (one of the few PC games at that time that I played through to the end--ignoring family that had come to visit during Christmas). But what really got me hooked was when I picked up GTA: Vice City back in the summer of 2003 for the PC. The sandbox feel, the music, the missions, the gritty story with lots of dark humor. This was my type of game.

GTA San Andreas really expanded on the notions that I loved in Vice City, with three distinct cities to unlock and explore. The sheer size of the state of San Andreas was mind boggling but awesome. There were many nights where I'd simply get into a car and drive, just to find random things to jump off of and listen to the fantastic variety of music.

GTA 4 came out 2 years ago and I was again drawn back into the new world that had been created. So much time was spent re-creating a living breathing video game version of New York City, that you couldn't help but want to spend time just messing around with all of the various modes of transport. Car, truck, motorcycle, helicopter and to even some extent subway cars. The city was vast and ripe for exploring and exploiting. I've played through the game two times (the first time I played through without trophies and a second time more recently to try and earn what I could before the next big Rockstar title would consume my play time).

The Good.

That of course is Red Dead Redemption. A western tale crafted by the folks at Rockstar in the manner in which they know best. Open world sandbox with so many things to do that trying each one you find a new favorite past time each night. The single player story revolves around John Marston who previously was a wild west gang member turned legit, trying to perform services to help clear his past and ensure a better future for his wife and child. Marston is a mix of old world cowboy faced with the modern technological society trying to educate and civilize a part of the world that perhaps is better off not being brought into modernity.

The Bad Ass

As I've mentioned above, Rockstar's draw (at least for me) is their ability to craft a world so richly detailed with random people, events, animals, and everything else under the sun. The beauty of this world is the fact that you can do pretty much anything you want without actually playing the story. I've played a little over 3 hours of single player and have done only 7 story related missions. The rest of the time I've spent roaming the world, hunting wild life, playing poker, and playing horseshoes. For a game that comes from a company that puts out such wonderful stories you may be asking, why then are you not playing for the story? The answer is simple. There are so many little things to do that flesh out the world to complement the story that it is easy to get lost in the little things. Riding horses is clumsy at first, but once you get the hang of it, then it becomes second nature and you have to wonder why no one has been able to bring this type of game to the masses before (Of course there have been several attempts--but nothing before now on the current gaming consoles). Shooting is very natural, plus add the Dead Eye (think slow-mo bullet time) feature and you can be a very deadly wild west gunman. Random encounters in the wild from prairie folk asking for help, running from bandits, hunting game, each event feels fresh and unique and deftly created. So much of this is what makes the game more than just a single player game. Plus all of the free play activities available in the single player game are in the multi player side of the game as well.

The Ugly

Rockstar has traditionally focused on single player gaming. When San Andreas came out there were mods available to get multi player working much to the enjoyment of many gamers. Then GTA 4 was released with multi player features baked right in. The evolution has seen great strides in what a player can do in both single player and multi player functionality with each Rockstar game. One of the most tauted features of Red Dead Redemption is the ability to "posse" up with 7 other players and then wreck havoc with all of your friends. First night of multi player mayhem, I joined up with members from BPC to have fun and suddenly I can't see my character. Oh. There's my character, but where's my horse? Oh. There's my horse, but where's my character? There's his hat and his gun....WTF is attacking me? There's nothing there?

Sadly this was the reality the first two nights of playing RDR online. Either the models would appear and then disappear or folks in your posse would be disconnected without being kicked from the PSN. Here are a few examples of what I'm talking about.

At this point Rockstar has fixed the issue. Which is fortunate. Who likes to look at ugly when there is so much beauty with the rest of the game?

While the game has some fairly graphic blood (during the skinning of animals especially), a fair amount of foul language (to be expected from Rockstar) and lots of gun fights, this game won't be for everyone. But if you want to experience a grand vision of beautiful landscapes, awesome story telling and addictive mini games, do yourself a favor and pick up Red Dead Redemption asap!

Little Big Planet 2 announced!

noreply@blogger.com (Freemantim) — Mon, 10 May 2010 13:10:00 +0000

I have been getting back into the groove of Little Big Planet. Recently I have created a new level that recreates the events from Fallout 3 that earn you the gold trophy "The Bigger They Are..." where you have to kill 4 Super Mutant Behemoths.

This morning Media Molecule has released the trailer for Little Big Planet 2.

After playing so many hours of the original, I can't help be be excited for this new sequel. The video says that all of the original user created levels work with the new one. That is good news.

Personally I'm more curious to see how much more they have put into the creation tutorial side of things. While there are plenty of user forums and home made videos giving explanations on how to create the more complex stuff, I can't help but wonder how much Media Molecule will add of their own.

The video also highlights how users can create whole stories. The original Little Big Planet tried to do this with the Community Key that you can create and add to each level. My experience with this though is that user generated levels tended to lump all of their keys in at once instead of stringing levels along. Maybe this new implementation will make that more intuitive.

One of the best "upgrades" to come to Little Big Planet is the ability to see each created level in it's own webpage. The ability to view information about levels while away from the PS3 and add them to your own queue to play at a later date is a huge success. One of the biggest disadvantages to the current Little Big Planet is the fact that once you create a level you are at the whim of the community to find the level in game. Sure you can promote the title on forums etc, but the ability to link to each level individually is probably the best thing that could happen to user created content in this game. Hopefully the initial deployment of this infrastructure doesn't buckle as soon as the new game is released and everyone rushes at once to see their own levels on line.

I'm sure that more of this game will be revealed at E3 next month. Stay tuned.

And now for something completely different

noreply@blogger.com (Freemantim) — Fri, 07 May 2010 15:36:00 +0000

As some of you readers know I used to work for Barnes and Noble. You could even say that was my first career. Starting my way in the company as a receiver for the Evanston, IL store, moved to the Grosse Pointe, MI store, transferred to the Scottsdale, AZ store and then eventually back to the Grosse Pointe store. In each store and throughout the years I held several different jobs titles. Receiver (or as some have likened it, the SSRD--Supervisor of Shipping and Receiving Department), department lead for Religion, Art, Travel, Business, and Computers, lead cashier (such a horrid job) and then my final role, Magazine lead. The last role was great. Each day was like Christmas. New boxes of magazines to open and sort and put out onto the shelves, old ones to strip and count and send back. My own little ecosystem of magazines. Stuff you'd never think was out there would end up in a box for me to put on the shelf. With all the love I had for the job I could never find enough time to read the stuff I wanted to read.

I'm a gamer so of course I'd read through a ton of gaming mags. I love movies, so I'd also dedicate some time to a handful of movie magazines that weren't Entertainment Weekly or Premiere. I'd even spend some time with the guilty pleasure of Maxim or FHM (for the articles of course). The one type of magazine that always made my list of intended reading was fiction. That was always the complaint while working at the Pit--er Barnes and Noble. So much to read and so little time to read it. While I've read some of the bigger names that fall into the genre of fantasy and science fiction, I know that I'm also not the most well read. I've read some of the greater works, Tolkien, Clarke, Moorecock, Zahn and in the last few years Martin's Song of Fire and Ice.

Fiction in a magazine always felt like a chore or an after thought for some reason. Why read a magazine for a story when I had literally thousands of books at my disposal? Perhaps it was the company layout I had to follow that sort of helped to cement that idea as well, with the fiction magazines relegated to the smallest, lowest, hardest to access section in the whole Periodicals display. One title that always struck me as a something I should read but never got around to reading was Fantasy and Science Fiction.

Well after three years of no longer working for at Barnes and Noble, I finally have had my opportunity to read the magazine. Hilary Goldstein from IGN had posted on Facebook that he was going to have one of his stories published and the magazine was offering free advance copies for those who wanted to read and then write about it. As the folks who read my blog with any regularity know (and those who know me personally) I'm not the fastest reader (or rather I find other things to do before I allow myself time to read). I received the May/June issue and told myself that I needed to read as much as I could right away or I'd never get around to finishing it. Well I've read several of the stories and I'm now finally get around to writing about them. Since I heard about the offer from Goldstein I flipped through the magazine to read his story first.

As his comment on Facebook stated, "Spoilers: Snow White has an orgasm. How can you pass that up?" I was intrigued. "Seven Sins for Seven Dwarves" is a new spin on Snow White running from the huntsman tasked with killing her, and her finding and living with seven dwarves. When I read Maguire's Wicked I found that book to be a very interesting new take on the whole Oz story but my biggest problem with Maguire's retelling was a lack of humor. Because of that lack of humor I have given up on wanting to read any of Maguire's other fairy tale re-imagings (included Mirror Mirror). That said, Goldstein nails the humor. Dark humor pervades the story. The line "If ever a bond between girl and dwarf could be forged, it was with moderate nudity" got me chuckling in the dark way that the rest of story unfolds. The dwarves are not the cute Disney fluff, rather they are ugly, grimy, untrusting souls bent on one task that they refuse to explain to Snow. Goldstein creates a fantastically morbid new view of the dwarves and Snow White. As Snow begins to clean and pick up after the dwarves she finds that each dwarf has a locked chest in front of their beds. Snow is drawn to one in particular and is tantalized by whispers and sensations emanating from the chest. The dwarves rush in to find Snow mounted over the particular chest in the throws of ecstasy in what could be described as her first introduction to the equivalent of an archaic Sybian (if you want to know what that is, look it up yourself).

Snow quickly realizes that each chest contains the demon embodiment of the original Seven Deadly sins. Through confrontation between Snow and the lead dwarf Unus, Goldstein weaves a wonderful explanation of vanity and hubris between human and dwarven kind. With each section in the tale, Goldstein unveils more and more details to deliver a thought provoking tale on the origins of the seven deadly sins. My only complaint is the world that Goldstein creates is so rich but so tightly focused on Snow and the dwarves that I want to see more in additional tales.

Another favorite story in the May/June issue "Why That Crazy Old Lady Goes Up the Mountain" by Michael Libling. Libling crafts a tale of God and reliving past lives in such an amazing world. His characters Sarah and Kevin clash and love at the same time in such a great way as they discover their own pasts. The key to the story however is how Libling kills God and puts such a beautiful burden on Kevin and his family. The abilty to obsorb souls that are damned to Earth after God has died and are drawn to the burial ground is pure magic. As Sarah learns from Kevin how he knows everything about her past, she discovers her own addiction to allowing the souls to overtake herself to relive other lives. The conceit of God dying and trapping souls would only go so far without the danger that Libling deftly weaves in between the tale of Sarah and Kevin. Sarah is first depicted as an unobtainable, cold young woman who dealing with the death of both parents, but by the end of the tale, I felt love and sorrow for all that she learns and endures. Her eye opening worldly embrace of Kevin in such a short time is believable and works on levels of joy and sadness when the danger of their lives being torn apart becomes real. Libling writes a wonderfully magical tale that, like Goldstein, makes me wish they would write more in their respective worlds.

But that is what is so magical about the magazine Fantasy and Science Fiction. Each story is so completely realized in such a focused tale that they are perfect for the format of the magazine. My only regret is not reading the magazine sooner. Will I be picking up future issues? You bet. Do yourself a favor and go to your favorite bookshop now and get the latest issue. Read it and if you think I'm wrong, let me know.

Rock Band....now in LEGO

noreply@blogger.com (Freemantim) — Sun, 11 Apr 2010 12:28:00 +0000

The core game is nothing more than Rock Band. Story Mode unlocks new venues by earning LEGO studs instead of money as well as earning fans and stars (based on the performance of each song played).

Each new venue is unlocked by buying a unique vehicle (that becomes more and more extravagant as your band gains popularity). In addition to the new vehicles for each venue, a specific challenge is unlocked as you earn more stars. The specific challenge then opens with the iconic Travelers Tales LEGO humor and character work, in which you either battle ghosts (aptly playing Ray Parker Jr's Ghostbusters) or recharge an alien ship's power source (playing Europe's Final Countdown) without the benefit of using the Overdrive boost. Each new set piece is a great creation to look at, unfortunately there aren't enough different audience member models or skins so after a few sets the rocking hordes of fans look very plastic and drone like (perhaps intentional given the source material--but compared to Rock Band 1 & 2 is very noticeable and someone disappointing).

When songs are completed, studs are earned which can then be spent on the band's clubhouse as upgrades. The clubhouse has a TV viewing area which allows you to re-watch unlocked cut scenes, a practice stage (for practicing of course), a music shop (which allows you to purchase better looking instruments--which unlock as songs are compeleted) as well as several other unique areas for hanging out doing what LEGO characters do best....act silly.

Along with buying new items for your clubhouse, you can hire members in your entourage. The entourage will boost fans and studs earned after each gig. The benefit of hiring all of the entourage members becomes apparent the further into the game. The tally screen at the end of each song takes longer and longer to count up the fans and studs earned as the bonus from each additional entourage member multiplies the number accordingly. The way that LEGO Rock Band implements the entourage makes a lot more sense than how hired help is utilized in Rock Band 1 and 2.

My biggest gripe and praise for LEGO Rock Band stem from the same thing. Song selection. If you were playing LEGO Rock Band without ever having played Rock Band 1 or 2 (or downloaded songs for those), then the song rotation in LRB becomes weak very quickly. However one of the greatest things about LRB is the fact that it recognizes most the library that you may have created by downloading songs for Rock Band 1 and 2 (or imported RB1 for RB2). This definitely gives LRB some additional milage.

As a music game LRB really shines for younger kids who want to play the game but may not have the co-ordination to play even on easy. Harmonix has added a Very Easy mode which to many veteran RB players would consider having all of the fun taken away, but for really young players who have taken a shine to the indomitable litte brick, this is a fantastic addition.

Fun for the whole family, LEGO Rock Band is a great game for trophy hunters as well. If you already have plastic instruments in the house (and kids as well), LEGO Rock Band is worth picking up.

Glorious Kratos

noreply@blogger.com (Freemantim) — Sun, 11 Apr 2010 11:40:00 +0000

It has been too long since I've posted anything about gaming or otherwise but I have to admit that my silly attempt at hunting trophies in February took a bit of a toll on my desire to game, track trophies, and write about my experiences all the while working and keeping up with my kids.

During the time since I last posted anything I have played through Modern Warfare 2, continued a second play through of Dragon-Age: Origins, rocked through LEGO Rock Band, visited the battlefield of Vasari in Killzone 2, destroyed the Secret Armory of General Knoxx and killed Zeus in God of War 3.

I have always been drawn to the iconic character of Kratos even before owning a PS3 (and of course not ever owning a PS2). Something visually menacing about the white ghost frame with the red battle tattoos has always drawn me to the character. In addition to the look of Kratos, add his Blades of Chaos and the sheer rage that bubbles out of Kratos with every attack and I can't help but get sucked into the Greek tragedy that is the God of War story.

Earlier this year I took to task the completion of the God of War Collection (re-mastered in HD for the PS3) and found myself really enjoying God of War 1. During my play through of GoW1 I won a copy of Bayonetta which arrived conveniently enough as I was finishing GoW1. Going into Bayonetta I wasn't quiet sure what to expect other than knowing it would be at minimum a button mashing experience like GoW1. As it turns out Bayonetta is a whole lot more than just button mashing. Rather Bayonetta is well tuned combat experience balancing button mashing combos and a fluid dodge mechanism that gives the Umbran witch the upper hand. Plowing through GoW1 and then Bayonetta, I had planned on going back to the Collection and complete the God of War 2 story so that the whole arc was fresh in my mind by the time God of War 3 came out.

Then something happened. I loaded up God of War 2, started the initial battle and realized two things. First off, my hands were tired of button mashing. Secondly, I wasn't inspired by Kratos. Perhaps it was the fact that I was expecting more from the second iteration of Kratos' story, figuring that the graphics would get a notch crisper and the story telling would be able to one up everything from GoW1. I think overall it had more to do with the fact that last gen gaming compared to current gen gaming, while solid on it's own, just doesn't have the same resonance when compared to the latest and greatest. Perhaps after playing Bayonetta and becoming used to that style of combat and defense I wanted more of that but in a different skin. Or perhaps I realized that even though Kratos looks cool, he is basically just an angry dick.

I turned to shooters and music for a bit to help erase the mindset of button mashing and angry war gods (a topic or two worth mentioning at a later date) but after chatting with a co-worker and listening to several podcasts I was determined to see if I was wrong about Kratos after all.

I admit that I did not go out and buy GoW3. I did buy several Slurpees to get the Kratos Dynamic theme for my XMB, but my feelings about GoW 3 kept me from dropping 60$ for a game that can essentially be finished in 10-12 hours.

Sliding the disc into the PS3, the game loads up quickly and immediately begins a gorgeously designed silhouetted recap of the events from the first two games. As with the second game, Kratos begins with his full powers but quickly has them stripped away in his initial confrontation with the gods he wishes to kill. I'll admit I'm a fanboy of the PS3 because of the rich visuals that can be created from the console. God of War 3 wastes no time in proving just how vast and awesome the graphics can be. The fidelity and depth of field that is conveyed in the initial battle as Kratos climbs up a the Titan Gaea while she is climbing up Mt. Olympus leaves you awestruck. So much rich texture and detail is moving across the screen at all times while the camera zooms from one battle to the next in quick succession showing just how huge the battle of Titans versus gods versus Kratos really is.

Camera work is masterfully handled allowing you to see everything important going on, long enough to grasp what is expected, and then pans along to the next objective, all the while the massive Titan is being rocked by water hydras, flaming boulders and swarms of arrows raining down. Epic. Truly epic.

As the initial jaw dropping moments wane, you finally start to appreciate the detail that has been given to Kratos. Whether the camera is zoomed in close to see individual pores, scars and sweat on Kratos' face or pulled back to the point where Kratos can only be identified by his flaming Blades of Chaos, every action that you give to Kratos just feels right. Jumping, attacking, dodging, Kratos moves with a determination that (to me at least) was lacking at the beginning of God of War 2.

Without giving too much away I feel that the developers at Santa Monica studio really took pride in every aspect to create such a rich game. Each environment feels unique and they take advantage of the power that the PS3 provides. A new element of game play is the head of Helios, which acts as a flashlight, flashbang grenade, and tool for revealing hidden treasures. Color lighting also is exceptional and is reminiscent of the light saber battle at the end of Star Wars Attack of the Clones.

In addition to the new Helios power, Kratos also collects additional weapons along the way that behave similarly to the Blades of Chaos but effect either the creatures you battle differently or help to remove obstacles in the environment. In the previous titles the additional weapons that Kratos picks up all feel secondary and almost unnecessary; however, the new weapons not only feel and act differently, but are definitely necessary to continue through environments and waves of enemies. When Kratos picks up Hercules' fists, they are needed for destroying shielded creatures as well as environmental amber crystals. The Claws of Hades summon various souls that are unlocked as the game progresses which act as a pet to help battle the waves of enemies. The Claws of Hades also are used to bring various specters out of a plane of existence that allows them to attack but not be attacked until sucked into the physical realm. Several other weapons are also obtained and can be accessed by either selecting them from the D-pad or by the newly mapped quick select (L1+X) which is a great addition to game and allows you to cycle through the available weapons while in the heat of battle without having to move your thumb from the left analog stick.

All of the great weapons and rich environments only take the game halfway to being a complete experience. As I mentioned above, after finishing God of War 1 and immediately jumping into 2, I quickly became disillusioned by Kratos' rage and need for vengeance. Something spoke to me fairly early into the game this time however and I think it was the performance by Rip Torn as Hephaestus. Torn's voice work is really strong and you can feel the sorrow Hephaestus has endured for so many years.

In addition to Torn's work as Hephaestus I was surprised by Kratos' reaction toward Pandora herself and his need to find and protect her (almost as a way to forgive himself for the slaughter of his own wife and daughter in GoW1) perhaps spoke to my fatherly instincts in a way that I wasn't expecting for a game that thrives on bloodshed and revenge. By the time Kratos reaches Pandora I had become completely sucked in and wanted to see how saving the young Pandora would help Kratos defeat the gods of Olympus.

Many have complained that the end of God of War 3 was a bit of cop out. While the battle between Kratos and Zeus isn't much different from any of the previous battles I was really impressed by the fact that moments within the battle were something you would find in classic Disney movies instead of (again) a game that thrives on bloodshed and revenge. Perhaps it is due to the power of the PlayStation, but the fact that Santa Monica studios broke up the end battle with a few minutes of pantomime shadow figures was something new and really added a touch of class that could have easily been skipped. To those who say that video games aren't art, I'd challenge them to play the final battle of Zeus and Kratos and say that that isn't art. Highly stylized and perfectly implemented, the final moments of the game really cap the story for all three games.

For as rich and creative the ending is, one of my biggest complaints with the game go back to the complaints that I have with GoW1. Some environmental puzzles in the games in the game are so completely ridiculous that they really take you out of the entire experience. First off, whoever thought putting a musical rhythm segment in should be put on a different project. While the idea of playing a refrain from the game's score to unlock the next part of the game is a cool idea, the overall design was bad. I don't want to play Rock Band in God of War, I want to kill, maim, and destroy enemies. Playing a mock pipe organ to unlock a puzzle using musical quick time moments really destroyed the moment for me.

My other big environmental complaint is during the labyrinth. There is a cube room in which enemies spawn to attack; all the while sections of the floor have spikes that pop up from the floor in a pattern of alternating corners of the floor, eventually popping up across the whole floor. While that puzzle doesn't sound bad, what makes it a horrible moment is the fact that when the entire floor becomes spikes, Kratos needs to latch onto a harpy that is flying above the room, but since there are many different enemies on the floor attacking, Kratos doesn't always latch on to the harpy to pull himself up in time resulting in insta-death. Making things worse is the fact that once you do latch onto a harpy, the cube room rotates and you drop down on to the new floor to face the same situation but with the floor spikes popping up in a different pattern. When you die you end up having to start over from the first floor again. This ranks right up there in the "Seriously, why the hell did anyone think that this was fun?" category. One of the on-disc documentaries shows Stig Asmussen (director for God of War 3) testing out a section during development and he comments (paraphrased) "This is not fun, but frustrating; I've already died four times and want to put the controller down." Obviously many iterations of various sections were tested and re-done, but to me the cube of death in the labyrinth was one section that needed to be baked a bit more.

Even though there are a few really rough moments in the game, I cannot say enough to really praise God of War 3. The game is a visual masterpiece. Obviously I'm not alone in thinking that the game is good as it has already sold over a million copies in less than a month of being released. While that's nothing compared to the dreck that is Modern Warfare 2, it says a lot about gamers wanting more than just a rehash of last year's shooter. God of War 3 is definitely a game that is not for kids (gory dismemberment, curb stomping deaths and jiggly boobs to name a few) but this is most certainly a showcase title that needs to be experienced by anyone who has ever called themselves a gamer.

Brutality of Bayonetta

noreply@blogger.com (Freemantim) — Sun, 28 Feb 2010 01:04:00 +0000

I finished Bayonetta earlier this week.

I enjoyed the game but feel like even though I've completed the story, the "game" is disappointed in my ability.

The story is crazy. I found myself getting caught up with the Bayonetta's quest to remember her past and was compelled to see how everything would become resolved. But I have to admit that I also felt like I would never finish some of the fights. Last week I tweeted that I found verse 5 in Chapter 6 to have one of the more difficult battles. I still stand by that. Any battle that has more than 2 lightning fast mobs swarming you on screen is going to automatically end with me either dying or wasting a Red Hot shot or a using one or more of the green lollies.

I started playing the game with a conservative view toward my ingredients (mostly because I didn't quite understand the benefits of the various lollies) but by the end of the game I was compelled to use everything at my disposal to get through each fight so that I could see how the story ended.

As I said the story is crazy (too crazy to try and recap or explain) suffice to say that as an Umbran witch Bayonetta realizes she has magnificent powers and recognizes that she has a destiny to use those powers to restore her memory and restore a wrong done to her some 500 years ago. Once you get that concept down the rest of the story is just a hoot to see how exactly every setting that is created fits without losing sight of the game's reality. The reality isn't William S. Burroughs skewed, but definitely makes you scratch your head at times, and laugh out loud at others.

The thing that has really grown on me about Bayonetta is just how much the game subtly forces you to learn how to play better. For every lolly that you use or death that you have (and continue) a penalty is applied to your score at the end of the level. Even with mostly golds, silvers or the random platinum won for each verse in a chapter I still had to use enough lollies or died to keep my score diminished to the point that I always got a Stone trophy at the end. At the end of the game a humbling chart shows how you did. A line of green trophies all across the chart is what I ended up.

By seeing the humbling chart and realizing how much of a penalty I was incurring at the end of each chapter I really want to go back through the game again and make sure that I get a better score but also purchase some of the better items.

My only real complaint with the game is it doesn't seem to know when to say enough is enough. Boss battles are creatively designed but once you face a boss they show up again and again in the later chapters. As if fighting the mobs weren't enough, "let's pile on more versions of the last boss from two levels ago". Maybe I was just trying to rush through so that I could find out the story, but I can't help but feel that there are just a few too many waves of enemies toward the end of the game.

Regardless of the quantity of enemies, the ride all along is an enjoyable one. Bayonetta is one game that really is surprisingly fun. One thing that I'd really like to see added to the game (although it would break the story) is the ability to have local co-op or at least local dual combat. If you get a chance to play I highly recommend it.

Thoughts on God of War 1

noreply@blogger.com (Freemantim) — Fri, 19 Feb 2010 17:34:00 +0000

So now that the glut of games that I received at Christmas had finally been parsed through I have gone back to God of War 1 in HD.

Maybe this is old news but God of War 1 is a fantastic game except for some horrendously awful points.

Combat is fluid and the degree of challenge increases naturally the further you progress. I love that. The animation of the chains flinging from Kratos' hand to demolish a mob is completely satisfying. The story told through the cut scenes are rich and worthwhile (even if they didn't re-render those for HD). The puzzles within the environments are fantastically crafted.

My big gripe for the whole game is jumping/navigating on narrow wooden beams. Seriously? Miss the jump by just a smidge and you fall to your death. Game Over. Walk a little too close to the spinning blades to get knocked off the beams. Game Over. Add to the frustration, no control over the camera to even figure out where the heck I'm supposed to be going and you end up with such a feeling of frustration after feeling so many highs from earlier moments in the game.

I understand games should be challenging. But game breaking, take you out of the experience, controller throwing, (potential TV destroying) designs just make me so mad. I love to support great game developers, but hate when something so blatantly bad keeps you from being able to successfully finish a game, and would I think developers should realize that something should be fixed.

Granted I'm harping on an older game. I'm sure it was harped on when the game was released. I hope problems like that are fixed in God of War 2. I also hope that if they weren't fixed in God of War 2, that they will be fixed in God of War 3.

Should games that have such complete broken moments in otherwise gorgeously executed designs be let off the hook?

Trophy count update

noreply@blogger.com (Freemantim) — Sun, 14 Feb 2010 13:49:00 +0000

Well two weeks have gone by since I last posted about my trophy count and I can that compared to the folks over at IGN my could pales in comparison. However I can't complain because I have been enjoying the games that I've been playing (not torturing myself with bad games that are easy trophies).

For the first week I picked up 13 bronze and 3 silver for a total of 95 points. During the second week I picked up 7 bronze and 6 silver for a total of another 95 points. Now compare that to even the 6th place contestant during the first week of IGN's contest (82 trophies for 670 points) and it looks like I won't even come close to Greg's first week for the entire month. But I don't mind because as I said I'm enjoying the games not the collection of trophies.

For a full breakdown of trophy hunting check out the forums at TotalPlayStation.com

In my journey for trophy hunting this month I finished inFamous this week and I'll post my thoughts shortly.

Trophy count

noreply@blogger.com (Freemantim) — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 17:58:00 +0000

As my "About Me" describes, I am a trophy hunter. IGN has taken the idea of hunters or whores to a whole new level by creating a contest within their own ranks to see who can come out on top after a full month of gaming on the PS3. They are calling it The Great IGN Trophy Whore War.

I've said it before and I'll say it again. I prefer the term hunter over whore. Playing games simply to collect trophies defeats the purpose of playing the game--so you basically become a whore. I'll admit to going a bit out of my way to boost my trophy count (cough cough--Hannah Montana) yet a large majority of my trophies are earned from playing the games that I actually enjoy. Trophy hunting does add a certain compulsion to try different tactics or explore parts of a game that may otherwise be overlooked, but in the end I have to say that I like knowing that I have paid for a game and gotten my money's worth. What better way to validate that than by looking at a column of shiny, bronze, silver, gold and platinum trophies?

I've decided to keep track of my own trophy hunting for the month in the same vein as the IGN staff and I'll give a weekly recap of my efforts. At the end of January my count totaled 769 trophies which breaks down to 4 platinum, 31 gold, 131 silver and 600 bronze.

Currently in my gaming rotation for potential trophy collection are inFamous, Dragon Age: Origins, God of War Collection, Borderlands, Star Wars The Force Unleashed and GTA 4.

Stay tuned for the least important aspect of gaming, trophy hunting!

You're such a girl

noreply@blogger.com (Freemantim) — Sun, 24 Jan 2010 14:13:00 +0000

Over Christmas one of my co-workers got a PS3 from his wife along with a few games. One night while comparing his trophies I noticed that he had Hannah Montana The Movie the video game. I'll admit that I'm a sucker for trophies. I prefer the term Trophy Hunter while others I know enjoy likening me to a "trophy whore". In the end it doesn't matter because the trinkets are basically meaningless but to my mind add a bit of extra game play value. Hannah Montana The Movie the video game (sounds so silly to say that five times fast) is a trophy hunter's dream. The game is an easy Platinum-- Platinum being the highest trophy earned on a PS3 game after earning all others offered in a game. Some games are brutally hard to earn a Platinum trophy. In the end when you look at the collection of trophies it is pretty cool to have some a few of the higher value.

I asked if I could borrow Hannah Montana The Movie the video game. The initial reaction was, "Are you serious? That's a kids game." Hey I've got 3 kids. I'm borrowing it so they can play it. Again the response, "Are you serious?" So I had to reveal the truth and say that I really only wanted to play it for the trophies. My gamer cred (if I even really had any) was slowly dropping with my co-worker. But after a few days of pleasantly asking if I could borrow the game he relented.

Thursday night I came home with Hannah Montana The Movie the video game. I had dinner and then went downstairs to play the game. My son (who is 9) came downstairs a few minutes after I had started to play, looked at the TV and realized that I wasn't playing Assassin's Creed II or Dragon Age: Origins and with a very incredulous tone asked, "What are YOU playing dad?"

"Hannah Montana The Movie the video game"

Blank stare back from my son. He looked at the TV again and then looked at me and said, "You're such a girl sometimes dad" and promptly ran upstairs to tell the rest of the family. "Dad's playing Hannah Montana!" Several muted laughs could be heard through the basement ceiling.

Shortly after that however my son came back downstairs and asked if he could play now.

My son, being 9, has watched many episodes of Hannah Montana. As a father I'd like to think that he is watching the show for the wholesome family friendly messages that are a part of each episode. In reality I think it is a combination of him enjoying the slapstick nature of the kid centric hilarity on the show but also a bit of a young boy crush on Miley Cyrus.

Regardless of this I relented and let my son play because I had to go pick up my 11 year old daughter from dance practice. Upon returning from picking up my daughter from dance I went back downstairs to find my son was completely sucked into the game and he would let me have the controller back. My younger daughter came down to join us and after my son admitted that he couldn't figure out how to do the dance moves that are required during the musical numbers I took control and showed them both how to play.

Soon after that, we began to pass the controller round robin between the three of us and continued our time with Hannah Montana The Movie the video game.

While some might poo-poo the game because it is a kid game, I have to suggest that those nay-sayers give the game a chance. It isn't a complete wasted effort of a licensed property and tells a decent Hannah Montana story (I've been forced to watch enough of the show over the years to see the predictable formulaic outcome). It apparently is good enough that my son even commented that he wants to watch the movie now.

The game revolves around the Miley being able to collect items to decorate her touring bus, fetch items to help out friends and relatives, and perform songs at various venues as the title character Hannah Montana. (For those who don't know, in the fictional world people believe that Hannah Montana and Miley Cyrus are two separate people. "Comedy gold" ensues in pretty much every episode as Miley struggles to keep the facade up). In this day and age of musical rhythm games it feels a bit odd to play one without any actual instruments, but as Hannah Montana sings throughout the game you are prompted with various movements that correspond to different stick movements with the controller. The game also utilizes the SIXAXIS motion controller capabilities as you can shake the controller to activate some of the on screen prompts. Overall the controls work fairly well as the challenge is not aimed at a parent of my age, but rather the 7-11 year old demographic that has made the show as popular as it is.

As songs are completed and items are found, credits are put into a little piggie bank. This allows for the other game play aspect to kick in. Shopping and playing dress-up. The on screen likeness of Miley Cyrus is basically a walking talking paper doll that once clothes have been purchased (don't for get the jewelry too!) you can spend hours upon hours trying on various wardrobe styles.

Overall I have to say that I'm impressed with this game. Two out of three kids in the house have really enjoyed it. While it isn't a blockbuster AAA title like Uncharted 2, it is a game that is appropriate for kids that isn't too simple, has an engaging story (to a kid), and looks and sounds good. Voice acting is done by the actual actors from the show and you can clearly tell who each character on screen represents as well. Toss in a few carnival mini games, mix with the musical numbers and paper doll dress up and you've got a solid kid game.

If you have kids that enjoy the show, Hannah Montana The Movie the video game is worth picking up.