GamesPosted by Mads 07 Sep, 2010 04:49:18Lately, there's been two games that have been keeping me busy. The first one I'm going to talk about is
Battlefield: Bad Company 2, and I have to admit that I'm surprised I haven't written anything about the game yet. I've had it for quite some time now, and I've been playing it the whole time. Bad Company (the first one) won me over with it's intriguing story campaign. Sure, it's probably been done before in like a million ways. But it was still interesting and funny. Humor is a big part of it, and it works. Whatever they did with Bad Company, they did it right. And being able to completely demolish buildings and having such a high level of destruction did not exactly make it worse. But regarding the story campaign, I was actually a bit surprised by Bad Company 2, because it didn't follow in the footsteps of the first one. It suddenly turned from very humorous to very serious. There's still humor, it's just that it's so deathly serious at the same time. Not saying it's a bad thing. Just that it surprised me a bit.
On the other hand, we have the Online Multiplayer features. The first one never captivated me. I know it had (at least) two modes: Gold Rush and Conquest. I know because I did try once or twice. I just never bothered getting more into it. That changed with Bad Company 2. It's more or less the same features, although Gold Rush has been switched out with Rush, and this time you're not searching for Gold, but instead bombing M-COM stations. It pretty much works the same way, it's just that this time it for some reason captivated me. There are two other original features as well. Squad Rush and Squad Deathmatch. I've tried both, but I find Rush and Conquest to be the favorites. Especially Rush. Although Ranks is in the first, I never played enough to really get into it. There are Ranks in this game too, and unlockable weapons and gadgets. The more you play and the more you score, the higher your Rank will raise (to a maximum of 50). You also unlock weapons and gadgets for each class (Assault, Engineer, Medic and Recon). I find myself unable to pick a favorite class, as all four of them have their advantages and disadvantages. At first it was Recon, due to the sniping. I've always loved me some sniping. Then I switched to Medic because I found it to be surprisingly rewarding to help keep your team alive. Then I jumped over to Engineer thinking that blowing up tanks is always great fun. And now I'm using Assault keeping my team alive by feeding them ammunition and killing the bad guys. I find myself jumping between the classes all the time.
I did not think I would get this hooked on a FPS online multiplayer after UT2K4 (Unreal Tournment 2004). But here I am, hooked on Battlefield: Bad Company 2 online. It's great fun, and I highly recommend anyone with a heart for FPS to try this one.
The other game I wanted to mention is Split / Second. Yay, another racing game. Well, yes. But again, it's all about destruction. More so than Blur, actually. Where Blur reminds me of Mario Kart with its powerups and shooting your opponents, Split / Second enters a league all of its own. At least as far as I am familiar with. No longer do you use powerups in form of missiles and bombs to destroy your opponents, but instead you use the very environment. You launch nearby cars and trucks unto the road (and hopefully your opponent), you demolish buildings that fall unto the track. Hell, you can even make such a big mess of the race track that you switch routes. Don't be surprised if you find yourself being forced to take another route than you first anticipated because someone destroyed the old one. I've seen airplanes crash into the road, buildings smash away opponents and creating new paths as well as huge cruise ships crashing unto the docks to further destroy opponents. Split / Second has such a high level of speed and destruction that sometimes it's hard to keep up with everything, especially if everything is happening at once. And in this game, everything can happen at once. In my personal opinion, Split / Second is a better action racer than Blur. It just feels more polished, thought through and well done. All in all, a very nice find.
GamesPosted by Mads 17 Aug, 2010 15:36:05If there are games that reward grinding, it's the Star Ocean games. The first Star Ocean game I played was Star Ocean: Till The End of Time on PS2. And boy did it reward grinding. I've always been a fan of grinding through levels. Especially when you are rewarded for it. Now, leveling up is a reward of its own. But when you are efficient at it, Star Ocean rewards you even further. Till The End of Time had a battle board system that gave you up to 3x experience points per battle, which really increased your grinding. Star Ocean: The Last Hope on PS3 does not give you 3x, but it does still reward you handsomely if you use it well.
You can get up to +140% experience per battle. It's not as good as 3x, but it's still a lot. Especially when you're grinding through enemies that already give you a lot of experience points. But if you wish to farm Fol (the currency), you can also get up to a +140% Fol per battle. Also, if you wish to farm SP (Skill Points to use to level up your battle skills), you can get up to 14 SP per battle. It may not sound a lot, but it is. Because there is a LOT of battles!
Games that reward grinding (and farming to an extent) this much really gets me going. Most people don't like grinding, from what I've experienced. But there are those of us who can just stay on the same spot for hours at an end just to grind and farm. For us, it's rewarding. Especially when games like Star Ocean reward us grinders. Don't get me wrong, you can probably go through the game with just some grinding (it's inevitable. The enemies become stronger quickly, and you need to level up), but for us grinders, it's a feast of its own.
So to whom would I really recommend Star Ocean: The Last Hope? Mostly to grinders. There's just so much reward for it. So grinders rejoice - The Star Ocean games are here to compliment our weird habits. Grind away!
GamesPosted by Mads 14 Jul, 2010 21:30:47I've been playing a lot of
Borderlands lately (since I got it for the PC). I actually beat the game (having reached level 36 or 37), and I started on the second play through. At that time, I did not know what I now know. I had absolutely no idea what was going to happen during the second play through, but I was pleased to learn that it is fully playable a on a second play through as well. The enemies have seriously increased levels (enemies that you encounter during the beginning that are level 1 and 2 were now 33 and 34). Higher level enemies, more experience points from the same old quests and even better loot sounds like a good deal, no?
There are some downsides though. The first play through is ridiculously easy. I had no real problems going through it the first time. And although I seem to be running along pretty fast in this, the second play through, the game is suddenly hell of a lot harder. The enemies are not only higher level, but you encounter more of them, and more "mini bosses" along the way that are just ridiculously tough. Was it not for me already being on a higher level than most of the enemies when I started the second play through I think I would have encountered a lot more difficulty. Also, being The Hunter (using mainly Sniper Rifles) helps too, as I've become very efficient and killing enemies quickly by headshots (or other critical hit areas).
And, when I say better loot... Sure. It's fun when a game has as much loot as this game. Really. It is. Earning money, equipment and weapons comes naturally, and rather quickly if you become efficient at it. But what is the deal about all weapons being more or less exactly the same, only with some variety in stats? You can pretty much expect to see the same damn gun appear thousands of times with just some minor variations in the stats of it. Sometimes you get lucky and get a gun with seriously heightened stats (firepower, rate of fire, accuracy etc.), but most of the time you find yourself swearing the repetitiveness of the same damn loot over and over. If they are going to introduce this much loot, they could at least have done a little more about it. Either that or give us less item drops and more money. It just seems stupid to have the same loot over and over.
On a completely different level, we have
Blur, the racing game I mentioned earlier. It really is like Mario Kart on steroids. You have real cars, fun courses and some serious power ups. Now the career mode is as I expected it to be. I earn fans (yeah, I'm not getting into that) and unlock new vehicles little by little. Now if I switch to multiplayer mode with some friends, ALL cars are suddenly unlocked, and so are all stages. Sure, it's fun to get right into the action. But there is no sense of accomplishment. The only accomplishment you get is during the career, and it isn't even that much fun considering the multiplayer is the fun part of the game, and everything is already unlocked for it!
So often I have found myself wanting to have all cars in multiplayer right from the beginning. Now I however find myself wanting to have to unlock cars and stages in the career mode to use in multiplayer. Weird how that works...
GamesPosted by Mads 29 Jun, 2010 13:54:11Birthday means games, doesn't it? Of course it does! It always does! But I have to admit I was surprised by the amount of it this year. I have no idea how to get time for all of this! And even more so when I'm wasting precious game-time by sitting her writing about it in my blog (well, actually, I'm sitting here while my PS3 is undertaking a system update). Well, like I was saying, I rounded up quite a few games this year. I thought I'd write a little about 'em. We might expect to see full reviews in due time.
Dragon Age Origins (PS3) - It's a game I've been interested in. Mainly because it's an RPG. I've always loved RPG's, and I have heard good things about this. I've only barely scratched the surface of the game so far, but it looks interesting enough.
Army of Two: 40th Day (PS3) - It's a continuation of Army of Two (I expect!). Now, the fun (and stupidity) of Army of Two is the heavy emphasis on teamwork. No, not the puzzle solving tactical one like you'd expect, no... You actually have to be two to open doors. I mean, what the fuck!? That is silly. But I also do like the whole "We're an Army of Two marching for you with every weapon we can find"-style. I love playing this with a friend. And I am excited to try 40th Day, hoping it will bring more of what I liked about the first game.
Borderlands (PC) - Actually, I've had this game for the 360 for a long while and played a long way on single player. But when I showed it to one of my friends, and he learned about the up to four cooperative players story mode, he wanted us all to get it for the PC. And so he rounded up four people (including me) and we've started playing Borderlands multiplayer on PC. It's great fun!
Star Ocean: The Last Hope (PS3) - I've been a fan of Star Ocean since... well since Star Ocean: Till The End of Time. I never got to try any of the earlier games, but I loved that one. And if Star Ocean can keep up the same good classic RPG features it does so damn well along with a great score and awesome playablility, then I'll love this one to bits as well. Here's to hoping it'll be as good as the previous!
Blur (PS3) - Cars. We love 'em! I think the best description of Blur would have to be that it's basically Mario Kart (with the power ups and the attacking other players) mixed up with Need for Speed. Basically I can imagine it'd be a new and modernized version of Twisted Metal (although I wouldn't want to compare it to the new and modernized version of Twisted Metal that is on the way...). I haven't played it yet, but as we speak (and the PS3 is updating its system), that's the one next up.
F.E.A.R. (PC) - I've been kind of looking for this game for a while, actually. Everyone kept saying this game was so scary back in its day. I didn't believe them for one bit. Well, not entirely true. I believed them, I just didn't believe it could be truly that scary for someone like me who have long and wide experience with "scary games". Anyways, I finally got it and I'm excited about finally playing it.
Fuel (360) - Actually, this is the game I got simply because it was cheap. It's another driving game. This time, however, you have a vast open world where you can pretty much drive around as you will. Or you can enter races and try to stay on the track. Always an option. I am not really expecting this game to be worthy of a full on review, but maybe it'll give me a few evenings of laughs and fun. Those are always good.
GamesPosted by Mads 17 Jun, 2010 02:09:02Source:
Kotaku---
"Konami has put the psychological horror series Silent Hill in the hands of a new developer, Vatra Games. Konami confirms today that the third-person frightfest, Silent Hill 8, will be hitting the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 in 2011.
Silent Hill 8, as they're calling it now, will put players in the role of prison escapee Murphy Pendleton. After a prison transport crashes, Pendleton finds himself stranded in the unpleasant little town of Silent Hill. Expect "mind-bending puzzles," "horrific creatures" and other terrors. The combat seems to have an emphasis on using everyday objects, like glass bottles and wooden chairs, for survival.
From our E3 2010 liveblog, it appears the same flashlight fun and spooky exploration gameplay will be intact. Konami claims the game will appeal to fans of the early Silent Hill games.
Since series composer Akira Yamaoka has left the Silent Hill group, Silent Hill 8's music will be handled by Daniel Licht. He's composed music for Hellraiser and Children of the Corn films, as well as TV show Dexter."
---
Well, of course I had to form an opinion about this. And of course I had to post my opinion so that the whole world can twist in agony for having to read my opinion. Well guess what? You don't HAVE to read, so blame yourself for any headaches, dizziness or pregnancies you might accidentally develop whilst reading this, an opinion by me.
First of all, are they really calling it Silent Hill 8? By what norm? I mean, if you count the number of games released, sure. But then, wouldn't you have to count all those .jp games that never reached outside of Japan? If so, the number is probably by a few million by now. But I guess calling it "Silent Hill three thousand million and one" isn't as catchy. Not that I think "Silent Hill Eight" is either.
But seriously, if you count them by "story", this would be 6, not 8. If Origins counts as 0 (hell, it's even called Silent Hill Zero in some countries) and Homecoming counts as 5 (well, it is the right game for the position, not attempting to take place before the events of the first game, like Origins), then that means the next game would be 6, since we're not counting Shattered Memories. And we're not counting Shattered Memories. Don't even think about it! We're not!
Anyways, I'm glad we can expect to see more mind-boggling puzzles. I've missed those. Silent Hill 3 anyone? Those were friggin' insane! I loved 'em. I remember sitting playing SH3 with a friend of mine on Very Hard Puzzle Difficulty, and we spent several hours actually solving the puzzles. It was great fun, especially when we managed to solve puzzle after puzzle, even after a tonne of failed attempts. I suppose you could say that no person with a right mind would solve 'em quickly... but that's what makes it fun! No other game's I've enjoyed have included such far-fetched, deep, creative and mind-challenging puzzles as the Silent Hill series, especially Silent Hill 3.
As far as horrific creatures go, we'll just have to wait and see. One thing I miss though is the flying bastards from the original game. Remember running through the fog, hearing that furious screech and then the "flap-flap-flap"-sound drawing ever closer as you silently sat there cursing Harry's bad condition (Harry Mason VS Alan Wake Marathon Race anyone? Who'd drop dead first?) because you could be damn sure it didn't take long before poor Harry ran out of breath and you had to let him take a breather. And by that time you had either whip out a gun, a meele weapon you felt comfortable with or start taking punishment. Always a joy. Oh, and let's have insane boss fights again. I also miss the terribleness of first encountering that beast underneath the Elementary School that you read about in pages scattered around the school. It even stated how you were to defeat it, if you bothered reading. And encountering that weird larva right after you got the Rifle (yeah, you pretty much just whipped it out right there and then to kill it off (or so you thought), which would soon turn out to be a mistake), and then again as a fully grown flying moth on a rooftop near Alchemilla Hospital to the sound of "I'll Kill You" by Akira Yamaoka. Great fun. Really great fun.
I'm nervous about the combat though. I did not enjoy the endless meele shitness that is The Room. And I did not enjoy the combat system in Homecoming (yeah, too much "wanna-be-a-ninja-with-my-meele-weapons-and-dodge-your-attacks"-kind of fighting, and too little carrying around enough weapons and ammo to feed a small to medium sized army). Using glass bottles and chairs to fight off monsters? Right. Could be interesting, but I also foresee great headaches. And also considering I just asked for more epic boss fights, would we want to use a wooden chair to fight off a monstrous boss? No sir! We want three different ranged weapons and ammunition enough to function as the entire ammo resources needed in the Third World War. Much like the good ol' days.
I'm all about flashlight fun and spooky exploration. It just works. A Silent Hill game would not be a Silent Hill game without complete blackness and a little round dot on the middle of the screen being your entire view radius. Yes, give us a flashlight and turn all the world's lights off. We love it!
I do wish they'd bring back even more good ol' exploration though. I have noticed a lack of it during later Silent Hill games. Homecoming brought it back a little, but I'd like to see it brought back even more. It would be fun to be able to run around downtown Silent Hill during foggy daytime scenes again, whilst running like a madman to get the hell out of there again, or find a hiding spot, during darkness scenes. I pretty much want more freedom, even in creepiness. I think perhaps Silent Hill 1 and 2 have been the ones that have done this the best. No, I don't need a completely open world. But give us some additional fun (and creepy) places to explore. Places you wouldn't find unless you strayed off the path a few times.
Why am I saying all of this? Because Konami claims their next game will appeal to fans of the early Silent Hill games. And this is what we came to know and love way back when. It was the stuff of nightmares. It was way back before I started getting immune to scariness in both games and movies. Where four of us could sit in a couch trying to play the game, while the controller was passed around more enthusiastically than a joint because none of us wanted to be the one to open the next door. Give us back the good old stuff that kept us on our toes. That would get us to write epic poems and blogposts about because we've been so amazed we just want to run right over to the Konami Headquarters and kiss every single last one of the people behind Silent Hill on the mouth in pure love and awe. Give us back Silent Hill the way it was supposed to be.
It's a damn shame Akira Yamaoka has left the Silent Hill Group. He was a brilliant man, and I will always treasure his work with SH. Akira Yamaoka and Mary Elizabeth McGlynn pretty much made Silent Hill during the later games. I've been looking more forward to the soundtrack than the actual game. If they can bring it back to the old days when the game was more important than the soundtrack, then brilliant. But I think Akira Yamaoka would have to be there for that to happen. Such a shame...
Don't get me wrong though, Daniel Licht is very good. I've enjoyed his work for Dexter. Can't say anything about the movies, but I've loved his music from Dexter. Great stuff.
Also... What about Mary Elizabeth McGlynn? Will she stay with us? Will we receive another four great tracks on the new game? I don't think I could handle it if she went out too. Then I'd just have to set off on an epic journey to bring Akira Yamaoka and Mary Elizabeth McGlynn under the same roof again to make epic music for an epic game full of darkness, evil and stuff of nightmares. I would just have to start up my own gaming company and employ them. The world can't handle the loss of them both. Well, not the world of Silent Hill anyways.
GamesPosted by Mads 16 Jun, 2010 05:01:30So, E3 is in the happening, straight from the U.S. of A.! And I want to write a little about the games I'm looking forward to that has been shown on E3 so far.
Twisted Metal makes a comeback on PS3. The good ol' car mayhem game is back, and it's going to be insane! I have fond memories of the first one, and I'm looking forward to trying out this new one.
You can watch the trailer here:
http://e3.gamespot.com/video/6265796/?tag=top_stories;title;2Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light is a game featuring Lara Croft as the main character. This is however not a Tomb Raider game, and should not be confused with
Tomb Raider 9, which we still know next to nothing about. Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light will feature a two-player co-op mode where you have to work together with a friend to survive.
You can check out the trailer here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZB1bsP0HP3kGoldeneye 007, one of the most popular shooters ever created, is returning to the Wii. And guess what? We're all hyped about this one! You can watch the trailer here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ekGb8SsEcisDonkey Kong Country Returns has been announced. Oh yes, the big loaf is back, and he's ready to kick ass, pick up bananas and do the jungle dance! I'm pretty sure I am not the only one who's excited about the return of the legendary Donkey Kong in a whole new 2D platform game! Watch the trailer here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TMhEs78Zix8Star Wars: The Force Unleashed II is coming, and I'm wanting this game. I loved the first one, and I can imagine that the second one will be even better in terms of gameplay and combat. Watch the trailer here:
http://e3.gamespot.com/video/6265611/?tag=top_stories;title;4Star Wars Kinect is a whole new experience that will use the new Xbox Kinect. So of course I'll be excited to try this game, if I ever get around to buying Kinect that is... Watch the trailer here:
http://e3.gamespot.com/video/6265507/?tag=top_stories;title;2Metal Gear Solid: Rising has been shown off at E3. At first, I was rather negative towards this title. I didn't want another MGS game. However, watching the trailer on E3, I have completely changed my mind! I want this game, and I want it NOW! You can watch the trailer that changed my mind here:
http://e3.gamespot.com/video/6265460/?tag=top_stories;title;2Fallout: New Vegas is very close now. I haven't been a Fallout-fan since the beginning, but ever since I played Fallout 3, I've been obsessed with it. And I am looking very much forward to Fallout: New Vegas. You can watch the E3 trailer here:
http://www.gamespot.com/showcases/fallout-newvegas?sid=6265369&overridePid=Mortal Kombat - hello? It's Mortal Kombat! What more needs to be said? Watch the E3 trailer here:
http://e3.gamespot.com/video/6265111/?tag=top_stories;title;9Marvel VS Capcom 3: Fate of Two Worlds is a game that has been anticipated by almost the entire world. 10 years it's been waited for, and now it has finally been answered. Why am I excited? Well because it's got the best of two worlds! It's got a tonne of favorite game characters from Capcom, as well as lots of superheroes from Marvel. What more could you ask for in a fighting game? Check out the teaser here:
http://www.gametrailers.com/video/e3-2010-marvel-vs/101668Metroid Other M is a game I have been personally waiting for for a long while. I've always been a fan of the Metroid-games, and I'm not going to stop now! You can check out the E3 trailer here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QVuRKxrh3XMGears of War 3 is of course on the top of my "to-get-list" immediately when it hits the stores. When I first heard that there would be a four-player co-op campaign mode, I was overexcited. When I learned that it was true, I thought I was going to cry. And here you can see what I saw when I watched E3:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6e8rMBj0AXEThere are also some other rumours floating around. Amongst them is that
Uncharted 3 is set for Fall 2011. Remembering what a great game Uncharted 2 was, I am fairly certain Uncharted 3 will be just as good, if not better.
And that's what I have for now. We'll see if I'll get some more anticipated games on the lineup in a few days. If not, then I'll be here all year posting about the great games that are coming out soon, and the great games that I am anticipating for late this year and next year.
GamesPosted by Mads 16 May, 2010 00:49:06I remember it somewhat clearly. It was five years ago. I read an article about a new game by Remedy, the guys behind Max Payne and Max Payne 2. It was called Alan Wake, and the ideas behind it seemed really intriguing. A psychological action thriller. Yes. Not survival/horror like most scary games... but a psychological action thriller. I remember reading the article and thinking that this is a game I am looking forward to. Both from what I read in that article, and because I knew Remedy could deliver.
Specifically how I found the forum is unclear to me, but I remember stumbling upon the Alan Wake Forums (which I don't even think had become the Official Alan Wake Forums yet). I signed up and started interacting with the other people there.
In March 2006 I got appointed as a new Moderator on the (by then the OFFICIAL) Alan Wake Forums. It was an honor, especially since Remedy interacted on the forums as well. And let me tell you, it was a lot of fun being on the staff. We sometimes got to know some information prior to it going public (usually not very far in advance, but still... it was fun). But more so, I got very involved in the development of Alan Wake (not as in being a part of the actual development, but as in following it very closely). I still remember when it was their idea to make it an open world game with realistic day/night cycles. Where complete open exploration would be possible. Though I would have loved to see how the game would turn out if it was completely open, I am still very much happy with how it turned out.
So, five years I've spent following this game. As a forum staff member, I have received some pretty cool "stuff" from Remedy. Like a Remedy-logo t-shirt, a poster with a part of the Alan Wake manuscript on it (each of us forum moderators received one, with different text. It was a lot of fun putting the pieces of the text together and sharing it with the other forum members). But the day finally came when Alan Wake was released. And I have not been disappointed in any way. Considering how long I have been waiting, I decided to write this extensive article about it. Now for the highlight of the article: Alan Wake itself.
Alan Wake - The StoryThe story, the plot... it is brilliantly told. The story itself is great, but the way it's told makes everything even more awe-inspiring. They have taken the ideas behind the storytelling from the Max Payne games and improved on them. The entire game is told in such a way you keep being dragged into the game at all times. And how they decided to make it seem like a TV series sounds weird at first, but it makes a lot of sense when you play the game and experience it as if it was a TV series with episodes. For the kicks of it they even have a thing where at the beginning of each episode, they do a run of "Previously on Alan Wake". It's funny. And if you like to experience one episode at the time, it really helps when you begin an episode to be quickly reminded about what happened in the previous one.
It is no secret that I am a huge fan of stories, how they are told and that this is what makes the games most interesting to me. And Alan Wake delivers fiercely. There is no doubt in my mind that Sam Lake is an excellent writer. As an aspiring writer myself, I can easily value they job behind this and how brilliantly it is displayed. As far as games go, Sam Lake is one of my very favorite writers. Especially after this game.
It is also very intriguing when you find manuscript pages during the game that actually seem to be coming true, and that is supposedly written by Alan Wake himself, although he can't remember ever having written them.
The Graphics and Visual EffectsI admit that it doesn't look state of the art. It doesn't look like the most graphically advanced and supreme game out there. It just doesn't and if you were hoping for a full on graphical candy game then you can walk away ashamed at yourself for being that much of a graphics whore (yes, I said it! I called you a graphics whore!). The graphics isn't the most important part of this game. While it looks very good (come on, it looks fantastic!), it's still the way the game functions that matters the most. And the visual effects they use during the game is excellent. Everything from that tornado-thingy to the odd fog-like thing that appears whenever you know enemies are going to start appearing. And during daylight, when you can see the nature sceneries clearly... it sends shivers down my spine. They have done a fantastic job of making Alan Wake look magnificent, even if it's not the most graphically awesome game ever. It looks wonderful. It really does. And if you can't see it... I feel sorry for you. You are missing out!
The playability - exploration, fighting and interacting with objectsWell, like most games, there is a lot of fighting going on. This is where Alan Wake looks similar to survival/horror games. The fighting is intense and the enemies are bad. Really bad. You are armed with a flashlight and a revolver (most of the time, although you DO find other weapons as well). You have to aim your flashlight at your enemies to remove their "darkness protection" so that you can harm them with your revolver. It kind of reminded me of a mix of (mostly any) Silent Hill game and Silent Hill: Shattered Memories (which breaks from all patterns in Silent Hill). Shattered Memories does not have ANY fighting. You don't have any weapons. Don't get me wrong, there are plenty of enemies around. You are just prompted to run from them. It isn't as much the non-fighting here that reminds me as it is the flashlight effect. They focused a lot on the use of the flashlight in Shattered Memories, and Alan Wake has that same focus (although more convenient as you can use the flashlight as a sort of weapon). In Shattered Memories you do get a flare which you can light up to drive the enemies away for a little while (this features in Alan Wake as well, working pretty much the same way). Then, the actual fighting part resembles Silent Hill games, with the pointing and shooting madly at them.
This mixture of using light and firepower to defeat enemies works splendidly.
As far as exploration goes, it is far less than was originally intended five years ago, when it was supposed to be open-world. It is far more narrow now, but there are still room for exploration in each episode. Especially during the parts where you drive from A to B. There are huge areas to check out aside from the driving on the road leading you directly to where you should go. And when you explore you find additional manuscript pages (which is an essential part of the story). For those achievement-hunters out there you also find coffee mugs to pick up and can-pyramids to knock over (you get achievements for finding everything). So exploration is possible and recommended for the full experience (emphasis on finding all of the manuscript pages here).
There is not a whole lot on interactive with objects in the traditional way here, but in fact the other way around. The evil darkness that is trying to stop you will put poltergeists in objects and throw them at you to harm you. You'll even find haunted cars that will try to run you down. You know that when you see an object suddenly start to move, hover and shake uncontrollably that you are about to be attacked by something you didn't see coming. And this improves a LOT on the atmosphere of the game. You never truly feel safe, which is a good thing in this game. You feel like anything can happen. Any object can suddenly be turned into a weapon against you (relax... it doesn't happen ALL THE FRIGGIN' TIME. You just don't know when and where). And, as you come closer to the end, it will start happening more frequently. That's when you know that the darkness is desperate in trying to stop you.
Sound and Music
The score for Alan Wake is very well made. It fits the game's atmosphere at all times, and with inclusion of popular bands like Poets of the Fall and other famous artists during the game you just know it's going to be a good ride. Hell, Poets of the Fall even has a bigger role in the game than we knew. In the game, there is a local band called "The Old Gods of Asgard". The music you hear from them during the game is performed by Poets of the Fall. None of us knew this from before, so you can pretty much say we were positively surprised. And to make things better; that music isn't on any of Poets of the Fall's CDs. So it's exclusive to us gamers. I personally find that very neat. It's like we have our own private concert.
All in all, Alan Wake is truly a masterpiece. It is well worth the five years wait. I'm sure most people haven't been following it that closely for five years like me, but no matter how long you may (or may not have) waited for this game: it is good. Very good. And this is definitively a game I recommend all to play. It's one big enjoyable trip from the very beginning to the end.
GamesPosted by Mads 10 May, 2010 13:59:09I've recently enjoyed the chaotic and action packed game named
Just Cause 2. I never played the original, so I did not really have any specific expectations. I had, however, played it briefly at a friend's house. And I was hooked by the big open sandbox game where you have more or less complete freedom to do whatever you want. It is like mixing up Action Man (the action figure I remember from TV commercials) and Grand Theft Auto.
See a car? You can steal it. See a boat? Same. See a helicopter or an aircraft? Take it! How you get around is your choice. And I love it!
The story is that you are one of the best agents of an American agency (conveniently called The Agency) dispatched to a large island complex called Panau to find a believed to be rogue agent. And, to flush him out of hiding, you do dirty work for gangs. That, and wreck havoc (or cause chaos as it is so fondly called) by blowing up government property. Attack military bases is a good way to cause chaos. The more chaos you build up, the more missions become available, as well as new Black Market items/weapons/vehicles.
It's not the story that is entertaining about this game. The graphics are good, the story is good, the music is good and the controls are good. But the gameplay itself is excellent. So open. So full of ways to wreck havoc and get around to do more of the havoc wrecking. You have a grappling hook that you can use not only to get around, but also to wreck more of that havoc. The grappling hook has the feature to be fastened to two targets. For instance, you can latch it to a moving car and then to the ground, causing the car to stop very quickly. Most of the time it just stops and then continues driving. But sometimes it can actually force the car to roll off a bridge. Or simply roll unto its roof where it will eventually blow up (GTA anyone?). You can also fasten it to people and then for instance fasten it to the bridge above you, hanging them there. And, for those who like to move stuff around, you can also fasten it to a helicopter and then for instance a vehicle you like to move. Then you can just fly the helicopter around with a vehicle fastened to it.
The opportunities are vast in this game. For pure entertainment purposes, action and adventuring, this game is everything I wanted it to be. The only downside (like with most of these open sandbox games) is that you cannot enter most buildings. Only a selected few buildings are open to exploration. But, all in all, this is probably one of the most pointless entertaining games I have played this year. And I mean that in a good way. I have a lot of fun with it.
