I picked up E.Y.E on steam the other day. It looked like the original Deus Ex, set in something like the Warhammer 40K universe, and that's exactly what it's turned out to be.
Getting into the game is challenging. Despite the 20+ video tutorials built into the game's interface, many of the specifics of how things work are left out, such as exactly what you can achieve with the various hacking tasks. Fortunately, the way that the game handles death takes a lot of the sting out of experimentation: you can die and respawn nine times per mission before you have to start over. Given that the missions aren't terribly long, and that you keep any experience points gained, there's no reason not to try out different tactics and game systems. If you don't do well the first time, you'll likely gain a level to help you move forward the next time.
Even so, this is not for the casual gamer. Enemies can quickly wipe you out if you aren't paying attention and let them get the drop on you. No one holds your hand and gives you the run down on weapon or stat selection. It's up to you to figure out what works, and how you enjoy playing. I expect that most people have already selected their camps on this score, whether you use the terms "hard-core" and "casual" or not.
For me, the highlight of the game has been the art style. Your first real mission takes you to a factory planet, where the atmosphere consists of a bright green gas. You wander through the abandoned neighborhoods that once housed work crews before the factory was completely automated. The textures, models and lighting all work together to give you and interesting place to explore and fight in.
I do wish that the game provided more guidance, but the rewards are enough to keep me going.
Thursday, August 4, 2011
Monday, August 1, 2011
Shirling!
Kids in the Hall. Season 3. Episode 15. Go now, and see the greatest sport ever created by man. No! Not by man. Shirling is so perfect, it must have been created by God, or at least Jesus!
Dungeon Siege III
I just finished Dungeon Siege III, after polishing off a surprisingly pretty monster-god. I'd been playing it over the last three weeks, stopping when the Diablo-style game play got old, then returning when I wanted something relaxing in its simplicity. The game has a lot to love, but the best parts are undermined by limiting design decisions.
The graphics are gorgeous, with vibrant, shining textures and deep colors. Some of the locations in the game look like they could be concept art, rather than real-time renders. The problem is that the camera is limited to essentially two positions, making it next-to-impossible to get a close look at, say, the little waterfall cutting through the mountain, or the fantastic character designs. Most of the time, I felt the urge to squint. Oh, and I've been spoiled by open-world games long enough now that it irks the hell out of me when you can't look up and see the sky.
Combat is nice and peppy, with a comfortable attack/dodge/block system that reminds me of Vindictus. Unfortunately, the abilities and upgrades that you gain over time don't seem particularly distinct, and the four playable characters have very similar power sets (self-heal; damage-focus; defense-focus, AOE). This is made worse by the flaky targeting system, which will often send your ranged attacks off in a random direction.
As far as the setting goes, I can tell that Obsidian put a lot of effort into writing a history and lore for the world they inherited, but all that setup feels disconnected from the game. In a linear action game, exposition is damned hard to care about, because it has absolutely no impact on the game.
Some of the reviews I've read complain about the meaninglessness of the loot drops, but, to me, that's par for the course. When I play a game that has more than 4 statistics to its items (i.e. Armor+5/+15 fire resistance; 2 sockets, blue quality, etc), I know that I have been placed on the Diablo-treadmill. I do my best not to pay attention to it and just keep what the shopkeepers would pay the most for. Diablo 2 game me enough item-comparison-obsessing to last a lifetime.
So, I had fun with Dungeon Siege 3, but I can't help but think that the game would have been much better if they'd dropped the Dungeon Siege template and done their own thing.
The graphics are gorgeous, with vibrant, shining textures and deep colors. Some of the locations in the game look like they could be concept art, rather than real-time renders. The problem is that the camera is limited to essentially two positions, making it next-to-impossible to get a close look at, say, the little waterfall cutting through the mountain, or the fantastic character designs. Most of the time, I felt the urge to squint. Oh, and I've been spoiled by open-world games long enough now that it irks the hell out of me when you can't look up and see the sky.
Combat is nice and peppy, with a comfortable attack/dodge/block system that reminds me of Vindictus. Unfortunately, the abilities and upgrades that you gain over time don't seem particularly distinct, and the four playable characters have very similar power sets (self-heal; damage-focus; defense-focus, AOE). This is made worse by the flaky targeting system, which will often send your ranged attacks off in a random direction.
As far as the setting goes, I can tell that Obsidian put a lot of effort into writing a history and lore for the world they inherited, but all that setup feels disconnected from the game. In a linear action game, exposition is damned hard to care about, because it has absolutely no impact on the game.
Some of the reviews I've read complain about the meaninglessness of the loot drops, but, to me, that's par for the course. When I play a game that has more than 4 statistics to its items (i.e. Armor+5/+15 fire resistance; 2 sockets, blue quality, etc), I know that I have been placed on the Diablo-treadmill. I do my best not to pay attention to it and just keep what the shopkeepers would pay the most for. Diablo 2 game me enough item-comparison-obsessing to last a lifetime.
So, I had fun with Dungeon Siege 3, but I can't help but think that the game would have been much better if they'd dropped the Dungeon Siege template and done their own thing.
Sunday, July 31, 2011
Constructive Editor
I started reading Thanks, But This Isn't For Us last night, and it's the best book on writing that I've encountered so far. I like the fact that the author ditches the tone of positive encouragement that a lot of writing-aid books offer, cuts to the chase and smacks you around a little. Gone is:
- "Let's get motivated to write! Yay!"
- "Let's get motivated to write and write and write (and write) until you're good enough to have a shot in hell at getting published, because at the moment, you're an amateur and probably suck in at least one of these many ways!"
Gods & Heroes
Gods & Heroes is a lot better than I expected. Based on the reviews I've been reading, I thought would be an unplayable mess, with melee monsters attacking you from range, terrible rubber-banding, client-freezing, etc.
While I definitely found some bugs (such as not being able to log out to the character creation/selection screen from in-game), but nothing's been a deal-breaker so far. Maybe some lag-spikes, but what MMO doesn't have those, particularly this soon out of the gate? I don't doubt that things were bad before, but the devs have apparently been hard at work. Nothing like half the world looking at your work to motivate you.
The minion system is a nice change of pace, particularly for someone who hasn't played a Magic-derived card-based MMO (and doesn't intend to). It gives it a hint of RTS that's nice.
Graphics are a mixed bag. Some of the areas look nice, with sharp textures and detailed models, but other areas look 15 years old. The character models are suffering from a mild case of poser-itis, a terrible disease that makes your avatar look dull and generic.
Anyway, I'm going to stick with it a while, at least until the messiah arrives.
While I definitely found some bugs (such as not being able to log out to the character creation/selection screen from in-game), but nothing's been a deal-breaker so far. Maybe some lag-spikes, but what MMO doesn't have those, particularly this soon out of the gate? I don't doubt that things were bad before, but the devs have apparently been hard at work. Nothing like half the world looking at your work to motivate you.
The minion system is a nice change of pace, particularly for someone who hasn't played a Magic-derived card-based MMO (and doesn't intend to). It gives it a hint of RTS that's nice.
Graphics are a mixed bag. Some of the areas look nice, with sharp textures and detailed models, but other areas look 15 years old. The character models are suffering from a mild case of poser-itis, a terrible disease that makes your avatar look dull and generic.
Anyway, I'm going to stick with it a while, at least until the messiah arrives.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)