So, recently i have been trying to play Assassin's Creed 2... i know this game was somewhat critically acclaimed and tons of people out there supposedly love it. The actual game is ok - there are elements that i don't like (see partial list below). i think i'm on the 9th chapter or whatever they call it. i find it strange that games like this don't get slammed by people for being repetitive.
i find this game a hell of a lot more frustrating than fun. i have at least 8,000 words describing my current feelings for this game . There are a lot of repeats and very few would make it through language filters. If this game weren't so frustrating it would be better than the first one (frustrating but doable). i have seriously considered breaking the stupid disc. Difficulty levels are good. There are way too many timed sections as part of the main story.
Not only that, but this game takes some of my least favorite video game elements and adds them into one:
* Annoying puzzles - just to have annoying puzzles (referring to glyph puzzles)
* Poorly controlled vehicles (check) - i hate vehicles in games
* Escort Missions
* Stealth following missions
* Running down the enemy missions.
* Camera that seem to mess up occasionally (run and camera at same time is impossible)
* Jump puzzles (tons of them - forgivable without the next bullet point)
* Timed events - i hate timed events, especially jump puzzles (which are hard enough without a clock). Weird camera angles seem to crop up while doing these too. i am trying a assassin seal (in Venice) and am really annoyed. Why does the camera always face the wrong way at the start of these?
Tuesday, May 31, 2011
Friday, May 27, 2011
Dview: Dragon Age Origins UE (Xbox)
The Bottom Line:
Dragon Age Origins (DAO) is a "fantasy" RPG released by BioWare (the makers of Mass Effect, etc). Supposedly, the game is kind of a throwback to the Baldur's Gate style RPG. There is a lot of micro-managing of characters available. The romances in the game play out much like the first Mass Effect (with more clothing). There are 6 different "origin" stories to play at the beginning which may slightly impact the way the game world looks at you. The combat is a bit like that in their previous title (the far superior) Star Wars: Knights of the old republic. Basically you target an enemy and the character will keep attacking that enemy until they are defeated. This is a relatively long game (not JRPG long). One of the problems i had with the game is that the characters didn't really seem that interesting and there are some that feel like unnecessary duplicates - i guess they are there for their specializations. Like most WRPG, i got the feeling that your main created character was mostly a throwaway.
One of the reasons i got the Ultimate Edition is that BioWare kind of went crazy with DLC. There was an expansion and 8 DLC. This is going to be long. So, this "score" is for the entire package - and it gets bonus for a lot of content.
Grade: C+
Extraneous Commenting:
i mentioned the DLC on Ultimate Edition (which seems to be hard to find the XBLA version at brick-and-mortar retail). Here are the DLC packs included and the listed XBL prices
* Awakening (2,400 points, $30): This is the expansion to Dragon Age Origins. It picks up after the main story ends. Your character starts taking back a fort, then the game continues. You can import you character from the main game and gain access to new available skills. In my opinion, this is the best of the DLC stuff, but it is quite expensive for what it is. It is first accessed from New Game.
* The Golems of Amgarrak (400 points, $5.00): This is another add-on not accessible within the main game (start New Game). In this add-on, you will be going to a ruin to find out what happened to a group of adventurers. You will get a golem at some point and look for upgrades. This one is a bit more puzzle like at you may have to hit switches to travel to certain areas.
* Witch Hunt (560 points, $7.00): This is accessed from the New Game menu too. In this add-on (which may serve as a bridge of sort to the sequel, i'm not sure) you are trying to track down a former party member from the main Dragon Age game. Yes, the former member is a witch named Morrigan (one of my favorite characters from the main game). You can import a character into this DLC.
* Leliana's Song (560 points, $7.00): Accessed from New Game menu. This DLC is basically a back story of one of the characters you can get for your party in the first game (in the first city actually). Leliana is a bard (kind of a spy), who was tasked with creating havoc and placing stolen documents. The stolen documents lead to her problems. You start this relatively low level (level 10).
* The Darkspawn Chronicles (400 points, $5.00): Accessed from New Game. In this DLC, you face the final series of battles (most of them) from the perspective of the enemy darkspawn. This sounds cool in theory, but in practice it is kind of annoying. Basically you play as kind of a commander character. You go around an "enthrall" other darkspawn characters to form your party. Unfortunately, the "enthralled" character has a rather limited usefulness. You can't even use heal potions as them.
* Feastday Combo Pack (240 points, $3.00): This content is actually accessible from the main Dragon Age game. However, i fail to see its usefulness. Basically, all i could tell was that it added gifts that either drastically improved (or hurt) how characters feel about you - useful for romances and affinity skills.
* Warden's Keep (560 points, $7.00): This was one of the launch period DLC. Yes, it is accessible from in the main game (at the campsite). In this DLC you are tasked with retaking a former Grey Warden base and finding out about the past of a throw-away NPC.
* Return to Ostagar (400 points, $5.00): Accessed in game. In this DLC you go back to the scene of the first major fight (ok, slight spoiler, but it is really early on) and look for the armor of a fallen king.
* The Stone Prisoner (1,200 points, $15.00): Accessed in game. This was one of the initial two DLC. Basically, this was what they added to try and get people to buy the game new. Shale is a golem character. This DLC is about recruiting Shale and later doing a quest to find a little background.
What to Expect:
* A relatively long game filled with numerous opportunities for combat
* Somewhat boring/bland/repetitive characters - who aren't too intelligent
* Tactics - some degree of micro-managing characters
* Characters running into walls or other characters during combat
* A camera that doesn't like walls
* "Choices" in how to complete several tasks
* 6 origin stories that may mention other characters you meet later in your quest.
* 3 races (human, dwarf, elf) and 3 roles (warrior, mage, rogue)
Achievements:
This version of the game gets 1,750 possible points. Basically they are for such things as beating stages of the game, romancing characters, killing enemies, etc. There are not difficulty ones in the main game, but there are a couple in the DLC. Apparently, Darkspawn Chronicles has an annoying one with keeping a certain creature alive that may be one shot only (even with multiple game attempts). i got 1,480 on my first play through of these - it took me about 44 hours. The main game + add-ons accessible therein took me about 30 hours, the expansion about 10 and the out of game DLC was about 1 hour and 15 minutes each. There are still about 145 points i can add from the main game (i just need to finish another play through doing certain things).
Dragon Age Origins (DAO) is a "fantasy" RPG released by BioWare (the makers of Mass Effect, etc). Supposedly, the game is kind of a throwback to the Baldur's Gate style RPG. There is a lot of micro-managing of characters available. The romances in the game play out much like the first Mass Effect (with more clothing). There are 6 different "origin" stories to play at the beginning which may slightly impact the way the game world looks at you. The combat is a bit like that in their previous title (the far superior) Star Wars: Knights of the old republic. Basically you target an enemy and the character will keep attacking that enemy until they are defeated. This is a relatively long game (not JRPG long). One of the problems i had with the game is that the characters didn't really seem that interesting and there are some that feel like unnecessary duplicates - i guess they are there for their specializations. Like most WRPG, i got the feeling that your main created character was mostly a throwaway.
One of the reasons i got the Ultimate Edition is that BioWare kind of went crazy with DLC. There was an expansion and 8 DLC. This is going to be long. So, this "score" is for the entire package - and it gets bonus for a lot of content.
Grade: C+
Extraneous Commenting:
i mentioned the DLC on Ultimate Edition (which seems to be hard to find the XBLA version at brick-and-mortar retail). Here are the DLC packs included and the listed XBL prices
* Awakening (2,400 points, $30): This is the expansion to Dragon Age Origins. It picks up after the main story ends. Your character starts taking back a fort, then the game continues. You can import you character from the main game and gain access to new available skills. In my opinion, this is the best of the DLC stuff, but it is quite expensive for what it is. It is first accessed from New Game.
* The Golems of Amgarrak (400 points, $5.00): This is another add-on not accessible within the main game (start New Game). In this add-on, you will be going to a ruin to find out what happened to a group of adventurers. You will get a golem at some point and look for upgrades. This one is a bit more puzzle like at you may have to hit switches to travel to certain areas.
* Witch Hunt (560 points, $7.00): This is accessed from the New Game menu too. In this add-on (which may serve as a bridge of sort to the sequel, i'm not sure) you are trying to track down a former party member from the main Dragon Age game. Yes, the former member is a witch named Morrigan (one of my favorite characters from the main game). You can import a character into this DLC.
* Leliana's Song (560 points, $7.00): Accessed from New Game menu. This DLC is basically a back story of one of the characters you can get for your party in the first game (in the first city actually). Leliana is a bard (kind of a spy), who was tasked with creating havoc and placing stolen documents. The stolen documents lead to her problems. You start this relatively low level (level 10).
* The Darkspawn Chronicles (400 points, $5.00): Accessed from New Game. In this DLC, you face the final series of battles (most of them) from the perspective of the enemy darkspawn. This sounds cool in theory, but in practice it is kind of annoying. Basically you play as kind of a commander character. You go around an "enthrall" other darkspawn characters to form your party. Unfortunately, the "enthralled" character has a rather limited usefulness. You can't even use heal potions as them.
* Feastday Combo Pack (240 points, $3.00): This content is actually accessible from the main Dragon Age game. However, i fail to see its usefulness. Basically, all i could tell was that it added gifts that either drastically improved (or hurt) how characters feel about you - useful for romances and affinity skills.
* Warden's Keep (560 points, $7.00): This was one of the launch period DLC. Yes, it is accessible from in the main game (at the campsite). In this DLC you are tasked with retaking a former Grey Warden base and finding out about the past of a throw-away NPC.
* Return to Ostagar (400 points, $5.00): Accessed in game. In this DLC you go back to the scene of the first major fight (ok, slight spoiler, but it is really early on) and look for the armor of a fallen king.
* The Stone Prisoner (1,200 points, $15.00): Accessed in game. This was one of the initial two DLC. Basically, this was what they added to try and get people to buy the game new. Shale is a golem character. This DLC is about recruiting Shale and later doing a quest to find a little background.
What to Expect:
* A relatively long game filled with numerous opportunities for combat
* Somewhat boring/bland/repetitive characters - who aren't too intelligent
* Tactics - some degree of micro-managing characters
* Characters running into walls or other characters during combat
* A camera that doesn't like walls
* "Choices" in how to complete several tasks
* 6 origin stories that may mention other characters you meet later in your quest.
* 3 races (human, dwarf, elf) and 3 roles (warrior, mage, rogue)
Achievements:
This version of the game gets 1,750 possible points. Basically they are for such things as beating stages of the game, romancing characters, killing enemies, etc. There are not difficulty ones in the main game, but there are a couple in the DLC. Apparently, Darkspawn Chronicles has an annoying one with keeping a certain creature alive that may be one shot only (even with multiple game attempts). i got 1,480 on my first play through of these - it took me about 44 hours. The main game + add-ons accessible therein took me about 30 hours, the expansion about 10 and the out of game DLC was about 1 hour and 15 minutes each. There are still about 145 points i can add from the main game (i just need to finish another play through doing certain things).
Sunday, May 22, 2011
My Weeks in Video Games
So what did i do in this week of the not quite rapture (and the previous)? Also what was i thinking about games related?
No, i didn't revisit Rapture (i have to remember to play the BioShock games eventually). i basically briefly played all of my XBLA games, finished off my playthrough of Last Remnant and played a bunch of Dragon Age: Origins.
* Does outside talk (like the rapture non-event) ever get you thinking that maybe your days really are numbered. Or maybe it is just the result of watching season 3 of Spin City and laughing more than i have in the previous 3 months combined. Afterall, i do fit too many of the old school "gamer stereotypes".
* My condolences (belated) to those PS3 users who had to do without the PSN. Online gaming is not my thing, but it sucks for those who like it. It is also kind of lame that they couldn't buy downloadable content.
* Shouldn't all hackers be subject to being drawn-and-quartered live streamed on the Internet? i think so. It is always these few people who can't play by the rules. These slime don't deserve to have access to any computerized technology - ever. i don't care what they say they stand for, it always boils down to greed and group manipulation.
* i made it through a week (somehow) of temptation to not do a weekly Game Room leaderboard check.
* E3 is coming up. Incorrect Premonition time - Lips Kinect connected to Harmonix (wouldn't that be odd)? Has Harmonix ever really attempted Karaoke (not just badly implemented "vocal" scoring in something like Rock Band)?
No, i didn't revisit Rapture (i have to remember to play the BioShock games eventually). i basically briefly played all of my XBLA games, finished off my playthrough of Last Remnant and played a bunch of Dragon Age: Origins.
* Does outside talk (like the rapture non-event) ever get you thinking that maybe your days really are numbered. Or maybe it is just the result of watching season 3 of Spin City and laughing more than i have in the previous 3 months combined. Afterall, i do fit too many of the old school "gamer stereotypes".
* My condolences (belated) to those PS3 users who had to do without the PSN. Online gaming is not my thing, but it sucks for those who like it. It is also kind of lame that they couldn't buy downloadable content.
* Shouldn't all hackers be subject to being drawn-and-quartered live streamed on the Internet? i think so. It is always these few people who can't play by the rules. These slime don't deserve to have access to any computerized technology - ever. i don't care what they say they stand for, it always boils down to greed and group manipulation.
* i made it through a week (somehow) of temptation to not do a weekly Game Room leaderboard check.
* E3 is coming up. Incorrect Premonition time - Lips Kinect connected to Harmonix (wouldn't that be odd)? Has Harmonix ever really attempted Karaoke (not just badly implemented "vocal" scoring in something like Rock Band)?
Friday, May 20, 2011
The Future of Video Games is Sort of Retro
Ok, now that you read the title, i bet you think i'm crazy. You may not be 100% wrong. Ready for some inane rambling.
Maybe this post is a little late (would have worked better before Kinect and Move hit). Maybe it is because i am from the generation that grew up with Atari 2600s and ColecoVision (and feel more nostalgic as the world seems more tragic).
Yes, i firmly believe that the future is somewhat retro. What do i mean? Well, you see... basically the modern game is an odd combination of trying to unnecessarily utilize every button on the controller (including clicking the thumbsticks). Complexity for complexity's sake does not necessarily impact immersion (or whatever term you want to use). Games are supposed to be a fun diversion (not a frustrating series of cheap enemies/bosses). Some of the older games had diabolical difficulties though. i don't find doing every stupid thing possible in a game to be fun (there are some things that should be done for me).
Game development costs are spiraling out of control. There is the disposable games threat from mobile platforms (like the Windows Phone or iPad). True, the console base has appeared to have grown, but can you successfully cater to different groups? Some users will not leave, but a significant portion of the user base is in play for "the next big thing". The future for the publishers looks to be attrition and consolidation. Even i have written off the "next" generation before it has even started(unless i win a large lottery jackpot).
Then you get into the whole "console within a console" scenario - which is XBLA and PSN (i would think). Many of these simpler games are actually what drives much of my purchases (or they were). The downloadable game at $10-15 is a lot more important than most people think. These spaces are underutilized and could be used for so much more. i personally like services like Game Room that allow me to revisit the youth i should have had (though hopefully they could get up to about the PS1 era).
If motion controls are to play a big part in the future (or as big as i think they will) - it's time to go back to the future. Or look to the past - because i think the paradigms used back then are more relevant today. You want the largest user base possible - and you can only count on generic shooter franchises for so long. i want my games to be more fun. Sure the "harcore" (whatever that means today) will decry this as a death of the industry - but i see a more "casual" route to a better policy (at least while the "casual" is still selling).
Older games had relatively simple control schemes (some of this was definitely due to a lack of technology available at the time). The buzz word now is "accessibility". It is not necessarily about "dumbing down" games (see Mass Effect 2), but more trying for a larger market. There are no real new ideas (see Hollywood movies) as everything has been done - it is about going back to what worked in the past and figuring out how to present things differently.
Maybe this post is a little late (would have worked better before Kinect and Move hit). Maybe it is because i am from the generation that grew up with Atari 2600s and ColecoVision (and feel more nostalgic as the world seems more tragic).
Yes, i firmly believe that the future is somewhat retro. What do i mean? Well, you see... basically the modern game is an odd combination of trying to unnecessarily utilize every button on the controller (including clicking the thumbsticks). Complexity for complexity's sake does not necessarily impact immersion (or whatever term you want to use). Games are supposed to be a fun diversion (not a frustrating series of cheap enemies/bosses). Some of the older games had diabolical difficulties though. i don't find doing every stupid thing possible in a game to be fun (there are some things that should be done for me).
Game development costs are spiraling out of control. There is the disposable games threat from mobile platforms (like the Windows Phone or iPad). True, the console base has appeared to have grown, but can you successfully cater to different groups? Some users will not leave, but a significant portion of the user base is in play for "the next big thing". The future for the publishers looks to be attrition and consolidation. Even i have written off the "next" generation before it has even started(unless i win a large lottery jackpot).
Then you get into the whole "console within a console" scenario - which is XBLA and PSN (i would think). Many of these simpler games are actually what drives much of my purchases (or they were). The downloadable game at $10-15 is a lot more important than most people think. These spaces are underutilized and could be used for so much more. i personally like services like Game Room that allow me to revisit the youth i should have had (though hopefully they could get up to about the PS1 era).
If motion controls are to play a big part in the future (or as big as i think they will) - it's time to go back to the future. Or look to the past - because i think the paradigms used back then are more relevant today. You want the largest user base possible - and you can only count on generic shooter franchises for so long. i want my games to be more fun. Sure the "harcore" (whatever that means today) will decry this as a death of the industry - but i see a more "casual" route to a better policy (at least while the "casual" is still selling).
Older games had relatively simple control schemes (some of this was definitely due to a lack of technology available at the time). The buzz word now is "accessibility". It is not necessarily about "dumbing down" games (see Mass Effect 2), but more trying for a larger market. There are no real new ideas (see Hollywood movies) as everything has been done - it is about going back to what worked in the past and figuring out how to present things differently.
Wednesday, May 18, 2011
Game Room - If i Were Rich 2.0, The Offers i'd Make
Just for "fun" i decided to revisit the compilation vs. Game Room argument. It is too bad that Game Room has been in stasis for a while - i kind of miss it. However, do you know what has been in a form of stasis even longer? The compilation disk of 80s and early 90s games. It seems that there really haven't been many released since 2007. i'm hoping that digital compilation (like Game Room) can pick up the slack.
Just for fun i am going to try and break down just how successfully some of the previous compilation discs have been, though i decided to omit anything before 2007. Some of my estimates may be in the ballpark, some may not be in the same solar system. i am using $30 for the price of these compilations. For development cost estimates, i will be using 15 salaried people (@ $50K each) working for 2 months. i will use this for every compilation. i will treat this as a constant ($125,000). For the gross estimate publisher take i am using 45% (which is the estimate for a $60 game). For the estimated net publisher take i am subtracting the above two numbers. The "Game Room" cash offer would be a one time licensing fee payable. When i am talking about guaranteed revenue from unit sales i mean 50% (or $1.50) per unit sale. The numbers i picked for Midway, Namco, Capcom and SEGA are mainly becuase the numbers of 2005 or so compilations they sold were at least 100K or because i didn't see a fitting compilation.
For a post potentially involving a lot of numbers this will have many words. i will also post what specific offer i would make to each of the publisher to try and get them on board with Game Room. If i would have had the right 6 numbers, i might have been trying this for real. But alas, it was not meant to be (at least yet...).
Let's start. i am using data from vgchartz.com - it may not be totally accurate, but it seems to be the best i can find (as real data isn't easy to obtain, especially without connections). Let the fun begin
Konami:
* Konami Classics Series: Arcade Hits (DS)
* Estimated Unit Sales (vgchartz): 30,797
* Estimated Gross Revenue (all levels): $923,210
* Estimated Publisher Take (Gross): $415,760
* Estimated Publisher Take (Net): $290,760
* Estimated Revenue Per Game (15): $19,384
* Game Room Cash Offer: $500,000 - $750,000 for 30-50+ games
* Game Room Offer: 30+ Games, guaranteed revenue of 2,000 unit sales each (first 12 months on service), minimum total revenue guarantee of $500K
- If Konami got 50% of revenues from their sales on Game Room, they would currently have a publisher take of about $210K (could be higher). Atari would be over $200K as well (probably higher as they did have unranked games too).
Taito:
* Taito Legends Power Up (PSP)
* Estimated Unit Sales (vgchartz): 26,546
* Estimated Gross Revenue (all levels): $796,380
* Estimated Publisher Take (Gross): $358,371
* Estimated Publisher Take (Net): $233,371
* Estimated Revenue Per Game (20): $11,668
* Game Room Cash Offer: $350,000 - 583,000 for 30-50+ games (extra $75-100K if includes Space Invaders)
* Game Room Offer: 30+ Games, guaranteed revenue of 2,000 unit sales each game (first 12 months on service), minimum total revenue guarantee of $350K.
Midway (WB), Namco, Capcom, SEGA
* Game Room Cash Offer: $750,000 - 1,000,000 for 30-50+ games
* Game Room Offer: 30+ Games, guaranteed revenue of 2,000 unit sales each game (first 12 months on service), minimum total revenue guarantee of $750K.
So, if i were rich and MSFT and the publishers were willing, my plan would be an outlay of $3.85 - $5.33 million. Now i guess you can see why MSFT could have been somewhat hesitant to spend that kind of money on a service that could potentially make about $2 million in revenue a year. The best way for MSFT would be to just split the revenue from sales with the respective publisher (50/50 or 40/60).
Just for fun i am going to try and break down just how successfully some of the previous compilation discs have been, though i decided to omit anything before 2007. Some of my estimates may be in the ballpark, some may not be in the same solar system. i am using $30 for the price of these compilations. For development cost estimates, i will be using 15 salaried people (@ $50K each) working for 2 months. i will use this for every compilation. i will treat this as a constant ($125,000). For the gross estimate publisher take i am using 45% (which is the estimate for a $60 game). For the estimated net publisher take i am subtracting the above two numbers. The "Game Room" cash offer would be a one time licensing fee payable. When i am talking about guaranteed revenue from unit sales i mean 50% (or $1.50) per unit sale. The numbers i picked for Midway, Namco, Capcom and SEGA are mainly becuase the numbers of 2005 or so compilations they sold were at least 100K or because i didn't see a fitting compilation.
For a post potentially involving a lot of numbers this will have many words. i will also post what specific offer i would make to each of the publisher to try and get them on board with Game Room. If i would have had the right 6 numbers, i might have been trying this for real. But alas, it was not meant to be (at least yet...).
Let's start. i am using data from vgchartz.com - it may not be totally accurate, but it seems to be the best i can find (as real data isn't easy to obtain, especially without connections). Let the fun begin
Konami:
* Konami Classics Series: Arcade Hits (DS)
* Estimated Unit Sales (vgchartz): 30,797
* Estimated Gross Revenue (all levels): $923,210
* Estimated Publisher Take (Gross): $415,760
* Estimated Publisher Take (Net): $290,760
* Estimated Revenue Per Game (15): $19,384
* Game Room Cash Offer: $500,000 - $750,000 for 30-50+ games
* Game Room Offer: 30+ Games, guaranteed revenue of 2,000 unit sales each (first 12 months on service), minimum total revenue guarantee of $500K
- If Konami got 50% of revenues from their sales on Game Room, they would currently have a publisher take of about $210K (could be higher). Atari would be over $200K as well (probably higher as they did have unranked games too).
Taito:
* Taito Legends Power Up (PSP)
* Estimated Unit Sales (vgchartz): 26,546
* Estimated Gross Revenue (all levels): $796,380
* Estimated Publisher Take (Gross): $358,371
* Estimated Publisher Take (Net): $233,371
* Estimated Revenue Per Game (20): $11,668
* Game Room Cash Offer: $350,000 - 583,000 for 30-50+ games (extra $75-100K if includes Space Invaders)
* Game Room Offer: 30+ Games, guaranteed revenue of 2,000 unit sales each game (first 12 months on service), minimum total revenue guarantee of $350K.
Midway (WB), Namco, Capcom, SEGA
* Game Room Cash Offer: $750,000 - 1,000,000 for 30-50+ games
* Game Room Offer: 30+ Games, guaranteed revenue of 2,000 unit sales each game (first 12 months on service), minimum total revenue guarantee of $750K.
So, if i were rich and MSFT and the publishers were willing, my plan would be an outlay of $3.85 - $5.33 million. Now i guess you can see why MSFT could have been somewhat hesitant to spend that kind of money on a service that could potentially make about $2 million in revenue a year. The best way for MSFT would be to just split the revenue from sales with the respective publisher (50/50 or 40/60).
Monday, May 16, 2011
Why i Suck at Shooters
i have been playing a lot of games that i had previously downloaded on my original gamertag. i decided that if i got a different console i would start up a new gamertag, because i had two consoles kind of fail on me (one sent in and replaced, that replacement was freezing frequently when i traded it in). Anyway, i was playing Shadow Complex - and i re-realized something - i suck at shooters)
So why am i so bad at shooters? Am i a lost cause?
My biggest problem is with the reticule (the little aiming device). i have a really hard time aiming with the reticule. For some reason it takes me longer than average to put the cursor exactly where i want it (and it is always a struggle to put it where i want it). It is worse in some games than others. i did manage to beat the first three Halo games single player at the normal or above difficulty settings. i guess that is one of the things that frustrates me with the current generation (and the abundance of shooters). Aiming in games like Alan Wake is kind of a nightmare for me.
i am kind of curious if it is the cursor move that is causing me problems or something else (like a brain processing delay). i am kind of curious if a different input method (like Kinect) would make it easier for me to target enemies.
i am not great at fixed shooters (stuff like Space Invaders, etc). However, most of the older ones i play are more of a matter of patterns or "bullet hell" dodging. Yes, i kind of like retro games (if my numerous posts on Game Room weren't evidence of that).
So why am i so bad at shooters? Am i a lost cause?
My biggest problem is with the reticule (the little aiming device). i have a really hard time aiming with the reticule. For some reason it takes me longer than average to put the cursor exactly where i want it (and it is always a struggle to put it where i want it). It is worse in some games than others. i did manage to beat the first three Halo games single player at the normal or above difficulty settings. i guess that is one of the things that frustrates me with the current generation (and the abundance of shooters). Aiming in games like Alan Wake is kind of a nightmare for me.
i am kind of curious if it is the cursor move that is causing me problems or something else (like a brain processing delay). i am kind of curious if a different input method (like Kinect) would make it easier for me to target enemies.
i am not great at fixed shooters (stuff like Space Invaders, etc). However, most of the older ones i play are more of a matter of patterns or "bullet hell" dodging. Yes, i kind of like retro games (if my numerous posts on Game Room weren't evidence of that).
Dview: Shadow Complex (XBLA)
The Bottom Line:
Shadow Complex is an XBLA title released by Chair/Epic Games. It is basically an action game based somewhat around exploration and killing generic bad guys involved in a nefarious plot. The game starts off with a guy (Jason) who goes on a date to a cave with a woman who picked him up in a bar. Wouldn't you know it, the woman he goes on the date with is captured. The character soon finds out that this is no ordinary cave - it is a complex that is in the shadows (so to speak). The game has been compared to Metroid and Castlevania in style. If this were longer it would have been an interesting retail game. i wish there was a sequel.
Grade: B+
What to Expect:
* Some exploration - aided when the game progresses by contraptions (like a grappling hook and SCUBA gear). Mostly it is going from point to point to move the story on (though you can venture off the path).
* There are a bunch of bad guys who can be dispatched with melee (B button) or guns
* 5 hours + length (more if you find everything)
* A bunch of upgrade items to find and collect (some of them are not exactly easy to get, or get to)
Achievements:
The achievements in this game are mostly straightforward. They are for stuff like getting X headshots, punting bomb things, beating the game (50 pts), etc. Some of them are a little more difficult - collecting all of the items, only collecting 13.
i finished the game at 6 hours and 20 minutes with 6 of 12 achievements. i only collected 69% or so of the items.
Shadow Complex is an XBLA title released by Chair/Epic Games. It is basically an action game based somewhat around exploration and killing generic bad guys involved in a nefarious plot. The game starts off with a guy (Jason) who goes on a date to a cave with a woman who picked him up in a bar. Wouldn't you know it, the woman he goes on the date with is captured. The character soon finds out that this is no ordinary cave - it is a complex that is in the shadows (so to speak). The game has been compared to Metroid and Castlevania in style. If this were longer it would have been an interesting retail game. i wish there was a sequel.
Grade: B+
What to Expect:
* Some exploration - aided when the game progresses by contraptions (like a grappling hook and SCUBA gear). Mostly it is going from point to point to move the story on (though you can venture off the path).
* There are a bunch of bad guys who can be dispatched with melee (B button) or guns
* 5 hours + length (more if you find everything)
* A bunch of upgrade items to find and collect (some of them are not exactly easy to get, or get to)
Achievements:
The achievements in this game are mostly straightforward. They are for stuff like getting X headshots, punting bomb things, beating the game (50 pts), etc. Some of them are a little more difficult - collecting all of the items, only collecting 13.
i finished the game at 6 hours and 20 minutes with 6 of 12 achievements. i only collected 69% or so of the items.
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