January Goals: COMPLETE

So, January is behind us, and I made it. Admittedly, the goals I set for myself were not the loftiest, but a person has to start somewhere. It would have been rather demeaning to have failed on my maiden voyage. So, this is how things shook out.

Turns out, what I perceived to be the more challenging of the goals I'd set for myself was completed almost right off the bat. In 2009, I really can't recall if I played a Triple game to completion, at all. There's just something about the community/achievements/non-game versatility of the 360 that often makes turning on my Triple feel like I'm on a deserted island. So, I've resolved to get more out of my PS3 in 2k10, beginning with last year's highly rated Uncharted 2: Among Thieves. I'm not telling you anything new, to tell you that the game is spectacular. That it's one of the, if not THE most cinematic game I've ever played. What did surprise me, however, was that I played through the entirety of it over the span of two days. The game is very engaging & equally difficult to put down, once you've picked it up. I don't think I really need to sell you on it any further. I give it my highest of recommendations, & that's that.

Our coop goal for January took us back to my Game of the Year 2k9. Awkward controls and convoluted story be damned, Resident Evil 5 was easily the most fun I had in coop space last year. I would look forward to Grits and I's nightly get togethers, almost to the point of crack-head shakes. Also...

WELCOME TO THE GUN SHOW

So, across our 4 and about 1/4 play throughs, Grits and I had felt as though we'd just about wrung every bit of enjoyment out of RE5 that we possibly could have. The only thing really left, seemed to be to finish the game on the Professional setting. Some months back, we'd kind of hit a wall in the game, but still wanted that final achievement. For January, we challenged ourselves to finish that Professional fight. Grits's goal to finish Dragon Age took up most of the month, and with just two days left, we dove in. We had thought we would be banging our heads against a slow grind that we'd gotten bored with. We couldn't be any more wrong. Turns out, the story still made us laugh, Wesker was still a delightful prick, Grits had not yet tired of ogling, well... Me, as Sheva, and most importantly, that infinite, fully upgraded ammunition made us hilariously overpowered. Our only regret was that we were too powerful, in the end, to punch a boulder. Via con dios, boulder.

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Up Next: My goals for February are as follows,

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Single Player: Complete No More Heroes for the Wii. This should be difficult, as that I don't think I've finished a single Wii game in the years that I've owned one.

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Coop: Complete at least one Spec Ops mission in Modern Warfare 2. This one shouldn't present much challenge. We just feel like we're missing out on something that's gotten a lot of run.

The Most MASSIVELY EFFECTIVE First Impressions Allowed by Law

OMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMASSEFFECTGOMGOMGOMGOMG
OMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMGO
OMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMGO

Updates, forthcoming...

You'll never work in this town again: Kung Fu Chaos

So, kind of new feature I wanted to do on games that I thought had a certain something, but were ultimately condemned to never rise again. Today's entry will be Just Add Monsters party game/brawler Kung Fu Chaos.

Released in 2003, KFC scratched an itch that had been left open by Fuzion Frenzy, which was an off and on favorite for visits between Grits and I and many of our friends. What KFC added, was a stronger brawler set, a better setting, and the creative use of kung fu movie filters to liven up playbacks. The point of KFC being that you were a silly-ass character, modeled after Kung Fu movie tropes, doing stunts and being directed by a tastefully subtle homage to well-respected Asian directors.

Which, is where the game got in a bit of hot water. By and large, the game was called out for blatant racism. Being Super McWhitey, myself, it's hard for me to judge whether the game deserved such vitriol. I like things like Chapelle's Show and the movie Friday, so I occasionally have a hard time knowing where the line is. Though, in retrospect, that "Flied Lice", director is a little bit over the top.

All in all, the brawling was fun, but not dazzling. What really set the game apart from it's predecessors were the settings for the brawlers. All of them played out across movie sets which would scroll, add platform elements, animate backgrounds, and generally break down, adding to the B-movie theme. Afterward, you were allowed to watch a replay of what you did, complete with 70's film grain and painfully unfunny commentary from Mr. Director himself. Between these stages, you were treated to fun minigames that were challenging and offered the same post-game replays. I remember there being unlockables in the game but, for the life of me, I can't recall what they were. Rest assured, they were AWESOME.

In the end, Kung Fu Chaos sold poorly and Just Add Monsters folded, eventually becoming Ninja Theory, which most recently gave us the PS3 title Heavenly Sword. So, I guess things that came from their demise weren't all bad.

What kept bothering me about the game was the cries of racism coming from it's detractors. True, in hindsight, when I take a hard look at the game I can honestly see where it went overboard with the stereotypes it presented, particularly with the Director. Honestly though, when the people who gave us

and

as American analogues, maybe they could stand to be taken down a peg. Just sayin'.

Free at last! Free at last!

So I finished Dragon Age this weekend. This was a momentous event for me, and I am no stranger to finishing hefty games.

The thing about finishing Dragon Age that gave me such elation is that I can walk away from it. I started playing Dragon Age on November 27th 2009, I finished January 23rd 2010. My final save clocked in at 107 hours 58 minutes. Now I know that I played this longer than the vast majority of people who have finished and enjoyed it, but I skew towards completionism in my gaming.

I really enjoyed this game, especially the end sequence (more on that to come). Games like Oblivion and Fallout 3 have helped break me of my completion compulsion to some degree. For some reason though as large as Dragon Age is, it is sliced up in a way that my compulsion took over. These are the thoughts that went through my head hundreds of times.

Why shouldn't I clear this map before loading to the next area?
Who knows what could happen if you talk to this person?
I know you haven't had a good loot drop in days, but killing this guy will be different.

I came away feeling relieved to be finished with Dragon Age because I really started resenting the hold it had on me, and it was starting to sour me to it. My 'pile of shame' (games that I have but haven't touched yet) has grown out of control. I would think about all these other games that I could, and should, be playing and it would bother me. Now in retrospect I think about how many of those games I could have finished in the 108 hours Dragon Age took from me. I seriously wonder if it was worth it, regardless of how much I enjoyed the game.



The real dilemma of all this is that Mass Effect 2 is coming out this Tuesday. Another huge Bioware RPG... I have been really excited about it, despite my issues with the first one. I can't believe I'm saying this, but I think I'll pass for a good long while on it. I feel like a man who has just broken himself out of shackles and chains. I just can't allow myself to be strapped into a new set, even if they are made from stylish moon rocks... Maker give me strength!

The most Bionic of all FINAL JUDGEMENTS

So, that was fast. It's as though Bionic Commando and I hardly knew one another. Yet, we've grown so close during our time together. So close, in fact, that I'm ready to open with THE BAD.
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Too Short:

I struggle with this because, and Grits will certainly agree with me, that games really should know where to cut things and bring down the length a little. It's hard to know whether Grin could have provided more compelling gameplay, or filler. As it stands, however, the 6 or so hours I got out of the game felt pretty short.

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MY EARS!: Being a long time fan of Mike Patton, I simply cannot bring myself to blame his voice work for this, so don't ask me to. The dialogue in this game sounds like it's between a petulant 16 year old and an authority-mad junior high shop teacher. Almost every bit of dialogue is spit with enough hate to make your average Kotaku commenter jealous, and it all stinks.

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Wait, what?: The story in the game is, if you can get past how edgy it is, not entirely bad. At the end of the game, especially, it take some risks and, if not utterly confusing me, intrigues me a bit. Unfortunately, it seems like there are parts missing. Characters are introduced, but their involvement or motives are never really explained. There's a great deal of dead space, as far as story goes, in the middle of this game. Would have been nice if they'd shined a light in some of the more confusing corners during that time.

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Unsatisfying Collectibles: There are small collectible orbs lying all around the world. So far as I can tell, finding them doesn't seem to do anything. Maybe finding them all unlocks something, but I have no knowledge of this.

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Save Points: There were a noticeable amount of times in the game where I died (look, I don't mind a challenging game) and the game sent me back a bit further than I would have liked. I don't mind re-playing a challenging battle, I'd just rather not be treated to the five minutes of swinging it takes to get to the battle every time.

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Mediocrity: The thing the game suffers from most, is that it just never really grabbed me. I had a decent time with it. The game just felt, top to bottom, like a B- in all areas.

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So, that should give you some clarity as to why to avoid it, now let me know why I was enjoying the game with THE GOOD.

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The Sultan of Swing: Easily the best thing about the game is the swing mechanics. It rarely, if at all, felt awkward at any point, and more often than not felt natural. Grin really should have received more props for what they did in that regard.

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Wait, what?: I like a good B movie, and as bad as the dialogue is, it is entertaining in a Cobra sort of way.

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Mike Patton: Nuff said.

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Mediocrity: Kind of a weak "Good", but the game was better than I thought it was going to be.

So, the FINAL JUDGEMENT passes that Bionic Commando was just "Ok".

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As far as recommendations go, you could do worse. If you're tolerant of mediocre games, and you can get it for cheap like I did, I say go for it. It's a good fill of about 6 hrs and 500, or so Achievement points. I would not, however, recommend you pay anything close to retail for this game. This FINAL JUDGEMENT would have had a quite different tone if I had done so.

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Next up: Looks like Grits is going to do me a solid and pick me up Mass Effect 2 this week as an early birthday present. I'm as giddy as a schoolgirl!!!

The Most Bionic of All First Impressions

So I've crossed the threshold. There's no turning back now. It's just me, Mike Patton, bad dialogue, and the post-apocalypse. Yea, truly, this is the Age of Bionic Commandos.

So far, the game really doesn't seem to be as bad as reviews make it out to be. It's true that things like Radiation and Water make for piss-poor, frustrating border control, but it skews close enough to a challenge than it does cheap frustration for me to forgive it. If, in my initial couple of hours, Bionic Commando suffers from anything, it's from simply being mediocre. I'm beginning to think that I've been spoiled for far too long with AAA titles that I can't just step back and enjoy a B-grade game every now and then.

I have to say, the swing mechanics have been pretty fun so far. Unlike my experiences with Mirror's Edge, where the parkour was only fun when you could keep the momentum going, Bionic Commando's swing isn't nearly as hard to sustain. It can, actually feel pretty badass, when I've really got my mojo going.

I can't tell if the story really is awful, so far, or if it's just the dialogue. I can't quite put my finger on it, but it's reminding me of something. Everything is constructed to be spat, bitterly by people who're far too aloof & hate the ever living daylights out of everyone forever. On the other hand, hearing my main man Mike Patton trying to deliver these shit sammiches has been making me laugh a lot.

I keep hearing that there's some crazy twist coming up. Can't wait to get to it.

You've let me down, America

Kotaku reported today, based on another article they found at the dreaded Gamespot, that the BESTSELLING game of ALL TIME in America is... Wii Play.

Seriously America? Seriously?! You needed the extra remote that badly?! You sold out on me, America. It's like I now know how Hunter Thompson felt when he lost the Sheriff's race in Aspen. The dream is over. I'll never have MY America back, now. You've all been lost to the great casual behemoth.

BRUTAL JUDGEMENT

So, I'm done... For now. I have to say, I put way more time into Brutal Legend than I ever thought I was going to. I've, thus far written WAY too much about my playtime, so I'll try to wrap this up as succinctly as possible. Up first, the BAD:

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Stage Battles: For the greater part of the game, I dreaded these. They're clunky, difficult to understand, and you often feel at a severe organizational disa

dvantage vs the AI.

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Wide Open World: How wide open is one of the initial charms of Brutal Legend. It's landscape is littered with amazing vista designs dedicated to the Heavy Metal theme. Unfortunately, the farther you get into the game, the more tedious it becomes to traverse the landscape. Double Fine could have avoided this tedium by simply making the Motor Forges, which you summon at various locations throughout the world anyway, warp points as well as shops.

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Multiplayer: The progression of the Stage Battles was really just a tutorial and slight dick-tease to try to get you to do the online multiplayer. At least one of the best troops in the game was only given to you on the penultimate Stage Battle. Not to mention, the other two factions in the game were never playable at all in Single. Think about how it would be, playing StarCraft & only being able to play the Space Marines story... Er... Well, original StarCraft, anyway.

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Maybe a bit much at the Metal Forge: Upgrading yourself is one of the more compelling things about Brutal Legend, but at some point in the game, it begins to all feel like filler. Items that are expensive, but really make little difference in the gameplay, or worse, some which are simply cosmetic. Would have rather seen more consideration paid to what some upgrades would do, or have the shop pared down a bit.

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So... A little rough, but not overwhelming. Now, on to the GOOD:

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The Story: In the end, I feel bad for people who aren't willing to slog through Brutal Legend to be awarded with an epic, well-written, creative narrative. As far as story goes, Tim Schafer deserves every bit of the reputation he has. Like I had to tell you, or anything.

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The Design: If you have any affinity for Metal at all, it's hard to resist the charm of the world they built. Absolute perfect compliment to the vision of the game. The subtle nods to metal lore is great.

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The Characters: Top Notch, every one of them. Not to mention, extremely well voiced. Jack Black goes above and beyond what would generally be asked of a CELEBRITY voice actor in a game to bring life to Eddie Riggs. The thing that really put me on my ass, however, (even though I'd heard rumblings about it) was what amazing performances the celebrity musicians gave. Lita Ford, Rob Halford, and Lemy Kilmeiser are all surprisingly good in their roles, but it's Ozzy Osbourne who really shines through as the Guardian of Metal. The game is commendable for not using it's celebrity voices to advertise the game, but to compliment it.

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The Legend: Throughout the game, you are able to unlock short cinematics giving you an in-depth back story on the world of Brutal Legend and the events that led up to state of said world. They are awesome. Way awesome.

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The Collectibles: From Dragon Statues, to Legends, to Hunter challenges, to non-frustrating Racing, to etc., this game gives you plenty to chase after. In most cases, it gives you either tiered, or full-completion rewards that affect the gameplay nicely.

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The Stage Battles: What is this?! CONTRADICTION! Well, yeah. Sort of. Turns out, the stage battles can actually be pretty fun, once you know what you're doing. After completing most of the Stage Battles (which, actually comprise a rather small portion of the game, if you're going after everything.) and finding myself quite frustrated with them, I threw aside personal pride and went a-searchin' for some guides. Turns out, I really didn't know what I was doing at all. Following these guides, I began to find an enjoyment in these battles. It made me want to go through the game again & see what my new found knowledge would get me. Unfortunately, I don't think anyone will "get", how to play the game on their first playthrough. The game has painstaking tutorials, I just think that it never really gives you a clear idea how to strategize properly.

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Yep. Succinct. That's me. What can I say? The feeling just takes over me. In the end, I'm really glad I pushed my comfort zone on Brutal Legend. I'm on the fence as to whether the post-mortem hype around the game, calling it a major disappointment is apt. I certainly got bogged down, myself around the middle of the game. However, I've come out the other end with changed perceptions as to what Double Fine was trying to do. If you do happen to pick up Brutal Legend, and I suggest that you do. If you find yourself frustrated by the Stage Battle play, I would also suggest that you look into guides on GameFaqs, or elsewhere. I do have to say that I really, REALLY hope that they're allowed to forward this story. It will be hard to imagine, considering sales, that we'll see a sequel to Brutal Legend, but I'm placing big hopes on it. Big hopes, indeed.

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Up next, I shall brave the post-apocalyptic as The most Bionic of Commandos!

Brutal Legend: Supplemental

Brutal Legend and I have spent a great deal of time together these past two days. One would infer from that, that I'm really enjoying the game. This theoretical one would be fairly close to the mark, but not quite on target.

I spent several hours yesterday tracking down as many of the collectibles in the world as I could find. Freeing Dragon Statues, viewing Legends, hitting side quests, and purchasing garbage from Ozzy. Much of that can get fairly tedious, but the rewards are almost always worth the work. Most noteworthy is how much of what you do on the collectibles side gives you tiered benefits and upgrades. My favorite of all, so far, are the Legends which give you insight into the background lore of the Heavy Metal world. Oddly enough, everything I've done outside of the single player campaign has been monumentally more rewarding than what I've done inside of it.

The Stage Battles are still something I really don't look forward to. I'm not mad at the game for including them anymore. There's actually an interesting structure and balance to them that can, under certain circumstances, make them suspenseful and challenging. Unfortunately, the clumsy mechanics more often than not simply make them frustrating.

All in all, I'm enjoy-hating the game. I'm enjoying the story a fair deal. It's gotten a bit more serious than I'd been led to believe it would be, but it's still engaging even in this fashion. The games greatest strength is still it's setting. Games, in general, should really take some notes from Brutal Legend on how to build atmosphere.

I'm getting the feeling that I'm quite far into the game, so look forward next time, kids, for my earth-shattering FINAL THOUGHTS!!!

The greatest stories that have ever Ben written

This article at Kotaku caught my eye today. It's about the Writers Guild of America and the fact that they now award honors in the video game writing space. Specifically, this year's nominees are:

Assassin's Creed II, Story by Corey May, Script Writers Corey
May, Joshua Rubin, Jeffrey Yohalem; Ubisoft Entertainment
Call of
Duty: Modern Warfare 2, Written by Jesse Stern, Additional Writing
Steve Fukuda, Story by Todd Alderman, Steve Fukuda, Mackey McCandlish, Zied
Rieke, Jesse Stern, Jason West, Battlechatter Dialogue, Sean Slayback;
Activision
Uncharted 2: Among Thieves, Written by Amy
Hennig; Sony Computer Entertainment
Wet, Written by Duppy Demetrius;
Bethesda Softworks
X-Men Origins: Wolverine, Script Writer
Marc Guggenheim; Activision

Now, I can't speak on behalf of Wet or Assassin's Creed II, because I haven't played either of them. I have heard an overwhelming amount of feedback on both titles that would lead me to believe that one is written exceedingly well, and that one's story isn't fit to line a birdcage. I'll leave it up to you to puzzle out which is which. I will say that, out of the other three titles, I believe that one, unequivocally, deserves to be there, one is arguable, and that friggin' Wolverine is a whiff as a choice.

Now, please believe, I genuinely enjoyed Wolverine: Origins. It was a lot of visceral fun. The story was nothing to write home about & the dialogue did little to move me. Uncharted 2 was about as good as you can get for a current video game, dialogue-wise. As for story, it was exceptional, except for a little deus ex bit at the end which parallelled problems I had with the original. Modern Warfare 2, however, is the most interesting choice of all, to me, because it really calls into question what the Writers Guild's criteria is for what makes good video game writing.

Now, I know giving MW2 the biz for having a meat head story is the hip things to do these days, but I believe that most people who have their heads on straight can appreciate the story for action-movie fun that it is. That's not to say, however, that should necessarily earn it best writing accolades. I mean, those of us who've gone the distance in single play can attest that the game does get a little ridiculous toward the end. On the other hand, I do have to admit that the dialogue in the game never feels stilted or forced, and the military jargon always sounds genuine and flows well. I'd personally like to know what the WGA bases it's picks upon. Honestly, so far as I can tell from poking around at the WGA website, their criteria seems to be based upon what's popular.

So I ask, what does make a game's writing exceptional? Dragon Age's various and sundry stories are by and large engaging. However, due the poor graphics engine and the fact that the protagonist you play always stares stupidly at whomever they're talking to, I've often felt myself pulled out of the experience.

How about Brutal Legend? True, the gameplay misses the mark by a fairly large margin, but I've found the writing thus far to be both creative in regard to story, and endearing when it comes to dialogue and character development.

Finally, how can Telltale Games and their work with Wallace and Grommit, Sam & Max, StrongBad, and the Monkey Island series not get a single nod? What, does the same Comedy Curse that plagues film apply to games as well?

Really, this business is just another example of how the "outside world" still can't quite get it's head around video games. I have to admit, considering the list, I'm surprised that Wii Sports doesn't somehow get nominated every year.

Oh, and for those in the know, remember: Never go full retard.

Gran Turismo 5 Delay... Again

Personally I have never really been hooked on the GT series. I never liked the sense of speed (or lack there of) or the hundreds of Honda Civics in the game. I'm sure another delay sucks if you are a fan of the game, or maybe after so much abuse you just can't react anymore.

It has now been in development since before it was announced in 2006, they have already charged fans $40 to play a demo version in Gran Turismo 5: Prologue that came out in April of 2008.

Something in me can't stop laughing at the 15 car pile-up that development and marketing of GT5 has become.

Splinter Cell: Conviction delayed to April

Hopefully the delay is related to upping the quality of the game, rather than just to get the hell out of the way of the games that were already getting out of the way of the games that came out at the tail-end of last year.

I miss pinball

Saw on Kotaku today, that in celebration of the painfully unnecessary Ninja Gaiden Sigma, that a new Gaiden-themed table is being released for Zen Pinball on the Triple. I curse this, being a Pinball FX loyalist, and also being someone who eschews downloading anything for the Triple, as it is a rocky garden where my gaming seed shall find no purchase.

It also illuminates another troubling trend with Zen Studios. That of the over-the-top table. The third, and final, reason I prefer Pinball FX to Zen Pinball, is that Zen marked a turn for Zen Studios who had, until then, created tables which were, reasonably, realistic.

I've been a fan for, pretty much, all of my gaming "career". Sure, arcade games greater influence cannot be denied, but I always had a special place in my heart for bangin' the ol' silver balls around a bit. My love for them only amplified when I was in High School. I had a job at at the Carmike 6 Theaters which featured two rotating arcade cabinets and one rotating pinball table. During my tenure there, we had two tables. One was a bass fishing-themed one, of which I cannot remember the name. That one, one of the employees figured out a way to lift the speaker on the bottom of the table and get free credits. The guy who rented the tables to us nearly crapped a kitten and chewed out the staff for a half an hour when he found out. The other table, was the classic Addams Family table, themed after the Raul Julia epic.

I always found myself charmed by the just-above-NES pixellated movies displayed on the score screen, the cheapy, Billy-Bass-like rubber fish robot, and effects like the lighter "Ghost Ball", on the Addams table. When playing Pinball FX, I enjoyed that all of their tables, though the technology could do otherwise, restrained themselves and delivered an authentic experience. I liked the fact that the tables would, occasionally, glitch on me when the ball would get stuck after getting knocked into an area that wasn't intended to hold the ball and I'd have to tilt hard to get the ball back. I had always liked the idea that I was playing a machine made of physical parts that were just as fallible as my own meaty frame.

Zen Pinball, however, bucked this trend with features like over the top cannons, balls coming out of places that, mechanically, didn't make sense, and an ever-sodding voodoo drummer. It's the last thing that bothered me the most. Recently, an "Earth Defense" table was released for my darling Pinball FX and an enemy robot was the main feature of that table. Don't get me wrong, I don't mind a robot. I was in love with a pinball-fish robot for the better part of a year or so. I just want one that moves, talks, emotes in a manner I deem realistic.

This post has become a ramble, and I apologize for it. It's a TESTAMENT to my love of the mostly-dead art of the physical Pinball table. Pinball FX had shown me that the sort of table I love still had a place in the digital world. I'm afraid, however, with the way that Zen Studios is trending, that my love is not in the majority. I still enjoy these overblown tables, like the Earth Defense and the upcoming Ninja Gaiden table, I just hope that Zen and other studios willing to produce digital tables will toss me the occasional throwback bone.

You hatin'!

Grits does not play games... He simply does not. He hates them, without quarter.

Microsoft is after my heart, yet I worry.

For those who don't know, today at CES, MS officially revealed the Xbox Game Room. An actual, virtual Arcade within your Dashboard, as opposed to the virtual, virtual one that is Xbox Live Arcade. So, it seems it will feature purchasable arcade, Intellivision, and Atari 2600 games. This. Sounds. So. Hot... To me. I'm far more adoring of classic arcade games than my blogospherical counterpart, and the additional feature that allows you to customize the classic virtual cabinets that come with the games makes it all the sweeter.

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Now, to the obvious worry. The cost. I'm not the kind of zealot you'll often find online who'll crap all over this idea cuz "YOU CAN GET T3H MAM3 FOR FR33ZORZ, MS!!!", or other such. I'm generally happy to be able to get something legally for a reasonable price. Problem is, MS isn't well known for being all together reasonable about pricing on things like, say, emulation of really really really old games. Please, MS, don't ruin this for me. Don't. And bring Bad Dudes. Bring it hard.

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Supplemental: Watched a video last night of Kotaku editors playing around with this thing. Apparently, there's even more options for customizing your Arcade than I'd initially thought. Looks like you have six rooms along two levels, each one with several options for theme and decoration. There also appears to be some historical literature that comes with each cabinet you buy. Like that. Also, saw someone commenting that games might be 40pts each. I could go for that, but that price seems so low that it had to be someone just shooting their mouth off, rather than the truth.

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In the dislike column, however, it appears that your avatar does not simply wander through your Arcade. You move the camera around the Arcade. Boo, but minor Boo.

Depeche Mode reference...

Enjoy the Silence

I played the Dark Void demo on the 360. There are some good things about the game in principle and I want to like it, but it just isn't feeling that immersive to me. A big thing that is breaking the experience for me, is that the music is so loud and intense the whole time you can't really hear anything else subtle in the game. This is making the world feel empty and hollow. I can't even hear footsteps or anything to reinforce that the player is moving in this world.

To prove these devs weren't fully crazy I went into the options and turned the music volume way down, sure enough there are movement and ambient sounds in the game. I can only come to the conclusion that Dark Void is an elaborate demo tape for an alien syth-rock band.

Interest in freefall...

MY EARS!!!

Pro tip for podcasters/bloggers/peeps in general. If you know something about, say, how a badass Krogan mercenary appearing as an NPC in a sequel to a space-faring RPG appears, KEEP IT TO YOURSELF. At the very least, drop some alerts on some folk. The fanfic I'm making in my head about how Wrex appears in Mass Effect 2 will, ultimately, make how it actually happens all too disappointing. Not alpha, Brad. Not alpha.

The Ozz Man Cometh...

And yea, Brutal Legend and I gathered together last night for parley. Lightning cast forth from my controller and, yea, I harnessed it with my mighty gauntlets of METAL.

I'll be damned if it isn't kind of addictive to talk like that. That sort of over-serious dedication to the sort of Pagan/D&D METAL universe has, initially endeared me to Brutal Legend. However, what I want to talk about is how sodding good the "acting" is in this game. In particular, Ozzy Osbourne, and the little bit I've experienced of him. He plays the "Guardian of METAL", (or something like that) and the quality of both his dialogue and his delivery thereof. Considering what I know of Ozzy this late in his life, it's amazing how clearly, and with what dedication he delivers them. Thusfar, he's my favorite part about the game, though I know Lemy is coming up.

To be honest, I'm really pinning a lot of hopes on the on BL. I WANT it to be as good as it's story. Unfortunately, there has been a lot of reviews to the contrary. I hate this. I shouldn't, but that poor reception is going to, at least partially, color my judgement of the game going forward. It's like I should quit reading "gaming journalism" altogether, yet I can't look away.

Also, as far as I'm concerned, DOAX2 is still on like Simon Le Bon, haters be damned!

No way DOA

As much as I have an soft spot for DOA games, there is no honor, only deep shame in getting DOAX2 achievements. I am ready to call it, that game has the worst conceived achievements of all time.

My gaming goal for 2010 is to finally get all the achievements in Dead Rising, the polar opposite of DOAX2 as it has some of the the best achievements ever made.

Anyway, back to real stuff. I am starting to hate Dragon Age... Because it is keeping from playing anything else. I want to play Assassins Creed 2, Demon's Souls, and Torchlight. Not to mention Bayonetta that comes out tomorrow, but I just have to look at all of them like I'm a little kid and say "sorry, I can't play I've got chores..." Somehow I got the completionist bug for Dragon Age, it is unhealthy and I'm trying to kick it, but I will finish the game this month come dragons or ages.

It's always nice to have goals.

So, Grits, and I have decided that we need motivation. Heretofore, we'll be posting monthly Gaming Goals for ourselves. The hope is, that if we post these things, then we'll be compelled to finish games/play something outside of our comfort-zone. So far, it's already worked pretty well.

My gaming goal for the month was to play something on the Triple. You see, I always feel so isolated playing on the PS3, like I'm playing something that should be shared with everyone and matter, but it doesn't. Oddly, I've already completed my goal in finishing Uncharted 2 in the span of about two days. The game is, for the most part, spectacular. Even when it's not, it's still pretty sodding good.

Grits goal for the month is to complete Dragon Age. Yea, it is truly the age of Grits being somewhat frustrated that DA is taking up so much of his gaming time. Somehow, Grits has put in well over 100 hours, so far, and doesn't seem to be that close to finishing. Yea, this is truly the age of getting one's ass in gear.

Our coop goal for the month is to go back and finally finish Resident Evil 5 on it's most difficult setting. Grits and I had a helluva time, earlier this year, playing the hell out of that game nightly. For the most part, it sort of ran it's course with us, but we both want to have that sense of completing the game for all it has to offer. Or, as Chris Redfield so succinctly put it, we are "So sick and tired of it's BULLSHIT". Nice Bonus, indeed.

Anywars, we're also trying to come up with goals of the year for ourselves. Grits tells me that my initial idea of attempting to get all of the achievements in DOAX2 is forbidden. We'll just see about that.

And in this corner!

Yeah, I'll be writing here too. Please do enjoy.

In the beginning...

This blog is going to chronicle the awesomeness that is gaming for me and my boy Razorburn2021. If you find it interesting then... Shame on you!