Wingsticks in Your Face

See this? It's pretty much the flee's knees.

 Although I've been a gamer for as long as I can remember, I didn't venture into the PC side of things early enough to get to play Doom or Quake. However, I know enough to understand their impact on gaming so when id debuted Rage at E3 years ago, I was sure to pay attention. I think a lot of people were taken back by how amazing the game looked and how varied the combat felt. But when it finally hit stores, the reviews were good but not great, and the title seems to have been overshadowed by the metric tons of quality gaming being released this holiday season. I just finished my platnium run of it and, in the end, I think my opinion falls around where it's metacritic score landed it. It's not great, but it's good.

The story revolves around you, an unnamed protagonist who wakes up after society places him and a bunch of others in these things called arcs to jump start civilization after an asteroid hits. Things don't go as planned though when you find yourself in a wasteland covered with various bandit groups, mutants, and some group known as the Authority that appears to be bad, although you're never really given a reason why to hate them. After being rescued by a friendly bloke named Dan Hagar, you begin your fight against these antagonistic forces and try to bring some safety to the lands.

In other words, the story is pretty shitty.

Sorry you're not as interesting as me, bro.

 I wrote an article back in the day about the "silent protagonist" design choice and how it can be effective when used properly, Fallout being a good example. It can let you feel in the shoes of the character rather than just controlling some random dude. Alas, Rage doesn't really pull this off, as the lack of choices makes you feel like a dummy running around that fetches things for people and shoots things. It's a shame too because all of the other character you meet all feel unique and interesting, and you just happened to be the worst out of them. The fight against the authority feels flat too because the writing never really helps develop an anger or drive to top them, leading to the feeling that you're completing these quests because that's what the game wants you too rather than it has an impact on the world.  And to top it all off, the ending is probably one of the most anti-climatic ones I've ever gotten. It's safe to say that there isn't an ending, Rage just ends.

Graphically, Rage is a damn fine looking game. Rather than rendering each and ever object individually, using their new engine, id created what they call "megatextures" which are basically like giant blankets draped on the environments which help the game run at a smooth 60 fps regardless of how tense combat gets. While things might not look great super up close, running through the environments looks and feels great, helping to create a sense of immersion that's only shattered when you talk to people and realize you're just a shell. There is a bit of an issue of textures loading, with sharp turns being too quick for the engine to load what's in front of you, but I felt like I noticed it less and less as the game went on. Not really a hinderance.

We are so unpredictable!!

 There is a lot of attention paid to enemy AI, which is refreshing when compared to the other shooters on the market. Enemies will move about, take cover, and try to take you out with precision. No two battles feel alike and even the same battle, if you die and reload, feels fresh with the AI not moving about in set scripts or anything like that. Even the comments they shout to each other as their fighting you help them feel like characters, similar to the vibe Bioshock gave off. It's just a shame that you, once again, feel like the most shallow figure in the land.

The gameplay is a FPS at heart with some light RPG elements that I wish there were more of. Outside of a few armor and weapon enhancements, the main way Rage lets you vary your character is with ammo types, which really have the ability to turn the tide of any battle. With that and a few items like turrets, bots, and wingsticks (by far the most powerful and most useful weapon in the game), there are a few ways to play differently, but it doesn't go really beyond that. There are a handful of side missions and some mini games like kart racing and cards to play in town, but overall it just felt like it could have been more. The game feels like a FPS in an empty sandbox.

On the multiplayer side, you can kart race and battle which is fun at first but didn't really feel like my thing. There is also a spec ops mode of sorts called "Wasteland Legends" that lets you head through maps in the game with a partner while trying to clear out the area. I thought this was a lot more fun, but other than jumping into a quick match, there are no filters or anything to let you define the match you want to play. I had several times where I wanted to play thought a certain legend and had to wait 20+ minutes before someone joined my game. Frustrating to say the least. It's a fun distraction but nothing really more than that, unless you're the type that loves trying to climb leaderboards.

Let's kill these bitches.

Overall, I really liked Rage, but just felt like it could have been so much more. The story was crap but the gameplay and graphics really did enough to make the experience enjoyable. And I know id was trying to be different, but I think the multiplayer would have been so much better had they just done what everyone else is doing. With the different ammo and item types, death matches and capture the flag scenarios could have really been fun. I don't think it's Game of the Year material, especially this year, but I think Rage is definitely worth a try for any shooter fan.

Recappin', Fools!

We were promised HD! Damn you, Capcom!!!

So I've ignored you for awhile, my dear blog. The work for grad school has picked up and the fiancee and I are getting ready to move out next week, so time has been scant. But I haven't forgotten about you. Here's what you've missed over the past few weeks:

Resident Evil 4 fights with Resident Evil 2 usually as my favorite in the series, so I was really eager to get another excuse to run through it again as Capcom released the HD version. Using the HD tag seemed more a formality though because besides the characters appearing upres'ed, there was little HD to be found. The environments looked the same as they did back in the day and Capcom didn't even have the energy to change the aspect ratio on the typewriter save screen, leaving it barely able to fit on a widescreen TV. But these are minor gripes when it comes down to it since it's hard to mess up a classic, HD or not, since everything else remains the same.

My initial shock when playing the game was having to relearn the controls again, which felt way more awkward then I remember. But after awhile, I got used to it again and in no time I was shooting out legs and suplexing locals to save ammo with the best of them. The action held up well over the years and I felt that good tense the whole time, always nervous about what was going to come around the next corner. The cheesy dialogue brought a smile to my face and, in the end, I really enjoyed re-living the biggest leap forward the series took once again. The design choices really opened up the combat while maintaining that frighting restrictive feel that the series and Dead Space do so well. I played Shadows of the Damned a few weeks before and thought they would feel the same, but the latter definitely gives you way more freedom with rolling and the ability to shoot while moving that I hadn't realized wasn't in RE4.

Do a barrel roll, Leon!

 I was a little disappointed in the lack of the platnium, thought, and that really demotivated me for going through the campaign again in hard mode and grinding through the mercenary mode again. I also picked up Code Veronica, which was another game in the series I have fond memories of. But from what I've read online, it hasn't help up as well, so I've decided to let it sit on the digial shelf until I get hit a lull, which will probably be never at this rate.

After that, I kept the remakes going and played through both PSP God of War games, Chains of Olympus and Ghost of Sparta. The upres'ing from the PSP originals is pretty well done and, while they pale in comparison to GoW III for obvious reasons, they held up well in terms of combat and the trophy lists were very generous. Both were made by Ready At Dawn studies rather than Santa Monica Studios, and it was interesting seeing how much they improved from the first game to the next, back to back. Chains of Olympus felt solid but lacked enough polish that you could see that this wasn't made by the original studio. The combat is solid and everything you would expect from a God of War game is there, but it just is missing that little umph, feeling more watered down that those on the consoles.

I'm an F18, bra!

 Ghost of Sparta though really took things up a notch and I can see why some say its on par with GoW III in terms of gameplay. There are so many new wrinkles not seen in the others, like the Sparta Arms, the town sequence, and the final battle that really showed Ready At Dawn came into their own with their second crack at it. The badass combat and epic nature of the series shines and, although I'll stick with GoW III as my favorite, Ghost of Sparta definitely stands tall as an example to why the series is what it is.

Rounding out the remakes, I played through Ico, team ICO's first game. I got the collection mainly for Shadows of the Colossus, but the game has the reputation as being a masterpiece in terms of story and atmosphere, so I figured I owed it to myself as a serious game to experience it. My impression after two playthroughs is a bit mixed. It definitely has a memorable atmosphere. That much I'll agree with. Like Shadows of the Colossus, dialogue is sparse and the mood mostly dictates the story. You're able to piece together that Ico is locked in this castle to act as a sacrifice because of his horns when he meets Yorda, a mysterious girl who's being chased by these shadow thingers. You find out later that she's the daughter of the queen of the castle/shadow things and the two of you try and escape.

The controls aren't the most fluid, and there were tons of moments where I'm trying to do X but Ico does Y because he's an ass. Yorda doesn't help either since she's pretty useless and you have to drag her along through most of the game, and even that sometimes gets annoying because she'll stop walking sometimes and then that slows down Ico, so it feels like you're bobbing along more than running. She follows when called, but gets stuck on alot of environmental elements and when completing jumps and stuff like that, has to be in very specific spots and sometimes it takes the AI a few seconds to do.

Ughhh, c'mon woman!

The combat is pretty simple. Ico can use a piece of wood, or later on sword, club, or lightsaber (if your into that sort of thing) to beat the shadows back when they appear. He has a basic 3 hit combo that can ward off the shadows but gets tossed to the ground when hit once. That's when the shadows will try to drag Yorda down their blackhole of shadowiness and you need to scramble to you feet and yank her out in time or you get turned to stone medusa-style. It makes the combat sorta exciting, trying to get to her before it's too late, but it's basic at best, which is understandable since combat isn't the focus of the game.

The main focus of Ico is platform/puzzle solving and, while tricky at times, it's pretty straightforward for the most part. There is some backtracking involved which can get a little tricky since alot of the areas look alike, but the level design is fairly well done and it wasn't often that I was left scratching my head on where to go. However, once you know what you're doing, the game is very very short, capable of being beat in under 3 hours. I didn't love the game but was going for the plat anyways, but came up short with one gold that asks you to beat it under 2. Given the layouts of the save points, it's really tricky and you basically need to never mess up. I tried for the first 15 minutes and then got fed up and played normally, finished around 2 and a half. Freaking speed run!

Overall, I can see how different Ico felt from alot of the games out around then, but it's one of those that are more an experience rather than a fun game. It came out in the same year as Metal Gear Solid 2, Final Fantasy X, and GTA III, so there was alot for it get lost in the shuffle. I'm glad I played it, but really definitely think Shadows of the Colossus dwarfs it in all categories.

On my multiplayer nights, I've been playing Dead Island with my cousin and our friend, Dan, over the past few weeks. Basically playing like Fallout with less guns, more melee, and zombies, we've been trecking along this tropical island beating dead things to a pulp. It was fun at first, doing all the random sidequests and exploring all the nooks and cranies available, but the novelty has started to wear off about 20 hours in. The story is pretty lame which really creates a disconnect and while the fighting is varied with the different weapons and mods, it feels like the same thing over and over again and it's starting to feel like a chore playing it. It's not a bad game by any stretch, but definitely a disappointment when you consider that reveal trailer that blew up all over the internet. I've watched it a few times since and it still has that same sense of desperation and beauty about it that caught enough attention that, from what I've read, the script adaption for Dead Island will follow that template rather than the games. We were promised a tragic story that would bring the grim reality of a zombie apocalypse to a breathtaking setting. What we got...

Who do you Voodoo, bitch?!