Next up: FEAR

So, I saw FEAR Gold Edition on the shelf for 20$.

It's one of those games that never attracted me (bad marketing IMO) but that I would periodically hear people say "I should go play FEAR again."

The latest person to say that was a coworker of mine who's opinion on video games I hold in higher regard than most.

So I grabbed it.

And last night I fired it up.

And I should have done this game a lot sooner.

Once I finish it (by the end of the weekend, tops) I'll have a review.

But so far, I've been pleasantly surprised.

StarCraft: I Love The Smell Of Napalm In The Morning

Aside from the fact that some of the quotes are obvious ripoffs of pop culture references (even if they DO work for the characters) StarCraft has to be one of the most immersive and enjoyable games ever.

As far as RTS's go, it's probably my #1 favorite.

So that's why, when I saw the StarCraft Battle Chest on the shelf for ten dollars I bought two!!

My reasoning of course: I want to be able to play it multiplayer if any of my gaming friends come over.

And then, one of my friends came over!

==WE HAD A BLAST!==


As far as RTS's go, this game has one of the best storylines ever and even as far as the whole game genre as a whole goes, it's still damned good! And it's fun and generally unobtrusive.

What's more, the three playable races, as you play each, you start feeling like you are a part of that race hell-be-damned to the other races. Down with them all! (But leave Jim Raynor alone!)

The game is pretty good at balancing too. I don't feel underhanded playing any of the races, they just all take a different play style to manage effectively. (Meaning if you aren't familiar, you'll get your ass handed to you.)

It's a pretty old game by gaming standards these days, and some of the major upgrades in RTS's and how they handle are certainly missed. Sometimes, the pathing is extremely dumb, and some stuff should be more intuitive. Also, I really like being able to assign one of me worker units to patrol and "auto repair".

There are times, the computer opponent feels like it is cheating because of how fast it responds to things. Attack something with a cloaked unit, it immediately uses an ability directly at their location to expose that unit.

You get an army mobilized - the computer attacks it, and your base, and your forward position - ALL AT THE SAME TIME!!

But then, the computer is genuinely stupid at times too. If I take out a missile turret, it will usually never rebuild it - leaving me with a perfect opening now to just go in and begin decimation.

Things like that.

But hey, what the computer might lack in good sportsmanship, the game makes up for in game play. It's fun.

And I'm glad I tried it again. I am having a ball.

En Taro Adun, reader!

NWN2 drivel

Over the weekend I had the extreme pleasure and pain of dusting off NeverWinter Nights 2.

For the most part, it is highly enjoyable but there are some aspects that significantly detract from what could make it an extremely fun game.

For the good parts:
First, the story line. It's detailed, well-thought and interesting. If anything, the story is the one reason I keep coming back.

Item crafting is cool too! I like making my own weapons. And by leveraging the leveling on my comrades I can usually get my magical armors, etc.

It's D&D! And it's the second-best implementation of the core rules I've seen. (ToEE was better, but that game has a slew of issues all it's own).

Ultimately these things keep drawing me back.

But, I get disgruntled easily and here is why:

Camera controls - you have to hold the middle mouse wheel down to pan the camera - and there is no option to change it to the right mouse. Even to simply swap the buttons.

Keyboard: While actually playing the game (but thankfully not in the login screen for multi-player and not in the character creation) - the game remaps my keyboard back to QWERTY - even though QWERTY is not even installed on my computer. It refuses to use my Dvorak key layout for the in-game shortcuts. As a result, I have to press "p" to rest, and "J" for my character screen, etc. It's bad. And it's frustrating.

And when I go to remap the keyboard, the remap screen swaps BACK to Dvorak, so then I go to press "R" where "R" is on my keyboard, but then it inserts "O". I gave up and am relearning the keys by position instead of letter - "Rest" is top row, fourth key.

And then, we arrive to the worst of it all.

In order to do anything significant while in town, you have to interact with the NPCs, but every time someone does (like to talk, or to open a buy window, or anything really) all the other players freeze while they get to watch what the first one chose. This causes so much dialog related down time it is insane and again, frustrating.

So, since I am playing with friends, I am going to finish doing so, but the game will be going back on my shelf when I am done.

And really, that's a shame. Because the story and possible interactivity cries out to keep going.

The frustration factor keeps it in check.