Wednesday, November 14, 2012
An 8bit era love/hate relationship
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Tuesday, November 13, 2012
Dat (Quick) Review: XCOM: Enemy Unknown
Real short and sweet today. Let's get to it.
XCOM is a turn based strategy game, something we haven't seen in ages. The 2 main focal points of the game are the actual combat, and then the resource management back at the main base. Will you put your money into armor and weapons or focus on building more laboratories? Will you go to help out Africa or Asia? What kind of group makeup will you have? This is what customizes your gameplay experience.
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Story is pretty simple. Aliens attack and XCOM is the international GTFO-bitch manufacturer. You play the commander of the XCOM force. The story progresses from simply repelling enemy attacks to trying to find out why they're here in the first place as they're not just out to nuke the world. Story doesn't really do anything compelling to the end. A lot of the time you end up going to randomly generated maps and on main missions (I think like 2 or 3 for me?) you go through a long UFO level, without anything remarkable there either. The story has a neat twist near the end though, and a good ending. It's nice to have an ending that's just normal, and not something retardedly overthought and failed like Mass Effect 3.
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Graphically the game does well on it's own. Nothing to write home about, but I won't say anything bad about it since the details stay pretty decent even at home base when you can zoom strangely close to see your soldiers running on the treadmill or knocking back some beers. Only problem I really had with the graphics were that the game was very dark, I feel the fog of war was VERY thick which darkens everything else, which dulls out the color.
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Gameplay is where the game makes it's money. Combat is well thought out and strategic. Take your party of 4 to 6 soldiers and outfit them how you like. I personally loved the Sniper; he was almost unfair. Everything seems well balanced. It is hard to describe the feeling of satisfaction you get from playing a turn based strategy game, it's something you have to do yourself. Personally I felt great after setting up a nice flank and rolling in on the baddies giving them no exit. Fucking dead son.
I have 2 complaints with the gameplay though. The first is that the targeting system feels pretty broken. I had to take a break after I missed 5 shots in a row with the LOWEST chance to hit at 90%. Sometimes it just feels like the game is fucking with you. It seems like an odd choice to add percent chance on your attacks on a game where it's so strategic and the death of your allies is permanent. Soldiers rank up in this game and the closer to Colonel rank they get, the more exponential the difference in combat.
The other problem is that discovering your enemies in the fog of war allows them to move about, which really discourages exploration and scouting in favor of waiting for all of your allies to reload and move up at once, and saving every turn. If they didn't get a free move when you encountered them for the first time, you would be able to set up ambushes, which would rock. Minor gripes though, they're gameplay decisions I don't agree with but don't break the game.
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Sound is good with some minor gripes. The music is pretty well suited to the game, something you'd expect from an epic action movie like Lord of the Rings (except with a lot more violins and no flutes). The voice acting is hit or miss. 2 of the 3 main characters at the home base are done very well, while the engineer just sounds like something from the old days of Sega CD or something. The soldiers voices respond well to the combat, but the variety is lacking. For such an international game it's a shame that there are no dialects or accents between any of the characters no matter what nationality, and for that matter no unique dialogue for any classes either. A small gripe, but it wouldn't went FAR on the polish if ya ask me. Weapons sounds are great, and all sound effects are just spot on.
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Replayability is probably the best part of this game. The combat is pretty addictive on it's own, and if you're an achievement whore you'll be beating this game a minimum of 5 times. There are such ludicrously hard achievements in there I'm not even gonna try. One of them was beat a mission with 1 soldier on the hardest difficulty. Yeah, that'll work. There's a great online component as I'm told, and Firaxis seems focused on making the online scene nice and competitive. Unfortunately I no longer pay Xbox for their online service so I can't test it out. Silly Microsoft.
Otherwise just playing the game different ways will keep people coming back. I honestly want to give a run through with all snipers if I could lol.
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Overall: 9/10
Game's a pretty good time. There are cheap moments in it but it's not a major detraction. The game is decently polished with no noticeable bugs in it, which is a relief after games like Red Dead, AC3, and anything Bethesda looks at. There's a ton to keep you coming back for more if you like it, and that's bang for your buck. Download the demo, if you like it, buy it. It's a shallow game in terms of what you see is what you get, you just get a lot of it.
XCOM is a turn based strategy game, something we haven't seen in ages. The 2 main focal points of the game are the actual combat, and then the resource management back at the main base. Will you put your money into armor and weapons or focus on building more laboratories? Will you go to help out Africa or Asia? What kind of group makeup will you have? This is what customizes your gameplay experience.
__________________________________________________________________________________
Story is pretty simple. Aliens attack and XCOM is the international GTFO-bitch manufacturer. You play the commander of the XCOM force. The story progresses from simply repelling enemy attacks to trying to find out why they're here in the first place as they're not just out to nuke the world. Story doesn't really do anything compelling to the end. A lot of the time you end up going to randomly generated maps and on main missions (I think like 2 or 3 for me?) you go through a long UFO level, without anything remarkable there either. The story has a neat twist near the end though, and a good ending. It's nice to have an ending that's just normal, and not something retardedly overthought and failed like Mass Effect 3.
__________________________________________________________________________________
Graphically the game does well on it's own. Nothing to write home about, but I won't say anything bad about it since the details stay pretty decent even at home base when you can zoom strangely close to see your soldiers running on the treadmill or knocking back some beers. Only problem I really had with the graphics were that the game was very dark, I feel the fog of war was VERY thick which darkens everything else, which dulls out the color.
__________________________________________________________________________________
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| Every soldier is completely customizable. |
Gameplay is where the game makes it's money. Combat is well thought out and strategic. Take your party of 4 to 6 soldiers and outfit them how you like. I personally loved the Sniper; he was almost unfair. Everything seems well balanced. It is hard to describe the feeling of satisfaction you get from playing a turn based strategy game, it's something you have to do yourself. Personally I felt great after setting up a nice flank and rolling in on the baddies giving them no exit. Fucking dead son.
I have 2 complaints with the gameplay though. The first is that the targeting system feels pretty broken. I had to take a break after I missed 5 shots in a row with the LOWEST chance to hit at 90%. Sometimes it just feels like the game is fucking with you. It seems like an odd choice to add percent chance on your attacks on a game where it's so strategic and the death of your allies is permanent. Soldiers rank up in this game and the closer to Colonel rank they get, the more exponential the difference in combat.
The other problem is that discovering your enemies in the fog of war allows them to move about, which really discourages exploration and scouting in favor of waiting for all of your allies to reload and move up at once, and saving every turn. If they didn't get a free move when you encountered them for the first time, you would be able to set up ambushes, which would rock. Minor gripes though, they're gameplay decisions I don't agree with but don't break the game.
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| Cover and height play huge in that game for shot advantages. |
Sound is good with some minor gripes. The music is pretty well suited to the game, something you'd expect from an epic action movie like Lord of the Rings (except with a lot more violins and no flutes). The voice acting is hit or miss. 2 of the 3 main characters at the home base are done very well, while the engineer just sounds like something from the old days of Sega CD or something. The soldiers voices respond well to the combat, but the variety is lacking. For such an international game it's a shame that there are no dialects or accents between any of the characters no matter what nationality, and for that matter no unique dialogue for any classes either. A small gripe, but it wouldn't went FAR on the polish if ya ask me. Weapons sounds are great, and all sound effects are just spot on.
__________________________________________________________________________________
Replayability is probably the best part of this game. The combat is pretty addictive on it's own, and if you're an achievement whore you'll be beating this game a minimum of 5 times. There are such ludicrously hard achievements in there I'm not even gonna try. One of them was beat a mission with 1 soldier on the hardest difficulty. Yeah, that'll work. There's a great online component as I'm told, and Firaxis seems focused on making the online scene nice and competitive. Unfortunately I no longer pay Xbox for their online service so I can't test it out. Silly Microsoft.
Otherwise just playing the game different ways will keep people coming back. I honestly want to give a run through with all snipers if I could lol.
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| Monthly report cards dictate your funding. Lose 8 countries and it's game over bro. |
Overall: 9/10
Game's a pretty good time. There are cheap moments in it but it's not a major detraction. The game is decently polished with no noticeable bugs in it, which is a relief after games like Red Dead, AC3, and anything Bethesda looks at. There's a ton to keep you coming back for more if you like it, and that's bang for your buck. Download the demo, if you like it, buy it. It's a shallow game in terms of what you see is what you get, you just get a lot of it.
Monday, November 12, 2012
Revelations of Final Fantasy
So if you're a friend of mine you would know that I've taken it upon myself to beat every Final Fantasy mainstream game, which means I thru XIII-2. After months of playing through a ton of chocobo infested games, I've decided to share my thoughts with what I have completed so far. I know there's a lot of people, dare I say the majority, that haven't touched a Final Fantasy before IV, VI, or VII, so maybe this will shed a little insight. Disclaimer; the only 2 games I haven't beaten are IV (I got pretty far in it as a kid, but got frustrated and quit) and V. So to begin I'm gonna go through the games individually from what I've just played and beaten.
While reading, listen to this song from the Double Dragon Neon OST. It's super awesome and super 80's and always puts me in a good mood. The guy who does it, Jake Kaufman, makes super awesome soundtracks and should show support by buying the album! Support good music!
City Streets 2 (Mango Tango - Neon Jungle)
Final Fantasy I:
I hear this was an epic back on the NES days. The first epic journey in video game form. I played through this one on the Origins disc on the PS1 because I don't own the NES version. I fucking hate this game. If I had played it when I was little, I would've thrown it out the damn window. I don't fucking get how anyone could get nostalgic about this game. Broken doesn't begin to describe this garbage ass game. It's a terribly confusing, insanely difficult (I would actually say the hardest game imaginable as there are ungodly amounts of cheap 1 shot fights and no saves in dungeons on the NES), and just a giant pile of non fun all for you!
There is no story. Technically there is, but I prefer to just say fuck it. Your goal is to use the 4 crystals to banish the evil or something like that. Whatever. Imagine someone telling you to go grab them a cup of coffee...from the fucking moon. That's the story. I'm aware of the limitations of such an early game, but it's just bad. If you don't throw your controller at least 4 times while playing this game, you're not human. Never play this game ever.
Final Fantasy II:
Less broken and an actual story. There are scripted scenes now which allow storytelling to take place. I played this one on PSP. The game is MUCH more balanced, but it's still not worth anyone's time. You have a main 3 person party, and always a guest. The guest is almost always garbage and feels like a waste. Instead of leveling in that game you get specific stat boosts according to how you play your characters. Hit a guy, gain strength. Cast a spell, gain mana. I really can't recommend this game to play either. Although it's not bad, it's definitely not fun. If you have to play it, play the Origins version so you can cheat and blow through the game =P
Final Fantasy III:
Played this on DS. Not a bad game actually, still not really great either. This is the game that introduces the job system. You have a ton of jobs you can take for your characters, and it's up to you to pick what. The job system is pretty cool at times, except when there's that ONE boss where you need to use a specific class that's otherwise useless. It would be fine if it didn't impose a standard 10+ battle penalty where you do reduced damage. It really discourages experimenting. There are a couple cheap spots in that game, specifically the final area. In the final area you play through about a 30 minute dungeon, fight 2 bosses, fight through another 40 minute dungeon with 4 more bosses (one in particular is obscenely difficult) and then the final boss. Not a save point to be found. I lost 2 hours of my life when I got to Cerberus. I had been whooping everything's ass but that boss just needs someone to absorb damage. After a week break, I came back, grinded a bit and beat it. Overall, play this game if you're bored and/or find it for cheap. I got mine for 5$ and I see them for 10 at Gamestops and I'd say it's worth it.
Final Fantasy VI:
Great game, but I don't think that'll surprise anyone. I still think this game is bizarrely overrated, but hey, my favorite game ever made is VII, and the same argument can be said. Game is super cool in the ways that they let you play with the formula of Final Fantasy. Every character gets a certain special ability, and they're almost all awesome. Played through this one on the good ol' SNES, and I had a great time except for the floating Fortress. Highly recommend it if not just to see the first really great Final Fantasy.
Final Fantasy IX:
Yeah, I skipped this one back in the day. This game blew me away. I was not expecting it to be this good. Story is cool, characters are interesting, battle system is a ton of fun, and most importantly the whole thing is an homage to the previous games. The part where you fight the bosses at the crystals is the exact same fights as in FF1, and that's pretty damn cool. Do NOT pass this game up, it is Final Fantasy perfected. Only complaint is there is no extra end game dungeon, just a hidden boss in the clouds. Kinda lame.
Final Fantasy XIII-2:
Here's my full review
Play the game for pretty graphics and decent battle system, and just realize it's the worst story, character interaction and dialogue, and conclusion ever thought up by a human being. How about just beat it and turn it off right before the bad part?
Final Fantasy VIII (Mid playthrough):
I've beaten this game before as a kid, but I remember almost nothing about it except for Squall in space lol. Just wanted to throw in that this game is a LOT better than I remember. So far it's a grind = rewards kind of game; if you don't mind taking time to set yourself up, you'll be obscenely strong. Named the main characters Scott and Ramona <3.
So it looks like they really didn't get good until the SNES era. Some people would argue that they were great for their time, and I would laugh at them. While they may have simply made a good formula for making Dungeons and Dragons from a board game into a video game, the first games were awful stand alone video games. Zelda, Crystalis, Star Tropics, all better games that don't suck huge assholes. There are games that take the limitations of the NES and produce a very high degree of difficulty and this is one of them. Unfortunately they didn't have the tuning or Ninja Gaiden or Contra, and they just end up being dumpster fodder. I've said it once and I'll say it again, video games above all else, are supposed to be fun, interactive experiences. Fun. Not terrible, fun. Contra is terribly hard, but fun. There is no satisfaction to be had from the older games, but we'll honor them as the place where the good games came from.
I'll have throw up an edit once I finish them all, but with XCOM, Borderlands, AC3, Dishonored, and RE6 sitting in front of me....it could be quite a while!
While reading, listen to this song from the Double Dragon Neon OST. It's super awesome and super 80's and always puts me in a good mood. The guy who does it, Jake Kaufman, makes super awesome soundtracks and should show support by buying the album! Support good music!
City Streets 2 (Mango Tango - Neon Jungle)
Final Fantasy I:
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| Beat this guy then turn the game off, because it will no longer be fun. |
There is no story. Technically there is, but I prefer to just say fuck it. Your goal is to use the 4 crystals to banish the evil or something like that. Whatever. Imagine someone telling you to go grab them a cup of coffee...from the fucking moon. That's the story. I'm aware of the limitations of such an early game, but it's just bad. If you don't throw your controller at least 4 times while playing this game, you're not human. Never play this game ever.
 |
| Blood Sword = Win in 4 hits. |
Less broken and an actual story. There are scripted scenes now which allow storytelling to take place. I played this one on PSP. The game is MUCH more balanced, but it's still not worth anyone's time. You have a main 3 person party, and always a guest. The guest is almost always garbage and feels like a waste. Instead of leveling in that game you get specific stat boosts according to how you play your characters. Hit a guy, gain strength. Cast a spell, gain mana. I really can't recommend this game to play either. Although it's not bad, it's definitely not fun. If you have to play it, play the Origins version so you can cheat and blow through the game =P
Final Fantasy III:
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| I wish I had named my main character Danzig. |
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| Hi I'm no motivation antagonist man. Die! |
Great game, but I don't think that'll surprise anyone. I still think this game is bizarrely overrated, but hey, my favorite game ever made is VII, and the same argument can be said. Game is super cool in the ways that they let you play with the formula of Final Fantasy. Every character gets a certain special ability, and they're almost all awesome. Played through this one on the good ol' SNES, and I had a great time except for the floating Fortress. Highly recommend it if not just to see the first really great Final Fantasy.
 |
| Super Sayan 4 Kuja. |
Yeah, I skipped this one back in the day. This game blew me away. I was not expecting it to be this good. Story is cool, characters are interesting, battle system is a ton of fun, and most importantly the whole thing is an homage to the previous games. The part where you fight the bosses at the crystals is the exact same fights as in FF1, and that's pretty damn cool. Do NOT pass this game up, it is Final Fantasy perfected. Only complaint is there is no extra end game dungeon, just a hidden boss in the clouds. Kinda lame.
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| You can beat 3 Bahamuts right? |
Here's my full review
Play the game for pretty graphics and decent battle system, and just realize it's the worst story, character interaction and dialogue, and conclusion ever thought up by a human being. How about just beat it and turn it off right before the bad part?
 |
| Iconic. |
I've beaten this game before as a kid, but I remember almost nothing about it except for Squall in space lol. Just wanted to throw in that this game is a LOT better than I remember. So far it's a grind = rewards kind of game; if you don't mind taking time to set yourself up, you'll be obscenely strong. Named the main characters Scott and Ramona <3.
So it looks like they really didn't get good until the SNES era. Some people would argue that they were great for their time, and I would laugh at them. While they may have simply made a good formula for making Dungeons and Dragons from a board game into a video game, the first games were awful stand alone video games. Zelda, Crystalis, Star Tropics, all better games that don't suck huge assholes. There are games that take the limitations of the NES and produce a very high degree of difficulty and this is one of them. Unfortunately they didn't have the tuning or Ninja Gaiden or Contra, and they just end up being dumpster fodder. I've said it once and I'll say it again, video games above all else, are supposed to be fun, interactive experiences. Fun. Not terrible, fun. Contra is terribly hard, but fun. There is no satisfaction to be had from the older games, but we'll honor them as the place where the good games came from.
I'll have throw up an edit once I finish them all, but with XCOM, Borderlands, AC3, Dishonored, and RE6 sitting in front of me....it could be quite a while!
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