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Monday Gaming Diary: Video Games: the Movie

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I was lucky enough to receive a screener copy of Video Games: the Movie before it goes on sale on iTunes tomorrow, and I was really impressed with how deep the documentary delved with the video game industry. I’ve seen a few other video game documentaries, one was a week-long mini-series put on by the History Channel (I think it was that channel), but none went beyond just looking at the history behind the industry.

Of course Video Games: the Movie thoroughly explores the history of video games, but it also went into the current culture of gaming, how that culture developed, the phenomenon of e-sports, and where gaming is going in the future.

I reviewed it for Action Trip, and here’s a little snippet of my thoughts from there:

I’ve seen a couple of other documentaries on video games, and they all simply covered the history, which is interesting enough, but I was pleased that this one explored other areas that will appeal to gamers. For example, the film studied one of the more popular arguments amongst critics right now, and that’s whether video games can be considered art. They also examined the argument that video games cause violence–to which Tommy Tallarico of Video Games Live gave the best quote of the entire movie: “Hitler didn’t play Crash Bandicoot.”

I personally can’t recommend checking out this documentary enough when it becomes available. I may torture my documentary-loving parents with it the next time they are in town.

Why I Wish There was a Wolfenstein: The New Order Strategy Guide

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Wolfenstein: The New Order was by no means a truly difficult game to really burn through–although there were some stealth-only sections that were tough for this stealth-hater–but getting help between checkpoints of the main campaign is not why I wish some publisher produced a print Wolfenstein: The New Order strategy guide. The New Order incorporated one instance where a choice does affect your game, in particular, your gameplay, and the game contained quite a number of collectibles. So yes, while I got through the game without too much trouble, it would have been nice getting a tip or twelve for the following things.

Maps

The HUD in-game had a decent map, but I’m talking about a map of each level that lays out the locations of collectibles, checkpoints, health/armor upgrades, and weapons. Exploring and finding the collectibles was half the fun sometimes, but dear Lord I can think of a few boss fights where it would have been nice to know ahead of time where armor and weapon caches were hiding.

Collectibles

Map markers are great, but do you know what else is great? Little call-out boxes mixed in the walls of text that highlight exactly where said collectible is and how you can get it during your trek through Poland, England, Deathshead’s Compound, etc. A screenshot would also be fantastic.

Strategy

There are several points throughout the game where running in guns a-blazing is not going to do you a darn bit of good. There was one spot in particular where no matter what I did, I could not get through the waves of enemies until I turned down the difficulty settings far lower than I was happy with. Perhaps there was a certain spot that was perfect for hiding that I never found, or there was a hidden weapon/health cache I didn’t know about (because some bastard shot me in the head). Either way, I never found the sweet spot to ensure my survival on the Normal setting on my own, as pathetic as that might sound.

So how could I have ever gotten through this game on Hardcore or Insanity? Oftentimes strategy guides will offer additional or special tips and tricks for surviving on the harder difficulties.

In addition, certain areas have commanders, and if they see you, they will raise an alarm. The only way to stop the alarm and the ensuing onslaught of neverending Nazis is to kill him, so it’s always best to kill them from shadows and quietly. Occasionally this is very obvious. Sometimes you step out and walk smack into one of them. You can unlock a perk that will highlight these sneaky officials on the HUD, but I never got the required number of stealth kills it took to get this perk permanent.

Perks

And speaking of perks, maybe a little appendix describing each perk would have been nice. Perhaps suggestions of the best places to try to achieve the perks, particularly the stealth and mass carnage perks.

The Choice

Early on in the game, BJ has to choose which one of his comrades lives and who dies. At the time, it seems that the only game differences you’ll see from your choice is who you will meet up with later on, but it affects slightly more than that. It affects other characters that BJ runs into, but most importantly, it affects the type of upgrades for BJ. The character I chose gave me armor upgrades. I learned that if I chose the other, I would have gotten health upgrades. As bad as I was at this game, having the health upgrades instead of armor upgrades would have been far more useful for my experience. I wouldn’t want the strategy guide to tell me everything that the choice dictates, but the types of upgrades available would be fitting and wouldn’t spoil the story.

At this point, I know that several online strategy guides for The New Order exist, but from all I looked at, none of them had these things mentioned here that I know a print guide would provide. It’s a downright shame that a print Wolfenstein: The New Order strategy guide does not exist, as I know it could have provided far more useful content than could ever be found in a free online strategy guide.

Monday Gaming Diary: Shovel Knight

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shovel_knight_black_box_1_by_hananas_nl-d61jcbrI’ve been seeing the excitement for Shovel Knight for the last couple of weeks, and the game just looked too darn adorable to pass up. I heard it was a call-back to the retro era, which I should have connected to mean platforming. However, I’m so glad that I didn’t make that connection, because then I would have avoided a really, really, really fun game.

I guess I’m not as terrible at platforming games as I used to be, or the older games (or in this case, the call-back to older games) aren’t as difficult as they are now. I really wanted to like Guacamelee!, but the combination of platforming with specific moves proved to be my undoing after just an hour. It was with a heavy, heavy heart that I put that game down and lamented my wasted dollars. If I had heard beforehand that Shovel Knight was a platformer, I most likely would have written it off as another Guacamelee! and moved on.

Thanks to my ignorance, I bought it, was instantly scared after the opening level, but then I found myself having an absolute blast with a platforming game. I haven’t had fun with a platformer since I gave up trying to get past the halfway point in Super Mario World. I never finished a single SMB game, not even the original, because that’s how terrible I am at platformers and how little patience I have to practice at them.

It helps that I think Shovel Knight has an original idea and gimmick, and I find a lot of dialogue quite funny. Granted, I haven’t been able to play much of it so far, but after completing the first boss fight and all that, I’m still eager to play. I didn’t get half that far in Guacamelee!.

I haven’t tried it out on 3DS, only the Wii U, but fellow writer Blake has enjoyed it on the 3DS. I’m certain he’s saying that because he doesn’t have a Wii U. The game is absolutely gorgeous on the GamePad screen alone. Simply put, if you have a Nintendo product, just do yourself a favor and pick it up. Don’t look for reviews, don’t wait for my final thoughts, just do it.

 

Thursday Gaming Diary: Host Switching

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3b4So this was a fun experience and a half.

I decided to switch hosts after I turned in my two-week notice at one of my contracting jobs. SGR’s host was with that company, and I decided it would probably be best if I took SGR with me while I already had access to all of the administration side of our host servers. Better to do it on my terms than to deal with a rush job, right?

After my experience this week, I am so glad I decided to do this on my schedule.

I honestly thought this could be done over the weekend, but what I didn’t count on was slow upload speeds from our internet service provider, a wireless network card that was wonky, and the size of SGR. These are all mistakes I will do my damndest to never make again.

I don’t want to switch hosts again, but if I have to, at least now I know a bit more what to expect and how to circumvent it. But seriously, I never want to switch hosts again.

At least I chose a decent time to have some downtime. It’s a holiday week and it’s the summer doldrums. We won’t really have anything new to review until September, although I’m hoping for a Reaper of Souls console-edition strategy guide from Brady Games in August.

I am also sad to say I have made absolutely zero progress on Dragon Age: Origins. First I had to review Valiant Hearts, and then I got very, very sick, and then I decided maybe I should stay up to work through my book reviews that I’ve neglected instead of playing games. I know, I’m full of excuses. Since I’ll be down one job next week (hooray!), that should mean more gaming time, and hopefully I’ll play more than just Bravely Default. It’s so hard to not play that game sometimes. Oh you guys want to eat dinner? The dog needs to be fed? I haven’t showered in three days? Sorry, busy job grinding. It’s not that bad, but I can’t tell you how many times I’ve sat down to play for just a few minutes and the next time I look at the clock, it’s after midnight.

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