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Gaming Diary: PAX East Write-up

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I had my very first PAX experience this past weekend, and while I didn’t get to meet up with any strategy guide publishers, I did get to play and see a number of games coming out. Some excited me, some bored me, and some made me really want to play other games I don’t own yet but always meant to play. Sadly, I didn’t get a chance to see everything I wanted to–those lines were scary beyond my imagination–but I think I got a nice well-rounded sampling of what the show had.

Games I Can’t Wait to Play NOW – Transistor, Saints Row IV, Remember Me

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I have honestly been wanting to play Saints Row the Third for awhile now, but for various reasons, I’ve never gotten around to picking up the game. Yes, you can go on ahead and blame THQ’s downfall on me, that’s fine. One reason why I’ve always wanted to play is because it sounded so incredibly over-the-top, and I love games like that. Well, Saints Row IV is going to be no exception. I laughed during the entire presentation, and I cannot wait for August 20th to come soon enough. You can read my full preview at GameRevolution, but I can sum up my reasons for wanting this game now in two words: dubstep gun.

Yes, you read that correctly. There is a dubstep gun that you can shoot at victims to make them dance to death. The demo for this weapon lasted several seconds, and the entire room laughed the whole time. It really never got old, and the longer it went on, the funnier it got. My PAX roommate, Jen Bosier, didn’t believe me that such a weapon could be as awesome as I led on, but after she saw the demo, she was in my camp rather quickly.

Transistor is from the same people who created the critically-acclaimed Bastion, another game I have always meant to play, yet this is one I already own. Transistor features the same watercolor art of Bastion, and it has a large sword, so naturally I’m already intrigued. The story appears to be unique–from the short time I had with it–and the gameplay is truly unique–a combination of hack-n-slash and turn-based play. I have a full preview submitted to ActionTrip, but it’s not posted yet for whatever reason.

The game’s biggest disappointment is that it will release sometime in 2014. When the demo was over, the end screen literally said, “Release date: 2014 possibly?” That better be early 2014, because I want it now.

I’ve heard of Remember Me, but I’ve continually dismissed it from knowledge for whatever reason. I watched a bit of someone playing it on the showroom floor, and then I got in line myself. It’s a combination of action and platforming, but it’s platforming akin to Uncharted or Tomb Raider, meaning it didn’t really bother me at all. The plot is slightly unique, and it’s visually stunning. I wrote more at ActionTrip in case you are interested. At least this one I won’t have too long to wait for, just June 4th this year.

Games That Still Haven’t Won Me Over – Assassin’s Creed IV and WatchDogs

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For a game that is releasing THIS YEAR, I was shocked that there was only PRE-ALPHA footage of Assassin’s Creed IV for people to view. I understand that they may be saving a hands-on demo for E3, but they had nothing else but pre-alpha footage at the time? Really? Well, whatever I guess. While it was cool to see some of the exploration and treasure hunting the game will feature, not to mention a historically accurate rendering of Blackbeard, I’m still left wondering what the overarching story will be. Also, as soon as they showed those ship battles I hated in Assassin’s Creed III, I was out instantly. I fully expect those to be a focus of the game, considering it’s about pirates, so the likelihood I’ll buy this game for myself is considerably low.

Now the footage they showed for WatchDogs disappointed me even more than ACIV, simply because it was the exact same footage they showed at the PS4 press conference. It was packaged together slightly differently, and it had a different narration, but the footage itself was the same–Aiden Pearce stopping a random woman from being attacked by her ex-husband and then eluding the police by hopping on a train. So yes, I still remain a bit unimpressed with the gameplay just because I haven’t really seen anything new that has screamed at me that I must play it now.

Games I Have Zero Interest In – Dead Island: Riptide and Shootmania

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Shootmania is Ubisoft’s upcoming MMO FPS for the PC, and while I admit I have zero interest in the genre in the first place, I was not counting on being so bored while playing. After one round, I was done. I had to play for seven, and I cared less with each round. So all you do is run around in the same map and shoot one another, all while trying to capture and defend two flags? This is why playing multiplayer portions of shooters does not appeal to me; I need a story, and just running around to kill other people bores me to tears. The guys around me seemed to really enjoy it, but it’s clearly a genre not meant for my tastes.

So then let’s move on to another game that doesn’t interest me at all: Dead Island: Riptide. I knew nothing about the series before I played, so imagine my utter disgust when I learned this is basically the exact same game with the exact same story as the original Dead Island. That’s lazy, and the developer should know it. In addition, I found the gameplay to be awkward and clumsy and kind of repetitive. The demo portion I played ran like this: small break, stop the infected from invading, small break, more infected coming, repeat. Maybe if I wasn’t forced to skip through the cut scenes by the PR reps I wouldn’t feel that way, but sadly I was, so I wasn’t able to get a feeling as to why I should care about the story or my chosen character. I’m not in zombie games anyway, so this one really comes as no surprise that I didn’t like it.

Monday Gaming Diary: So, Tomb Raider…

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Tomb RaiderI have been on the fence about playing Tomb Raider for some time. I’ve never played the original games, because I know they are mostly platforming and they didn’t really appeal to me. But after seeing the new Tomb Raider at E3 a couple of years ago, I’ve been a bit curious. It definitely doesn’t look like any Tomb Raider game I’ve seen in the past in terms of gameplay. If anything, it looks more like Uncharted, which is funny because I know that Uncharted has always been accused of ripping off Tomb Raider. I always understood that rationale in terms of overall story and purpose for both Lara and Drake, but TR always seemed to be more puzzlesque and definitely had a more platforming focus than Uncharted.

But that’s all besides the point.

Despite my intrigue for the game, my March schedule for reviewing guides is fairly full. With both Gears of War: Judgment and BioShock Infinite releasing over the next two weeks, I really don’t have time to squeeze in something else, as much as I would like to. I’m not a reviewing machine…yet. However, my April and May are open, so my intrigue has remained open.

I visited a friend over the weekend who is a huge TR fan, and she showed me what the game was like so I could see if I would ever play before spending the $60. I really enjoyed what I saw. There is some stealth, which initially disappointed me, but seeing that there isn’t a “game over” sequence if you fail the stealth brightened my prospects. Even if there is some more serious stealth later, at least that isn’t a primary focus. And the platforming didn’t look difficult, not unlike what I see in an Uncharted game, so I’m confident I can handle that without much controller throwing as well.

So in other words, a review of the Tomb Raider strategy guide is most likely coming, but it definitely won’t be timely. Kind of defeats the purpose, I know, but eh, I do what I can. And if I already have the guide, so I might as well, right?

Monday Gaming Diary: Mass Effect…Again?

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Kaidan AlenkoSo I’ve been on a super-speed run of Mass Effect 2 this past week. The last of the Mass Effect 3 campaign DLC drops this week, and I don’t have a save point in my ME3 game that will allow me to access any of it. I always knew that I would have to start over my playthrough anyway, if I wanted to play the DLC with my paragon Shepard. Since I always wanted to replay ME2 with my paragon anyway to change just one thing, I decided that there’s no time like the present. Since I don’t want to lose my original playthroughs with my paragon, I moved those save profiles to a USB drive and then started a new ME2 game with an import from the first game, just like I did the first time. Once I start ME3, I’ll do the same thing. So yeah, I’ll have four sets of saved profiles for one Shepard.

Am I little nuts? Yeah, but we always knew I was a bit nuts over this series in the first place.

So what is the one thing I’m changing? Yeah, it’s a really girly thing, and it’s probably stupid in most people’s eyes, but it is important to me, so there it is. When I first played ME2, Kaidan’s breakup was utterly heartbreaking for me. I had to turn off the game when it was over, because I was in shock at what happened. And then he sends that email later that was a bigger kick in the crotch…yeah, I saw no point in remaining loyal to him, which was my original plan. I had already been told that Kaidan/Ashley were not romance options in ME2, but I had no idea they showed up and dumped you. And Kaidan being upset that Shepard didn’t contact him when she was dead over the last two years…are you serious?

I always had a thing for Garrus, even from the first game, so yeah, I had no problems developing that relationship. At least here is a guy who is willing to hear Shepard out and stay loyal despite the Cerberus ties. Kaidan wouldn’t even let Shepard really explain; it was 100% black and white with him, so yeah, I didn’t feel any remorse in going after someone else when Kaidan made it so clear it was over.

Of course, then he returns in ME3 and made everything so damned complicated. I still had a soft spot for Kaidan, but then there’s Garrus, who has been loyal from the start. I accidentally triggered a commitment scene with Kaidan while playing, and I’m glad I did, because otherwise I never would have known that he thought Shepard cheated on him. If you commit to someone else, he won’t have the commitment talk with Shepard at all. When he said, and I quote, “Look, I understand why you cheated,” I about screamed at my TV. I felt like Ross from Friends in that I wanted to tell him, “WE WERE ON A BREAK!” We weren’t really even on a break; he dumped my ass. I have the email as proof.

So ANYWAY…I’m going to see how different it goes with Kaidan when Shepard remains loyal. As much as Kaidan hurt me (not Shepard, me, as sad as that may sound) in both ME2 and ME3, I still have a soft spot for Kaidan and I want to see one Shepard work it out with him. That’s the beauty of playing a game; you can replay it and change the outcome as much as you want.

Best part? So far, I’ve been able to recreate my original playthrough to a T, save for the romance. Oh and it looks like this time I’ll save my crew in full as well. Definitely not reenacting that mistake.

Monday Gaming Diary: Gaming Apathy

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Gaming BluesAfter the craziness of last fall and the sheer amount of strategy guides my staff and I had to review by the end of November, I’ve been suffering from an incredible dose of gaming apathy. I told myself I was just burned out. I blamed the holidays, and then my pregnancy, as it has made me extremely tired. But it’s been nearly three months now, and I’m still unmotivated to play any games.

This is the perfect time to catch up on my Stack of Shame, too, as I’m not personally reviewing anything until March 19th. I experienced something similar last year, and as such, by this time last year, I had completed six games (yes, I keep records). SIX. Right now, I can barely find the desire to play one for just a couple of hours!

I started Batman Arkham Asylum a couple of weeks ago, and I haven’t touched the game since I played it, which was like twice for two hours at a time. Since I have fun playing Halo 4 Spartan Ops missions, I thought maybe it was because Asylum moves too slowly for me right now, whereas Halo 4 is quite fast-paced and action-packed. It’s not that I don’t like Asylum, don’t think that at all; I’m just not feeling the motivation to keep playing at the moment, and I’m trying to piece together why I feel that way.

So, in an effort to find something from my SoS that is more fast-paced, I tried out Borderlands last night. I know there’s a sequel out now, but seriously, if you knew me at all you would know that I rarely play anything out of order (or read or watch). Assassin’s Creed 2 has so far been my lone exception.

Borderlands is a bit quicker-paced than Asylum, that’s for sure, and many snippets of dialogue made me snicker. Yet, I’m still feeling a bit of boredom that I know I wouldn’t normally have. Maybe it’s the fact that the aiming system is going to take a bit of learning (it’s no Halo or Gears), or maybe it’s that I feel like I’m always looking for ammunition (am I that bad of a shot?), but I really didn’t feel that normal happy feeling I get while playing games.

Am I trying the wrong games? Is this just a phase? I really hope it’s the latter, because I’m tired of this funk I’m in. Maybe I just need to replay a game I really liked to get back into the groove? Or should I get back to playing Dragon Age: Origins, since I really, really, REALLY enjoyed that when I was playing?

It’s frustrating, and it sucks to be a little down on a hobby I’ve greatly enjoyed for so many years. Anyone out there have any tips how to get out of the gaming blues?

Monday Gaming Diary: Happy President’s Day!

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Pixel PeopleI’ve never had President’s Day (US holiday) off. I’ve always worked for law firms, and even though the courthouses were always closed every chance they got, we still had to come in to bill all the monies. Now that I’m essentially a freelancer (not in the traditional sense, but if I don’t bill, I don’t get paid), I choose to work, even though my kid’s school is closed today. Too bad nothing is going on today to justify me working, because, as said earlier, it’s a holiday and most people have today off. Long story short, I really can’t win, can I?

Well, I may take today’s silence as a chance to play some more Batman: Arkham Asylum. I sadly have not touched this game in a week due to once again feeling sick. I know everyone is tired of hearing me whine about it, and trust me, I and sick of being sick and talking about it. I am starting to feel like more of myself, though, so I am optimistic that this hell is–if not over–on its way out.

I have been playing some games while dying, however, but they’ve all been iOS games on my iPad. I’m still playing Tiny Tower and its compatriot, Pocket Planes. These games are so mindless, I can’t stop playing them for whatever reason. I just feel the need to get all the achievements in Pocket Planes, and since I’ve already done so in Tiny Tower, I feel this need to have all the floors built and all the stores filled with dream jobs. Whenever I build all the possible floors and have them filled with tenants, I stop playing until the next game update that includes more floors. I may be playing this game until I stop owning iOS devices.

I’ve also been playing Pixel People, which was introduced to me by another podcasting cohort, Ross. It’s a more Sim City version of Tiny Tower, but is as mindless as Tiny Tower. In this game, you’re building a utopia in space, and you take clones beamed to you and splice their genes to make new jobs. When you have a new job, you place them in a new building so they can start working. You get more clones by building residences. You can only build residences if you have enough money earned by the clones while they work. Again, it takes little effort and I can’t stop. I’m mostly entertained by what jobs are created by splicing certain job genes. Sometimes I can figure out what job will be produced, and other times it completely surprises me in hilarious ways.

All three are free, so if you have an iOS device and you like mindless Sim-knockoffs, check them out and be prepared to stare at your screen and mindlessly tap it. It’s strangely soothing.

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