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Monday Gaming Diary: Went on a Journey

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Journey

I bought Journeyaround the same month it released, which was in March, and well, I was too busy playing lots of Mass Effect 3 at that time. And then I got distracted with several other things, which brings me to now, where I finally decided to give this game a go. I lovedFlower, so I expected to love Journey just as much.

I was right.

First of all, it’s ridiculous that I just now sat down to play this game. With some exploration–not nearly as much as I could have done–I finished the game in about 2 hours. Not sure how I couldn’t have found 2 hours back then to squeeze this game in, but I didn’t, and I’m so glad I made time for it now. I completely understand the appreciation for the game now, and I can confidently say that it deserves the Game of the Year nominations it has gotten. It’s still not my personal GOTY, but it’s in the top 3.

Like Flower, the game isn’t complex and doesn’t have this huge over-arching story to tell, not to mention that there is zero dialogue, but careening my little scarfed character down dunes of sand greatly moved me. On top of that, the wonderful string symphony that accompanies everything you do and the telling of the backstory via cave drawings only enhanced the feelings.

I was worried that I wouldn’t meet any other players in the game since I’m playing it so late, and I’ve heard how their presence really deepens the experience. I ran into a few people, but only one person stayed with me for a long time. We stayed together for about 2-3 levels, and we helped one another find glyphs, symbols, and get through some of the puzzles. We also were big on helping one another keep the powers in our scarves so we could fly, and even though we never spoke to one another, I felt this little connection with him/her. I lost him/her in the temple level, and I became incredibly sad. I waited and waited for my partner to figure out the soaring puzzle and join me, but he/she either got distracted exploring or I zoomed too far ahead for him/her to catch up. When I realized I had to go on, I did so with a heavy heart. I really, really missed my partner in that last level, and I never found anyone else during that harrowing part of the journey.

I’m not sure if I’ll play again or not, even though some of the Trophies do look tempting. It was an amazing experience, and I’m afraid that playing it again will remove some of that amazement and wonder. It’s one reason why I haven’t returned toFlowerat all, even though I really want to redo some of those levels I messed up.

Long story short, if you haven’t played Journey, do yourself a favor and take 2 hours out of your day to give it a go. Unless you’re like my dear friend MattG at Press the Buttons, it will move you as much as it has done to the countless others who have nominated it for a GOTY award.

After I wrap up my guide reviews for 2012, I do believe Unfinished Swanwill be next, followed by Batman: Arkham Aslym, as I’ve been told by countless others that one needs to leave my stack of shame as soon as humanly possible. Think I can get all 3 of these guide reviews done by the end of the year? Here’s hoping!

Monday Gaming Diary: A New Hobby

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Halo Mega Bloks Warthog set

Fellow writer Chris Nitz is a talented toy photographer with an affinity for everything LEGOs. He’s constantly talking to me about new LEGO sets he’s looking at, new ideas he has for his photography, LEGOs, LEGOs, LEGOs. I really enjoy the LEGO games, and I’ve always liked the LEGO art I’ve seen at conventions, malls, exhibits, etc., but actually collecting and building with LEGOs hasn’t interested me since I was young.

That kind of changed when my son got interested in playing with LEGOs. He likes some of the sets, but his coordination skills aren’t there yet to build the fancy cars and models in the instruction booklets, so I’m the one who usually puts the sets together. A couple of weeks ago, we were shopping at Toys R Us for a LEGO table for him to keep all of his bazillion of pieces on and in, and I ran across a Halo Mega Bloks set (not exactly LEGOs, but eh, close enough) for the Warthog. Halo LEGOs? Really? Now that’s something I could play with!

The set stayed in its box until Gabe had a sick day. We spent a couple of hours poring over the instructions and wading through hundreds of teeny tiny pieces until we built the Warthog and the Forerunner Relic. When I came away from it…I realized it was a ton of fun. Not only that, but I wanted more. I want more than just the Warthog…I want my absolute favorite vehicle from the games–the Ghost. Oh and a Scorpion…those missions are always the most fun. Ooooh wait…I can build a Pelican dropship? And a Phantom? I NEED ALL OF THESE. Curse my collector/addictive personality!

Of course, I can’t buy more, because we’ve told Gabe that he can’t have any more LEGO sets until Christmas. If he can’t have any, then I can’t have any, because a four-year-old will NEVER understand why Mommy gets toys and he can’t. Oh sure, I have reasons like Mommy has a job and you don’t, but it’s easier to not buy myself these toys and avoid the whining temper tantrum I’m sure to get if he sees another toy block set that isn’t his. The joys of parenthood and all that.

Christmas can’t get here fast enough.

And for the record, if they ever release Mass Effect LEGOs or Mega Bloks…well, I think it goes without saying how screwed I am then.

Monday Gaming Diary: I did say no more stealth, didn’t I?

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Assassin's Creed 3

My friends are always so quick to tell me that the Assassin’s Creed series is NOT stealth. Technically, I suppose they are correct, but the AC games contain stealth elements, and occasionally, stealth is mandatory to avoid desynchronization. Most of the time, stealth is encouraged, but there are instances where getting noticed causes an instant desynch. These requirements may not crop up often enough for the series to be considered stealth, but dammit, it’s enough stealth for me to turn my palms sweaty and get my teeth grinding.

AC3 introduces the concept of eavesdropping moving targets as well, requiring you to stay within a specific radius to overhear targets and of course, they can’t notice that you’re listening to them. When this is coupled with the requirement to not be detected, it makes things interesting and raises my blood pressure.

So much for swearing off stealth for awhile. At least I have the strategy guide, which has been an absolute blessing for me so far. The only time that it hasn’t been helpful is when I come across the lovely bugs that AC3 is littered with, and I can’t blame the guide for that at all. It’s not the guide’s fault that on occasion the game drops Connor at a checkpoint in the middle of enemies when he’s supposed to be incognito (enemies I killed before the checkpoint, no less, but that’s a different story).

At least AC3 has plenty of extraneous activities for Connor to partake in, so if the stealth gets too much for me, I can go on countless side quests for awhile.

I will be taking a break from AC3 starting tomorrow, though, when Halo 4launches tomorrow. I’m reviewing that game for Gaming Angels, so that one will have to take precedence for at least a week. Surely there’s no stealth in that game…

Monday Gaming Diary: PSN Catch-Up

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DeathSpank: Thongs of Virtue

This past week I had a “week off” from the review schedule beforeMedal of Honor: Warfighterreleases (this Tuesday!). Since I only had a week, I really didn’t want to start a new game from my stack of shame, as I know I’ll never get some decent time to work on it. So I turned to a different stack of shame, the one that resides in my PlayStation Network. What’s been sitting there?

  • The Walking Dead (episodes 2 and 3),
  • DeathSpank: Thongs of Virtue, and
  • Journey

I started with The Walking Dead so I could somewhat catch up to the rest of the world. I prepared myself to get as freaked out as I did after playing the first episode, but Episode 2 was really more about how insane the surviving humans have become more than the zombies. In other words, I got freaked out on a different level, but at least that level didn’t give me nightmares. I played Episode 3 the next day and bawled like a big baby from about 10-15 minutes into the game until it was over. I was still crying when I went to bed, and I think I cried myself to sleep. If you’ve played that episode, then you know how incredibly sad it is. When you’re a parent, it fucking rips your heart out. I nearly risked waking up my son to give him a hug when I finished playing. I thought Heavy Rain about did me in emotionally, but The Walking Dead makes that story look like a walk in the park (it’s raining while you’re walking in the park, but it’s still a walk in the park). I hadn’t purchased Episode 4 yet, and both finances and stack of shame guilt prevented me from adding it to my list just yet. I’m not sure I could have played it anyway after crying so much post-Episode 3.

Thank God I had DeathSpank: Thongs of Virtue to cheer me up. I hadn’t touched the second DeathSpank game in well over a year, so I was both rusty and confused as to what to do next. I was afraid I would have to start over, but after consuming a few Fortune Cookie hints for side quests, I was back in business. I remembered DeathSpank being funny, but I forgot how ridiculously funny it is. It was the perfect antidote to The Walking Dead. This is obviously what I need to do in between episodes of The Walking Dead–play plenty of DeathSpank. Maybe I should even play a side quest or two immediately after finishing an episode of The Walking Dead. Sure, I’ll be up far later than I need to be, but I won’t go to bed feeling as disturbed, right?

Sadly, I didn’t finish DeathSpank: Thongs of Virtue, so I haven’t gotten around to Journey, something I’m really remiss for not playing thus far. My podcasting cohort, Mr. Grundman, has also been strongly encouraging me to pick up Unfinished Swan, so it looks like my PSN stack of shame will grow a little bit more this year. At least none of these games take a long time to play, so there’s always the possibility I finish them before 2013. Don’t laugh too hard at that last statement.

Monday Gaming Diary: No more stealth games, thank you

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Dishonored

I have the distinct pleasure of reviewing both the game and strategy guide for Dishonored, so it’s fairly obvious what I’ve been playing in my spare time since this past Tuesday. While Dishonored allows players to play however you want, whether it’s stealthy or guns a’blazing, you must have some stealth if you’re going to make it very far. Corvo is as resilient against swordplay and gunfire as Sam Fisher, so if you have no plan in mind, you’re going to be reloading quite a bit. We all know how much I such at stealth, so I always opted for a strange combination of the two. I only killed everyone if I had to, but I really tried to slip by most sentries most of the time. Too bad it never quite worked out very well most of the time.

Fortunately, my occasional blunders were rarely game killers and they rarely caused high chaos rankings, especially since I did my best to not kill my targets. That was another thing I really liked about Dishonored: there’s always a nonlethal solution to the puzzle. Your chaos rankings affect how your allies treat you and the ending you receive. However, this only added to my stress levels; I really wanted that low chaos rating at the end of most missions, and sneaking in, not raising alarms, not killing everyone on sight, etc. affects this as much as how you treat your target.

I was incredibly tense during my entire playthrough.

Between Deus Ex: Human Revolution last year, my sad attempt at Splinter Cell: Conviction, and Dishonored, I really don’t want to play another stealth game for a long, long time. I hope Assassin’s Creed III doesn’t have too many don’t-get-detected missions or I’ll be rolling on the floor and sobbing. Being stealthy puts me on edge to the point I don’t enjoy playing. I can barely watch friends play stealth games, because I get that tense and nervous on their behalf. I know for many, this is the appeal of playing, but it’s definitely not for me.

I’ve done my stealth game of the year; I feel like I’ve had paid some penance of something to someone.

I can play more Retro City Rampage now, yes?

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