I still don’t like motion control

There. I said it. I don’t like motion control. Never really have, and perhaps never really will. I posted an article about this a couple of years ago. Back then I was skeptical, but now I just downright don’t like it.

What has prompted this sudden outburst I hear you say? Well, I finally got around to playing The Legend of Zelda; Skyward Sword the other day, and as beautiful as it looks, and as fun as it is to run around as Link again, I couldn’t help but feel as though some of the magic was lost when I had to start waving around the Wiimote. The frustration of waving my arms around distracted from the beautiful music, the stunning animation and the essence of what Zelda is actually about.

I don’t know, it’s frustrating for me. I want these games to be good, but I just don’t see that people really want to flail their arms around like a raving lunatic and pretend to be Link, or a Jedi Knight. The reviews on Star Wars Kinect have hardly been glowing, lets be honest. Motion control is still a bit of a gimmick for me. I don’t own the Kinect, nor do I want to. I have it back home, and it’s completely unused. I have played with the PSMove a few times and it just doesn’t do anything for me at all.

Dear game developers; just give me a good game, with a good story, good characters and kickass gameplay. That’s all I want. I don’t want to shout FUS-ROH-DAH at my Xbox, that just makes me feel a little bit silly. I just don’t understand this latest generation of console additions. I’m hoping that E3 won’t be as Kinect-centric as it was last year. I am also hoping that Microsoft don’t do what the rumours are stating; release a console that doesn’t require discs. I’ve seen several posts about this across the internet with one valid argument against it; not everyone’s internet is not capable of downloading mammoth games. For a start off, I don’t even have wireless internet in this house so that means that this Xbox would be useless to me.

This brings me back to that classic saying; if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. Gaming was never broken, so please stop trying to add fancy little gadgets to it. Gaming is not a swiss army knife that you just add ridiculous things to. That just makes it bulky and ugly. Just let me have my controller. I play games to wind down. The last thing I want to do is start waving a controller around, and get frustrated because the motion sensor keeps ballsing up and not detecting me.

Moving on from my rant, I am hopefully starting a second blog. I won’t be abandoning this one, don’t worry! I want to start a second blog so I can make note of all the weird and wonderful things that happen to me when on public transport. If you follow me on Twitter then you will know that I spend a lot of time on public transport, and a lot of the time I come across some bizarre people. My tales of woe make my family laugh, so hopefully I can make the internet laugh as well!

Those who read my previous post will remember that I was waiting patiently for Pocket Academy 2 to pop up in English on the Android store. Well, the very second I hit the publish button, I did my daily Kairosoft search and BAM, the original Pocket Academy was there and ripe for the taking. Needless to say I bought it instantly and played it for about 5 hours (entirely ignoring the man, and everyone else around me…), and I have just finished it for a second time. It’s magical, that’s all I have to say. I need more Kairosoft, MORE!

And on a very final note, I have my only and last exam on Thursday which I think if I revise for any more my head might pop. The Saturday after my exam the man is coming to stay, so I will be away from the Internets until he has gone on the 17th. Hopefully I will be back with an update next weekend!

Early start to summer

Yesterday was my very last seminar class, and the end of my first year at uni. It seems terrifying that I started in the middle of September last year, and now in the middle of April I am finished, bar an exam next month. I’ve learnt a lot, but also been left quite frustrated by people telling me I need to think outside the box and branch out a bit more. My passion is in video games. I am good at writing about them because of that passion. But we shall see what the next year holds.

Onto the gaming. This month has been a bit of a slow one gaming wise for me, but I’ve played a couple of good ones. I seem to keep getting lucky with my purchases.

Cafeteria Nipponica

I bet everyone on here is sick of me talking about my love and adoration for all things Kairosoft, but until they hand in the towel and stop developing games then I’m not going to stop.

I never thought that as an Android user I would ever really get decent games on my phone. When I first got my Samsung Galaxy S I was amused by the little games I could get for it, but none of them really had the ‘WOW’ factor that the majority of iPhone games do. Now I have 9 Kairosoft games on my phone, a couple of really good quality EA games such as Dead Space, with some space for some of the simpler games.

I’m rambling now though. This is meant to be about Cafe Nipponica, the latest translated Kairosoft game for Android users. I’ll admit it straight away, I was addicted to Cafe World and Restaurant Story on Facebook a couple of years back. My love for simulation and building things got the better of me. Cafe Nipponica has partially rekindled this love. It’s not the best Kairosoft game by any means, as it can be fiendishly difficult to actually achieve anything for quite a while, but it’s good fun nonetheless, and there is definitely some replay value in it. I’m just waiting now for the Japanese version of Pocket Academy 2 that’s lurking on the Android store to be translated *rubs hands together*.

Singularity

I bought this game as a reward to myself after I had finished a test last Wednesday. I rung my Dad up, and asked him to recommend me a game I would like, that had plot, and that I hadn’t played. I’m quite picky when it comes to my games sometimes, so that was quite a difficult one to answer, but he replied with Singularity. I was sold on the fact that it was a little bit like Bioshock. When it started to play it, it was VERY Bioshock, but stands well on its own.

I was wow’ed by the first few hours, until I got stuck and the game refused to give me a gun or any ammo for the hoard of enemies that were running towards me. There are only so many times you can die before you realise it is utterly hopeless. So I started it all over again. I thought this would have put me off, but it didn’t. I plowed through it, realising that I had left all my weapons in the weapon locker (blond moment, I know).

If you want a short, but enjoyable supernatural FPS then give Singularity a bash. I picked it up for £10 pre-owned and it was certainly worth it.

I’ve also been feeling retro. I brought my PS2 with me when I moved and a select few JRPGs. I decided to have another bash at Legaia 2; Duel Saga, a brilliant little JRPG from 2002. Clunky movements and cheesy voice acting abound, and it’s still as brilliant as it was the first time I played it. I may flit in between that and the Persona games as I really think to finish Persona 3 FES, and Persona 4 at some point.

‘Ello Monkey: Ponderings on The Darkness 2

After probably about 8 hours, I finished The Darkness 2 last night. i still haven’t finished Assassin’s Creed, but I felt like I needed a break from jumping on peoples heads, to ripping peoples spines out with a demon.  This post will contain spoilers for those who have not played The Darkness 2. 

I never finished the first The Darkness game. I don’t know why, I just never did. It was really good fun, and I enjoyed the concept but just never got round to finishing it. I wasn’t going to get The Darkness 2 initially, but I saw the price in CEX and couldn’t resist a good horror game.

Pros

The thing I enjoyed about The Darkness 2 the most was how much better the use of The Darkness in general was. I felt as though there were only a few things you could do with it before, but being able to dismember in new and interesting ways was fun, and being such a fan of gore I was sat on the edge of my seat applauding the graphics every time someones spine got ripped out. I know that makes me sound a little bit psychotic, but if you know me, you know my love for anything horror and gore related.

SPOILER ALERT. The next thing I really enjoyed about The Darkness 2 was the sections that were set in the mental hospital. I really love anything to do with the mental condition, and anything set in a mental hospital is instant win for me (Shutter Island, I’m looking at you). It was really a twist on the plot initially, because I was sitting there wondering ‘Is it really all a dream? Has Jackie been locked up because he’s gone insane?’ and then it all started to make sense. I would have liked for Jackie to have been able to use The Darkness in the mental hospital towards the end, but alas, it was not to be.

The Darkness 2 has plenty of gore to keep me satisfied

Cons

One of the things I was most disappointed with was not being able to walk around freely like you could in the first game. I enjoyed walking in and out of the subways, as annoying as it was sometimes when I didn’t know where I had to go. It felt very restricting at times for you only be able to walk around Jackie’s mansion and have limited conversations with his friends and family.

The next thing I found disappointing was the lack of Darklings to accompany you. I understand why, and the Darkling that did accompany you was hilarious with brilliant lines such as, “Or, we could just go to Vegas and fuck off. We’re free monkey!” Being British, I really do appreciate some tongue in cheek British humour from time to time. It just would have been nice to have different Darklings for different moments in the game like what was available in the first game.

The cell shading was something that I had to get used to, and I’m still slightly on the fence about it to be honest. I think it made it a bit more graphic and violent at times, but it just doesn’t seem right sometimes. Cell shading has always been a bit of a bane of the gaming industry. Some say it’s suited to kids games, some say it’s suited to any kind of game. It’s a tough one, but it kind of works here.

The enemy design is lazy, but it's still fun to kill them

It’s been a very long time since I’ve been able to truly say that I have enjoyed a game and not been able to put it down, but The Darkness 2 (and AC;Revelations) has done that for me. I shall very much look forward to The Darkness 3, as the ending was left very open for it. I preferred the story in The Darkness 2 as it went even deeper and more supernatural then before, so if that can keep running in the sequel then I will be extremely happy.

Finally catching up, as GAME falls behind

It’s the end of March, and I’m playing a game from November. On Monday I decided it would be a good idea to hop onto the train to the nearest town and see what on earth was going on with all this GAME/Gamestation malarkey. I was very surprised to see that the Gamestation in said town was already closed, so I spent about 30 minutes trying to find the GAME store. I won’t lie, I was going to see if I could get some bargain games; not because of them going into administration, but because I really had a craving for a game with plot. I worked at Woolworths right up until the store closed after being put into administration, so the last thing I want to do is turn into a vulture when so many people are losing their jobs. I failed miserably to find anything of any merit though. As much as a sympathise with all those losing their jobs, I can’t sympathise with a company who has failed me so many times in regards to stock.

 

Moving on from GAME’s failure (for me, personally), I decided to have an adventure into a store that I never go into in Cheltenham for fear of food ridden discs; CEX. This place was excellent when it started, but it soon declined into a location for the less desirable who care less about their games, and more about the money. Regardless, I sucked up my pride, walked in and then swiftly walked out about £60 lighter. It goes without saying that whenever you buy a second hand game, you have to check the discs. I’m pretty anal about this, but all my discs were in moderately good condition. I managed to pick up Assassin’s Creed Revelations for £18, Darkness 2 for £22 and TLoZ; Skyward Sword for £20. I don’t mind getting second hand, and at that price I couldn’t argue.

I’ve been playing AC;Revelations since last night and have to say I really am enjoying it. The assassin missions have really improved since Brotherhood, giving it more of a feeling of community rather than a point and click system which left your assassins with no character whatsoever. I’m also really enjoying the defending of the towers. It was always a bit monotonous and boring in Brotherhood to take down the Borgia towers, and when I first realised I had to keep checking on my towers in Revelations to make sure they were still under my control, I have to admit I did huff a sigh of annoyance. I’m a massive fan of RTS though, so these little strategy bits that keep cropping up are actually really good fun. Sending units out, putting up barricades, firing cannons, it’s like Command & Conquer in Constantinople. I think Ezio is certainly ready to hang up his blades now though, so it will be interesting to see how this episode ends.

I’m hoping to get this finished before I go back home next Wednesday, so that my next post can be about my thoughts on Darkness 2 or Zelda. I’m still bitterly disappointed in Final Fantasy XIII-2. I’m sure my four year old cousin could come up with a far better plot, one that makes sense, and one that I can actually care about. Please stop disappointing me Squeenix, you’re making me sad.

To end on a positive note, I’ve finally been able to take my shiny new gadget out of the house thanks to a cheap and cheerful black silicone case arriving for it. So I’ve been strutting my stuff with my shiny iPod, no doubt blasting people away with my epic sound quality and generally enjoying having my music on the go. Good times for everyone.

Skyrim first impressions and Android failure

I’ve had Skyrim for nearly a week now, and I am shamed to admit that I haven’t even managed to get more than 10 hours into it I don’t think. Regardless of most of my coursework being finished for this term of uni, life in general has been getting in the way. I have spent this weekend doing my Christmas shopping and generally just mooching about with the family (enjoying some yummy meals out too). While it has been nice to do all of the above, I really wish I could have engrossed myself in Skyrim just a little bit more. I’ll post my initial thoughts though.

I had to choose an Elf as my race. I’m not a Dark Elf, as pictured above, but a High Elf. I wanted to really go for the magic this time around. If I can’t use guns, then I don’t really want to be swinging my sword around and getting hacked to shreds. I’ve never really enjoyed being a magic user, but the idea of it in Skyrim just seemed right. I think it helped that I knew I could dual wield spells. I knew that in one hand I could have burning flame, and in the other soothing restoration. Pretty much I just wanted to burn things down.

I have noticed in my short play through so far that Skyrim has many paralells with a lot of my favourite games. Obviously I love Bethesda anyway, but Oblivion was lacking in oomph for me; it was dull and dreary. Skyrim has elements of Fable, World of Warcraft, Bioshock and even Red Dead Redemption. The last two have probably confused you a bit so allow me to explain. The Bioshock element comes form the visual aspect. It’s the magic hands on screen, they just remind me of plasmid infused limbs. It’s the way your character holds them. The RDR element comes from the wide open spaces and the horses. The horses are very expensive so I find myself stealing them and then paying a small fine every time I accidentally stumble into a guard. It is also the collecting of herbs and various flowers that remind me of RDR.

I am enjoying the free roaming aspect. I can go wherever I want, whenever I want and speak to whoever I want. It would be nice to have a little more guidance every now and then, but I’m not complaining. I’ve currently gone to see the mages and be trained further in the ways of magic. I’m struggling a little bit so I’ve gone off on a bit of a wander to get my skills up a little before I carry on. I like the fact that I can do this, and I also like the fact that there are so many companions dotted around so soon in the game. They actually help as well (When they’re not dying in a crumpled heap on the floor because I’ve taken them somewhere scary…).

So all in all I am enjoying my jaunt through Skyrim at the moment. I can’t wait to get myself on the property ladder and start buying things because I am intrigued to see exactly how much like Fable this has the potential to be. I know I can invest in things, and for some sick reason this excites me.

In other news, my phone broke and I spent yesterday fixing it. All my Kairosoft data completely wiped. I won’t lie, I think a few tears may have slipped out. Thankfully the man came swooping into my rescue with his tech knowledge and fixed it! I now have the latest Android build (Gingerbread) and it is so much prettier than Froyo. I suppose the only good thing that’s come out of this is that I have en excuse to play all my Kairosoft games again. Value for money? I think so.