Category: Gaming
All gaming related articles and blog posts, sans World of Warcraft (all WoW stuff is
here.)
Title screenA retro review! I loved this game as a child even though I am almost certain that no one else has played or heard of it. You can probably thank the horrid box art for its obscurity (US box vs Japanese box)...but anyway, the story in a nutshell: You are Alyssa guardian of Earth, a robot chick in a bikini who happens to possess the ability to transform into a spaceship. The deathst...err an alien world by the name of Naju is heading straight for Earth and it is up to you to destroy the 10 seals, needed to activate the self-destruct mechanism.
The Guardian Legend is divided into two sections: The labyrinth, a vertical scrolling shoot-em-up and the corridors, an overhead action/adventure type area. As you explore the labyrinth you will come across the corridors. When you enter one, Alyssa transforms into a spaceship and the game goes into shmup mode. Naju itself is divided into five different zones: water, biological, crystal, organic and wasteland. The Guardian Legend is one of the earliest examples of a multi-genre game.
I really liked
this article because it's true and brings up a gaming element that is often overlooked. They're right, of any "modern" game that I've played (and remember...), World ofWarcraft is alt-tabbing perfection, it tasks in and out instantaneously.
One of the PC's greatest strengths is its versatility. It's a shame that more games don't multi-task well. Many titles will tab out quickly but not many will tab back in without lagging, crashing or bugging out. All source games as mentioned in the article take forever to get back into. The Sims 2 takes a good 15 to 30 seconds to load back into at full screen. To circumvent the lag, I play it in windowed mode. The catch is that you can only play it at a maximum resolution of 800x600 windowed, what the fuck is that?
I love the "maximized windowing" feature in WoW, I wish all games had that. It offers every single advantage of running a game in windowed mode but with no borders and no taskbar. It will maximize to fill the entire screen. The options in WoW are also easily accessible. No configuration file editing and no hidden commands.
Also, I like it when games (mostly strategy games) allow you to choose between edge scrolling and click dragging. The reason being that I have a dual monitor setup. If I run a game in windowed mode (which Iusually will), edge scrolling doesn't work very because the mouse doesn't lock into the game window.
Resistance: Fall of Man, one of the Playstation 3 launch titles was inducted into the Greatest Hits line a couple of weeks ago. Setting wise, it feels like a cross between Call of Duty and the combine sections of Half-Life 2 with a standard Halo-ish console shooter feel. You play as Nathan Hale, a US solider who I swear looks like Keith Malley from Keith and the Girl...
Criticism: The cut scenes are awkward because they occur fairly often during odd spots and don't blend very well with the gameplay. The game will blur out, a bit of dialogue with a slide show of pictuers will occur and then the game will fade back in, sometimes in the middle of a zone. Awkward. The plot, though engaging feels derivative. The AI (at least on normal difficulty) is semi-retarded...
Good things: It's pretty, it's high definition, and the areas are visually appealing. The checkpoints are well spaced and the difficulty curve so far at least, is smooth. It's well paced and the plot, the maybe not incredibly original feeling is still very interesting and works well with the game's atmosphere. The controls are also easy to learn. If you are comfortable with console shooters you should be able to pick this up with no problem
Verdict so far: It's fun. I wouldn't give it a perfect 10, but I like it and will probably purchase Resistance 2 whenever it comes out. If you have a Playstation 3, this is worth picking up because it's a good console shooter. But, if you are looking for a groundbreaking plot with innovative gameplay, keep looking.
Early console games either used a password based saving system or none at all. Later on, certain games (Final Fantasy for example) had a small battery, allowing game data to be saved aboard the cartridge's RAM. Save points were used because at the time, it wasn't possible to allow on-the-fly saving on most console games because of the game state being too complex or large for the game's memory/card/whatever. This mechanic is a perfect example of something created through technological limitation, carrying through games today.
SPOILER ALERT! An article about game endings naturally spoils the endings to games. I know that there are more that should be mentioned, but there are quite a few games that I have never played, finished, or just don't remember enough of.
- I like endings that to some wrap the story up to some extent.
- I like endings that rren't complete brain fucks (I love you like my own flesh and blood FFVII, but your ending was....yeah)
- I like endings that are a culmination of these 3 qualities: The game's story, context, and what the player has experienced.
- Game endings don't always have to be happy and cheery.
- Game endings don't always have to be depressing esoteric shitfests (anime ending syndrome).
- I like game endings with epic music. Of the favorites listed below, I vividly remember Mega Man 3, Final Fantasy VIII, and Portal because of the music. Epic epic music.
I have interest in tinkering with this site again, hehe. Entering a general gaming lull: there's not a whole lot new or interesting releases coming until Fall. WoW wise, I think expansionitis is setting in for half the server o_O. I want a beta key!
Resistance
At some point I might pick up Resistance Fall of Man whenever the Playstation 3 greatest hits come out. The viral marketing for Resistance 2, its sequel piqued my interest (well, partly because the videos feature Katee Sackhoff, aka Starbuck from the most awesomest show on Television). It sounds intriguing and seems to have been reviewed highly. I find most console shooters and their cludgy controls a turn off though.
…continuing my Metal Gear fixation
I find MGO interesting though I haven’t played it a whole lot. It’s not quite a shooter and integrates some of Metal Gear Solid’s stealth elements into the online gameplay.
Errata
I have this… inability to play full screen games for long periods now without having to check my email, check my news feeds, IM’s, guild forums, etc. That is, unless they really grab me. Windowed games (like WoW) as well as console games are nice because they don’t require full focus of my computer.
I feel like blogging again.
Super Stardust HD
SSHD is an arcade style shooter (destroy anything that moves, collect power-ups, dodge anything that moves and isn't a power-up) available on the PSN. Oh God it's crack...and has over the past week or so, admittedly occupied more of my free gaming time than I care to admit. I miss this game genre.
Shadow of the Colossus
I was reading an interesting discussion earlier this week on games with sad plot lines and this title came up multiple times. I know that it has received extremely high regard when it was released in 2005, but I never picked it up for whatever reason. It's only like, $15 used at Gamestop; Might pick it up this week.
Metal Gear Solid 4
I have a huge strictly metaphorical gamer hard-on for anything Metal Gear. I consequently adore all aspects of the game/story, including the parts that make abso-fucking-lutely no sense. I was going to type out a lengthy afterthought review but I'm sure that at this point, anything that I could possibly ever say regarding the gameplay and plot has already been covered a hundred times over.
Among all installations, 4 by far has the best gameplay and control scheme. They really polished and streamlined it to the point where it is *gasp* actually valid as an action game. But that said, you really do have to play through all of the previous Metal Gear Solid games in order to fully appreciate and understand MGS4.
WoW
*Thinking about going to BlizzCon this year* I am, to be honest, not really much of a convention goer though...
