XBox One

A memorable moment in my gaming career has been watching the live unvieling of the XBox 360 on television with my friend. We had worked ourselves up into an excitement that neither of us have seen before, and there is no doubt that the viral marketing and hype that Microsoft put out there was to blame. The event came and went, and a few short months after launch, we both picked up 360s.

For the past seven years, we have enjoyed them immensely, but our gaming interests and habits have changed a bit, his more than my own (re: bachelor lifestyle). The rumour mill started up and we were looking at the announcement of new systems coming up pretty soon, and I found myself quite excited. May 2013 couldn't come soon enough, and when the day came, I was relatively glued to my monitor at work, watching the presentation and refreshing the live blog at the same time.

Disappointment.

The XBox One - as the name was announced that day - was something else; it was no 360, and it wasn't the natural evolution that I (and many more) were hoping for. The hour long presentation showcased how the One would take over your cable box and allow instant swapping between games, movies and live television. It talked about sports and the new Kinect. They talked about just a couple of games, with a major focus on the next Call of Duty. All of which, I had little interest in.

We quickly determined that this XBox was not meant for us, or at the very least, Microsoft has told me that I am not their primary target market anymore.

I cut cable years ago.
I avoided the Kinect and dislike motion gaming.
I don't buy sports games, or watch sports.
I don't buy or play Call of Duty (unless it's really cheap).

Fast forward a bit to the next Microsoft press conference (pre-E3 one) in the beginning of June and we get into the real juice of the next generation.

It's not good.

DRM all over. It's confusing. You have to install every game. You must keep Kinect connected at all times. Kinect is always listening. Privacy? You can't lend games - or you can, but it's restricted and complicated. You can't really buy used games - you can but you'll pay a fee. It's always online.

Everything. Has. Changed.

And it sucks.

The One was no longer a gaming console: it was an always listening mass-media consumption device that just so happened to play games, and the restrictions that were put on playing games was ridiculous (especially for us casual gamers). Always on internet connection? Seriously? The problem with it all is that it bore little relevance to myself: I rarely have internet problems, and I'm always online.

But it's the principle of it all, right? The worst offender is the Kinect, and why am I being forced to buy hardware that I don't have any interest in using. I listened to a great comment that noted that the new Kinect is an amazing piece of hardware, that eclipses the previous version. But there is no reason why this new hardware is being included, or how it's going to make our games better. We're just told it is, and we have to roll with it. If you're ever looking for an example of something being shoved down the throats of consumers, take this new Kinect as the prime. Judging by the number of titles on the shelves and the amount that people talk about the Kinect, it's safe for me to say it was a relative failure, and hasn't added much to gaming. So the bundle is going to drive up the price, which is sitting at $499.

$499 for the One, while the PS4 slides in at $399. That's just killer. Supposedly Sony removed their camera/Kinect from the bundle to get it down that low, so please Microsoft, do the same thing.

A couple of short weeks after all this nonsense, Microsoft pulled a one eighty and removed all the lending, used game and online requirements from the system. The backlash was that high, the consumer has spoken.

This is good news for everyone, but it doesn't heal the massive wound that Microsoft dealt out. It will take time for this to heal, and I'm not convinced that they are in a position to fully recover. And an important thing to note is that there is nothing to stop them from slowly rolling this stuff out over the course of the system's life.

A few people have spoken out to say that the reversal is going to deny us some neat new functionality. Like "family sharing" where you could actually share one game license to others as long as you don't play at the same time. It sounds like you will also need the disc in the tray while playing now as well. Basically it's back to where the 360 functions right now. Microsoft had some cool ideas, but didn't communicate these well: these new features may have been killer, but they didn't talk about how they would work. Instead, they left the hivemind to spin everything out of control and the internet being what it is, spun it into an abyss.

After all this time, I had much more faith that MS would do the "right" thing, and we would get a nice console that played games and had a similar controller to the 360. I just want some new graphics, really.

Sony is here to fill the void. They have been taking notes on every misstep they took with the PS3 (and there were lots) and worked to correct all of them. At least, from what we can see so far. The PS4 looks like a pure gaming machine, which is exactly what I'm looking for.

In the end, it's all white noise. I've always been of the mind to wait until the system launches and we see how things turn out. The good and bad of it, is that the system can dramatically change in a short period of time. The industry can react: sending out new firmware can open up or close down your system. When the dust settles, in time, I will own all of them. Or perhaps I'll move to PC? My 360 has lots of life in it, and there is a huge stack of games waiting to be played. After all, it's the games that matter, and the games that make or break it.

Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood

There was some hesitation before playing Brotherhood. One day, I took the plunge. And I'm not sure I came
up for air again until two weeks later.

Hesitation because Assassin's Creed II was one of the best games I've played in quite some time. It improved upon the first in every way imaginable, and surpassed my expectations greatly. So fantastic, in fact, that I was only a few "sequences" into the game when I bought nearly all available downloadable content. Now, my memory is hazy but I think the main DLC was composed of a few sequences between the main game: for instance, the game may have went from 12 to 16, where the DLC was composed of 13, 14 and 15. Those downloaded sequences weren't quite up to par with the rest of the game, but it didn't sully my experience. I played all that I could.

Then, Brotherhood came out and I was unsure: mainly because the game looked like an expansion of II. Some sources were citing that it was more of the same, which in my books has never been a bad thing. Brotherhood also only takes place in one city: Rome, and by that would seem like a shorter title.

I was relatively wrong.

Rome in Brotherhood is filled to the absolute brim with gameplay and exploration. There is no shortage of activity to undertake and people to assassinate. I was looking for a game to play and upon hearing that my friend had taken up the challenge of Assassin's Creed II, I had to jump in. If anything, it would be a short game, but I was dead wrong about that.

The completionist in me came out, and I had to do as much as possible in the game before finishing the next main sequence. This involved rebuilding Rome, discovering ancient shrines and taking on the Borgia on any front that I could. And every bit of it was brilliant.

The gameplay is pretty smooth; there are moments of frustration as you accidentally run up a wall but generally, the fighting is fluid and the acrobatics are good. There are lots of ways to kill, many of which I didn't even bother with throughout most of the game. When it was all over I continued to play in order to score a couple of achievements but mainly because I couldn't let Rome go. During this time I undertook a few of the guild challenges that I didn't pay attention to before, of which many had me performing some interesting tasks. I couldn't help think though that the main game wasn't much of a challenge in regard of variety: for the most part you keep spamming the attack button and you'll breezing through the game in no time.

Only in the end did the game seem to falter. I won't spoil it for you, but I will say that the last portion has you in control of the controller, just as you have in previous games. I've seen comments saying that this unique aspect of the series - the big reveal in the first game - is also the weakest part. There are some relatively straightforward ways of stringing together the characters (they are ancestors of one another, after all). In any event, we have the series and so far, each game is getting better and better, although apparently that's coming to and end (if some sources are correct). The question quickly becomes, do I play Revelations now? I have to, of course. I need to see what happens to Ezio and his crew of assassins. Which makes me wonder why we don't get more Altair. Was his story really complete? Perhaps with some better gameplay we could revisit that period. I want more...I need more.

Brotherhood was brilliant.

Batman: Arkham City

It looks from my initial write-up of Arkham Asylum that I was quick to get the post out there, without talking about the game that much. And what else is there to say? I've recommended it to friends over the years without much description aside from the simple command: just play it. Because that’s what I did, and fell in love, so I figured others should do the same thing. And it seems they have enjoyed it, although not to the extent that I did (which was perhaps too much), but only in terms of wanting to stay in the Asylum to do as many challenges and to find ALL the Riddler's clues. Sometimes, the gaming stars align in such a way that you can do those things, and others, they simply pass by one another without much notice. Upon completion in Arkham City, I felt absolutely zero need to go around collecting all the Riddler's trophies and puzzles, and even less about doing all the challenges.

Perhaps a reason for the lack of interest in those extras was the other extras throughout the game, specifically: the side missions. There were quite a few of them, and I don’t recall these types of side missions in Asylum.  I didn't complete all of them though, as doing a few made me quickly realize there was a lot of work for not much return – I much preferred to stick to the main storyline. But here, the main storyline felt quite a bit shorter, no doubt pared down a bit in order to make room for all the extra missions found throughout the city. That’s not to say the story wasn't excellent, because it was really, very good. All the voice acting is spot on of course, and the game carries on that feel of the nineties Animated Series with a darker skew. And for a fan of those original cartoons (like myself) these games are the bees knees.

I also wanted to make a comment on the Catwoman content, which is extra from the main game, but is tightly integrated: after certain scenes playing as Batman, you’ll cut over to play as Catwoman on her own little mission against Two-Face and of course, you’ll interact with Batman throughout his story too. It fleshed out the game and added some depth to it, but what I ended up focusing on (aside from the character model herself) was how much differently she played than Batman. She is smaller, faster and not as tough, and it was an absolute dream to take control and beat up some bad guys using the same combat system (minus Batman’s gadgets).

The Catwoman content is actually DLC that comes with the game when you buy it new. This format of
incentive is increasing in popularity; as publishers try to prevent people from buying used games where they see no profit, they offer “incentives” like this. The practice is a turn off for many gamers, but it’s inevitable: if you buy the game used you can always buy the content for the regular DLC price, otherwise, buy the game new and just punch in the code. Personally, I want to wait for the game of the year edition which is going to be discounted and full of all the content. In any event, for Arkham City I would have really liked to see this practice removed and have the Catwoman content present right from the beginning, as I really do feel that it offers valued gameplay and story to the game.

If I had to lodge a complaint against the game it could be tied directly to one of the best aspects of it: the combat. Here it is: they give you a ton of gadgets, and in City you get many more that you can “quickfire” in combat. I want to use them all, all the time: you get more experience and higher scores, and it’s just straight up fun. The problem: I can’t remember all the button combinations. Yeah, most of the time I’m just mashing the attack button and doing counter attacks. Every so often I remember to use a gadget and it throws me completely off to a point in where I lose my combination and I have to see Batman getting punched in the back of the neck. He doesn't like that.

The final battle was good, and I didn't feel as frustrated there or anywhere else in the game like I did in Asylum. A bit of the magic that was present was lost here, probably because of the novelty of your first play through on becoming The Batman himself. I was scared initially when I read about City: thinking the play area was just going to be too big. It’s the opposite problem I anticipated with Asylum, but fear not: the city is an appropriate size as the core game remains essentially the same as you travel from one building to another, wherein all the main action takes place.  

So just in time as I write this little review, I see news of the next game in the series being announced. It’s a prequel that takes place when Batman was just getting started, which is always a classic time frame for him. It won’t be developed by Rocksteady, who helmed both of these games. It also won’t feature the writing talents of Paul Dini, and presumably none of the voice talent. It kind of spells doom and gloom, but we can remain hopeful: it will run the same “engine” so to speak, which means identical combat with new and different gadgets as well as fairly similar graphics. It’s going to hit this fall, which means I’ll probably end up playing it by the end of 2014. I look forward to it! 

Skyrim

One does not simply...beat Skyrim.

But you can certainly try; I am not one of those brave souls though. However, I have nearly hit one hundred hours of gameplay, with very little left to do. The main quest became my primary goal after a while, and it was conquered quickly, and easily. The other "guilds" in the game have been completed, save for the Thieves Guild. The reason I left it behind is because it was so terrible, time consuming and uninteresting. In fact, you could say that about most the game, but the main storyline brought things back to focus for me. The quests were mixed up a bit - they varied - and was actually interesting. But the main story line only accounts for a fraction of the total hours you spend in the game.

In reading that, you may think I have nothing to say but negative things for Skyrim, and to a degree it's easier to focus on those negatives. But while you read this, keep in mind that I just sunk one hundred hours into this game. Over the past few years I've learned to put things down that I'm not enjoying, which all started with Lost Planet. Decent concept, poor execution and I just wasn't up to it. Fast forward to Fable III, which was difficult to put down but I haven't missed it; I've become at peace knowing that I wasn't getting enjoyment from it, and there's no reason to grind away at these games while there are others to try (and enjoy). It's all about maximizing your enjoyment per hour, right?

Skyrim is an interesting beast. There are many negatives that would lead you to conclude that it's not a good game, but here you (or I) are, playing it every day, for hours at a time. They've managed to pull it all together and appeal directly to our senses, and in the end I can say I had a good run. What happens is that you burn yourself out. For me, there is so much I want to do - and it doesn't help that I lean slightly towards completionism, a task that is not really possible in Elder Scrolls games. There is not enough time to do it all, and when I step back I have to realize there is no real point in doing it, it's not completely necessary. The developers have filled the world with so many little nuggets of creativity and neat things that you want to experience them all - but you can't, and probably shouldn't. Which is why I approached the game differently after a bit.

At first, I wanted to collect everything, keep every item I found for future display and enjoyment. But therein lies a problem, and one of the reasons I burnt out. When I came back to the game I took a different approach - or role, you could say - by only keeping the things that I really found interesting. What happened is my enjoyment increased, as I didn't have to search every bookshelf, or every chest for loot. I was happy just getting the special items from the big chests at the end of a dungeon, or the various rewards for completing quests. Doing this sped things up quickly, and maximized my enjoyment out of each hour of the game. I also turned on subtitles, so I could read ahead and skip dialogue. Listening to someone speak takes too long, and when you realize most of what they have to say is useless, it's easy to jump ahead. But when something interesting struck me, I would spend more time with it.

It's all about your attitude, and you realize that you are indeed playing a role playing game. It's meant to be played in any number of ways, and that no one is watching. Yes, it's great to show off your character to someone else, but it's more about sharing stories of your experience and your journey than having a chest full of wolf pelts or two hundred soul gems that will never be used. My attitude changed around fifty hours into the game, so that the last half was more enjoyable than the first. Although, there was quite a bit of grinding, and less actual role-playing. See, I discovered some dwarven armour fairly early on in the game, and was very eager to learn more about the culture and species. I raided all sorts of their ancient cities, and I would say for the majority of the game, I was in that armour. But I wanted better stuff, so I grinded away until I got the best, and was let down. Looking back, it went against my character, which may explain why it just didn't feel right.

All that being said, I enjoyed Oblivion much more. Perhaps it's because it was the first of it's kind that I played. Perhaps I just enjoyed the world more. Perhaps it's because I just came off Fallout 3 (another seventy hour game) and not enough time had passed before tackling Skyrim. Perhaps Oblivion was a bit of a surprise, and Skyrim wasn't: you know exactly what you're getting into when you start your journey here. The only thing left now are various achievements, something that I'll be a sucker for I'm sure, and will truly test my resolve.

Portal 2

When my friend gave me a copy of Portal 2, did he realize then, that it was like taking away one of my weekends and replacing it with hours upon hours of Portal gaming? Did he realize, when he was receiving the game from the dealer, that I would wake up on Saturday morning, begin playing the game and then awaken from my Portal hibernation late Sunday night? This is indeed what happened, although I'm not convinced of any maliciousness, but instead: the complete opposite.

See, we really enjoy games like these. After you come off a bender of Skyrim, you need a more casual game to become reacquanted with what gaming actually is. I could lose numerous weekends to Skyrim, or any other giant open world game, and come away with practically nothing. With Portal 2, I would spend quite a few hours becoming immersed in the game world, and at the end of the weekend, I had a finished game. I experienced much of what the game had to offer, at least, on the surface. The story is beat, the final boss taken care of and I got to watch the credits go by. There may not be a lot of achievement points handed out, but the biggest achievement was had, and that was the thorough and complete enjoyment of the game. And the icing on the cake [perhaps a pun for those in the know] is that I get to go onto another game.

My friend and I have spoken for quite a while on the subject of how - as gamers - we have evolved our interests. And it all deals with getting older, of course, and having more responsibilities that supercede gaming. Unfortunately, I don't experience many of them, but the pressure is certainly there, and I know the reality of the situation. No longer do we have two hundred spare hours to invest in a game. No, we have to divide that time up, and quite simply, the fewer hours you do have to game are more valuable. That's where titles like Portal come in. These games are short, very short. To me, this means around five to seven hours. Although I dedicated much of my weekend to it, I probably only put in six hours overall, and that's perfect. It's akin to a television series going on for a few seasons past it's prime. Whereas the US version of The Office is going to end on a sour note, the UK version called it quits on the peak, and for that we remember it as being a seriously good show. Portal 2 never had a chance to become "bad" so to speak; it never had a low point and because of that, we'll always remember it as being seriously good.

Perhaps the only negative I can spin onto the title are some of the puzzles, but I have no one to blame but myself. In most cases it's just a matter of not being able to find a surface that I can throw a portal onto, or that I'm blind and have missed a button that has been inset in a wall just a touch. They are minor, and when you finish those tough puzzles, the sense of accomplishment and pride is high. The game thrives on this: each "level" is another test, and when you solve this test you go on. The sequel rewards you with humour, as you're being insulted and forced onto the next test in line. The constant puzzle solving and short duration of those puzzles is a big motivator as you move through the story. There are times when you just sit there and have no clue how to advance, and you begin to experiment. There are other times when you walk into a puzzle and everything just clicks: you go through the motions and feel like a genius.

Everything comes together perfectly, and Valve pulls it off in what seems like effortlessness, but when you being to look closely, you see how polished things really are. The controls are tight, the puzzles are mind-bending, and the story adequate. You don't want the game to end because you're having so much fun with it, but deep down you know it has to. In these cases I can definitely see myself playing through it again.

Sonic CD

A short while ago (we're talking weeks here, perhaps) Sonic CD was released all over the place. Often touted as one of the best Sonic games, it also seems be one of the more rare titles. You have to understand that any Sonic game on the Genesis has been released on every conceivable platform numerous times, while Sonic CD, for the Sega CD system, has not seen release very often. The only time I can think of off-hand is in the Sonic Gems Collection for the Gamecube and PS2. The previous Mega Collection Plus consisted of about a dozen games but was sorely lacking CD, while the Gems Collection included the fabled game and a few more.  Earlier this year I stumbled across the Gems version, so I had to buy it immediately. The purchase was fueled entirely by nostalgia, as are any other Sonic purchases, for that matter.

Back in 1992 or so, I was getting a Genesis for Christmas, with Sonic packed in. I played it like crazy: who didn't? I never did go on to own any other Sonic Genesis title, but I rented fairly often (my primary way of playing games in the early nineties). I must have rented Sonic CD at one point, as I did make that purchase. The memory is clear though: my friend Paul and I were scouting about town in the middle of summer, with not much to do. We walked downtown Belleville and went into a used CD shop - which also dealt in games - and we saw Sonic CD standing there on the shelf. In those days, the jewel cases were large: thick and tall, and about twice the depth of a standard CD case. The price tag read $40. I must have had around $30 or $35, as we walked out of the store and to Paul's bank. For some reason he remembered one of his bank accounts has being somewhat defunct. I can't make this stuff up: he closed his account that day, extracting seven dollars and change. I never did ask what happened there, because there was one thing on our mind that day: acquiring Sonic CD. And we did; walking back to the store and plunking down our cash.

The deal between us was never discussed: it was my game, but he paid for a percentage of it. Perhaps I paid him back, but that seems unlikely. He came over quite often and we would play it - along with other games - frequently. Perhaps it was bit of a friend tax. Whenever a friend comes over often and drinks a lot of your soda, don't ever feel bad about not returning seven dollars you borrowed from him, as chances are he owes you much more. Regardless of how it went down, it was clearly not the focus. We loved playing Sonic CD. It really is the best 2D Sonic out there; with brilliant music, sharp graphics and tight controls. You could time travel, there was no Tails following you around constantly, and did I mention the music? It was a blast, really.

Years later I would sell all my Sega stuff, and I'm sure Sonic CD was a casualty of a cheap yard sale death.

When I picked up the Gems Collection, I went through the hassle of getting it going. It really was a hassle: get the Wavebird connected to the Wii, find a Gamecube memory card and slap that in. Find out the Wavebird needs batteries, and of course all mine are dead. Sacrifice a remote for it. Get the Wii going because it hasn't been turned on in eight months, and find out it's not even connected to the new television set (which is barely new anymore as half a year has past). It's finally on screen and I'm exhausted; I play for a few minutes and validate the facts of my childhood experience, but I can't relive them. I turn the system off and shelve my collectible.

Fast forward to a few weeks ago, and I find myself spending extra Microsoft Credits on Sonic CD (only 400 points, right?) for the Xbox 360. The actions are practically autonomous, with no memory of my experience just a few months before on the Wii. Do I really need to buy this? No. Why is it happening? To relive that summer memory, laughing to myself as I think about the expression on the teller's face at the bank, the excitement of putting the disc into the system back in ~1994 and watching the animated, FMV intro. I quickly relive those again, but not with the same wonderment that I expect; I'm all alone and too much time has passed. I begin playing the game and immediately dig the music, but now I find myself playing it for the sake of playing it. None of the levels are familiar; the time travelling is loose and happening too often. The game only lasts a half hour before I die, and with that death, goes my interest. Don't get me wrong: the game is still solid, a tightly controlled side scrolling game that deserves the credit. But my time is past; more than 15 years, in fact, and I think that I've emotionally moved on. Those times are behind me now, and I'm a different kind of gamer, for better or worse. I may never play this particular title again, but it's not leaving a bitter taste as it goes. It's amicable; two friends who haven't met in ages passing by one another casually, each understanding the passage of time and how relationships work. We'll continue to miss one another, but not in the same way. This replay of Sonic CD was the exact closure I needed.

Bastion

I had a bunch of garbage typed up about this game Bastion, but was never satisfied about it. How do I convey my pure joy and love for this game to you? I tried and failed, and now you won't see the result. What you get is this: Bastion is my pick for game of the year. Lo and behold, just a few days ago I was telling you how I couldn't effectively choose a favourite movie (nay, anything) of the year, but I've since doubled back and taken my mighty hammer to the back of your collective heads. There is no doubt - as I revisit the absurd idea of choosing a winner - that this game deserves it.

The summer was hot, but I didn't mind; the heat didn't last long and I was consuming a steady stream of Iced Cappuccino's. I purchased the game almost on a whim, or as close as a whim as I can do: I read about the game on Joystiq and other gaming sites a couple of times. I couldn't comprehend what made it so special but people were talking about it. Arriving at home, I downloaded the trial on the Xbox, and proceeded to play. It was everything and more. You see, the hook of the game is the narration. A perfect voice, the narrator will chime in with words of wisdom, commenting on your actions and offering anecdotes that progress the story in an entirely unique manner. Yes, the narration was there, implemented perfectly and it was awesome. After playing the first level, I chose to "unlock" the game: just shut up and take my money.

I continued playing, sipping the cool beverage as I lay spread out on the couch, sweating slightly but consistently. Hours would go by and I was still playing; the music kept pulling me in. The next level awaited. New weapons unlocked, new characters to talk to, new challenges. For an inexpensive, online title, this game was deep. The gameplay was right up my alley: isometric view, without any ridiculous camera tricks. You can move with one stick and attack with a few buttons. Keep it simple, they say, and they say it for a reason. Before each level you can select your favourite two weapons, and mix in a special attack. Your combination will bring out a quip from the narrator, making you proud for choosing what you did. A wide variety of weapons makes sure you don't get bored, although that's never a factor.

The story is engrossing, and weighty. There are moments that make you think, near the end of the game. There is certainly commentary to be made, statements about fate, about choosing, sacrifice and everything else. That's practically all besides the point. You see, when I was playing I wasn't considering all that; I was just have an absolute blast. Then the ending came, and I realized how far in I was invested. I stared the screen down, my cool, iced drink melted and forgotten. There is an option to play again, keeping all your progress with weapons intact. The second playthrough, the narration changes slightly, as the narrator comments on deja vu, wondering if we had done this all before. How many times have we gone through it now? At what point do you stop caring about the past and look onward to the future?

This is an experience that must be done; I haven't played in a few months and wanted to write about it but had to wait until the right moment. To let you know that this is the best game of the year was the moment. Months after the game release, the publisher opened an online store and began selling the soundtrack (amazing) but they had other items. I bought them all, in one fanboy-driven package: an art print with signatures from the game developers; a shirt, a cloth flag and the audio CD, which I'm listening to as I write this.

When you think about all the mega-franchises that do nothing to innovate, or when you think about how you tire of gaming in general, you look towards games like these. This is what I'm in it for.

Skyrim: Immersion

I did not put any consideration into my character before starting the game. In fact, the character creation in Oblivion happened so long ago and was completely forgotten. I forgot that you even choose your name, so when I was prompted in Skyrim to do so, I put in my typical handle: Ryebone. I didn't realize until half a dozen hours later that this was not ideal. For the most part it has no influence over the game, but there are moments where it blares itself: say you are being assassinated, and kill the assassin. Read the note on their body and find out there is a contract on your head, naming you specifically. It's a bit odd jarring to see Ryebone in there: it's not very Elder Scrolls-esque. But such as it is.

Redguard was my race of choice in Oblivion, as it is in this game as well. I feel like they are well rounded fighters, good at using all weapons, and able to capably wield magic. They fit my play style perfectly. However, in Skyrim, the skills and leveling are handled - in my opinion - much better. If you chose a race that excels in magic, you simply get a head start in the skill tree. If I keep casting destruction skills, but destruction levels up and when you're at the max level, everybody is the same. Sure, there are other benefits here and there, like Nord's being more resistant to cold, but whatever. Perhaps my dragon-born character is a descendant of my redguard champion from Oblivion. 

There are many posts about people getting immersed in the game, and I realize that this is a role playing game and that's how people approach it. They create characters and their own backstories, and what amazes me most is how they create artificial rules for themselves while playing the game. It could be something as absurd as being a vegetarian. It's certainly possible: you find lots of fruits and different foods: simply avoid meats and perhaps avoid killing the cute little foxes and rabbits running around. I guess this is a sandbox game that allows you to do quite a bit. I never really looked at it like that: I play the game as I do subconsciously: I use basic magic, and specializing in one-handed blades. I like to keep a tidy house, and collect one of every item I get my hands on. I sell the rest. 

A few difference exist between the two characters. The major difference between my character in Oblivion and Skyrim is that I never sneak, unless the opportunity is too grand to pass up. Oblivion's Varrus (my character) was a devious bastard, who would sneak up to everyone and smash them across the room with his sword. He wore light armour exclusively - another different from my heavy armour loving Redguard in Skyrim.Finally, I am not a thief (not yet - I haven't tackled the thieve's guild storyline yet). I stole everything in Oblivion, and I did it primarily for money, so I can buy better gear. This does not seem to be necessary in Skyrim, as I haven't stolen a single thing yet for profit.

But I never really immerse myself like a traditional role play. I guess, I am playing the game as the game allows me: I'm not doing anything wrong. There's a beauty in that, and it's a big part in what makes this game so great and why it's so universally accepted by a variety of gamers. Be a mage, be a stealth archer, be a tank: it's all up to you. And for the first time in one of these giant games, I'm looking forward to trying a second character.

Skyrim

I'm not sure where to even begin. How do you? That's part of the obstacle: the mental hurdle of knowing - simply being aware - that you are going to have this game spinning at home, and you are going to lose dozens of hours of your life. It's inevitable. Since playing Oblivion I've feared the sequel; I put over 120 hours into the fourth Elder Scrolls game, and I anticipate spending even more with Skyrim, the fifth in the series.

So far, I'm easily on track. In fact, if you look at my "epic" run of Fallout 3 hovering around 80 hours over five or six weeks, the 32 hours I've invested in the first seven days since release I'm quite on track to hit some number that I don't care to calculate. Quite simply I should surpass Fallout 3 within the week or two, and most likely Oblivion a few weeks after that. It's scary: how is this possible? What makes it all click? It doesn't matter, and I'm not going to explore this. Just accept the fact that this happens, and if you choose to play, it will happen to you to. For all of us non-drug users, I would imagine this is as close to chemical addiction that we're going to get to.

Indeed, I pre-ordered the game, picked it up and began playing almost immediately. My sister asked if I would babysit my niece Friday night. I told her it was Skyrim release day, like that should mean something. She responds by asking when the movie starts, thinking that perhaps I could just go to a later showing. Little did she know the weight of the situation. I would pick up my niece from daycare, go to EB and pick up my copy of the collector's edition. My niece didn't care that the box was so gigantic, and that it contained a foot-tall dragon "statue" inside. She wanted to see me play it, but I knew how futile something like that would be: I knew the intro would be long, dramatic and boring to a five year old. It would have to wait. My sister would get home, then I head home after and just around midnight, I have the game unboxed and installing on the drive. I would begin playing.

For the remainder of the weekend, I couldn't stop. It was exactly what I expected to happen, but even then, I'm not sure I was prepared. How could you be? How can anyone? It's practically unfair what they do to us. Infinite quests? Are you serious? I enjoy going through a list of quests to do, completing them and moving on. In this game when you return from a quest, that same person has another waiting for you. Most of the time I'm not sure if these are "main" quests or not, although after so many hours it's fairly evident that any mundane fetch quests are part of this "radiant quest" system. There's so much to do and so much to explore it's overwhelming, and the only way to approach things is systematically. So that's where I go from there: find an entry point, quest it out, get some achievements and move on. Stop talking to random strangers because everybody has something they want you to do.

Has it been fun? It has, for the most part. Playing for extended periods of time is physically exhausting. You get tired of the repetition and when you want to quit, that's when you find yourself in a dungeon that never ends. You have to take breaks, or else you will go mad. When I originally played Oblivion I don't recall having so much free time. It took months to do what I anticipate will only take weeks here.

Alan Wake

There was quite a bit of hype to Alan Wake in the months before release; it was the type of hype that I was barely paying attention to but yet, was the forefront of my gaming conscience. It would be like trying to watch a movie with a giant pillar of glowing blue light coming from your closet: you want to ignore it, and you can ignore it, but curiosity catches up quickly and you have no choice but to throw open the doors. In this case I only opened the doors a crack, and understood at once that I was staring at a different kind of gaming beast. This beast, I knew at that time, would be mine in due time - not upon release, of course - and I would eventually be playing it. Weird how that works, as I barely knew what the game was, how it played or why anyone cared. But they did care, and I picked up on the aura: when the game hit $20 before it should have, I snatched it up, put it in it's place in the collection (its place being the first slot, thanks to alphabetization) and there it sat, for many months.

It sat, calling, for quite some time. It's impossible to determine how much exactly or even approximately. We could be talking a year or more; we could be talking a few months. It's like the title has been there forever yet just arrived - a warning I should have realized regarding how creepy the game is to play. Sure, I was told; my friend had been playing it, and knowing me more than I now myself, informed me that I would be too scared to play it (alone, at least). He would be right, of course: I had a hard time playing Doom 3 back in the day, and I couldn't even make it through the demo of Condemned 2. Alan Wake would be different though. Since I have a bit of extra time during the day, I decided to go for it. I needed a different title to play than Fable III, and this would be just the ticket. 

The weather outside was warm, and more importantly, sunny. This should help with my fears, right? I put the game disc in and let the 360 drive absorb it. Then it happens: the un-Godly whirring noise of a disc being spun to velocity that is trademarked by the Microsoft system. The last time I heard a system make this sort of noise I was playing Project Gotham Racing 3, over five years ago. This problem was supposed to be fixed, right? Apparently my new-ish box is not immune. Quickly exiting the title screen, I was back upon the dashboard and chose the option to install the game, a function typically reserved for reducing load times but in this instance, would also be used to deafen the turbine that was going off in my living room. Unfortunately it takes about a half hour to install a game, and during that process the drive is going at full tilt. I left the room, and upon coming back and seeing the mission accomplished, I turned everything off and occupied my mind with something else. The spark had faded, and I found myself loading up a television show and my laptop: the show as background noise and Reddit as the source of concentration for the next hour.

A week later and I'm able to start playing the game again. This is record time; see, the last time I turned a game off like that was Halo 3, and it took me two whole years to return to it. It happened with Ocarina of Time more than a decade ago, which resulted in a year long hiatus and me restarting from the beginning. Alan Wake would not defeat me like that. It seemed like the gauntlet was thrown down - I'm not sure who did the throwing, but it was there - and I was ready to take up the challenge. The only rule, so far, is that I play while the sun is out. And how fitting it turns out the light is to me, as it is important to the title character himself. As he wields his flashlight, narrowing its beam to weaken enemies, then quickly running to a bright spot where he can recoup his sanity - or at least, my own. After completing the first episode, I fear something else though. I really enjoy the title, and I'm not sure I can not play at night, during prime gaming hours With the sun setting so early it would be unfair to myself - and to Alan - if I were to not piece together more of the mystery.

Wish me luck.

Halo: Reach

By the time you read this, I should be finished with Halo: Reach. As it stands, I'm only two levels away from completing this beast, and I have to say I'm thoroughly enjoying it. A while back I was playing through Halo ODST and can safely say that while enjoyable, was quite disappointing. I can say this now, because I've been playing Reach and the two really do stand apart. Perhaps it's the fact you get to play as a Spartan, and you're surrounded by other Spartans. These genetically modified superhumans are fantastic; when you pull of nutty moves it's not implausable. You recruit "regular" marines throughout your journeys, but you don't command them. They simply follow you and act as cannon fodder, and they love you for it. When you die, they freak out, as they know their time has come too since the almighty has fallen. The levels are tightly designed and actually interesting, and there's some great vehicle combat too. The level design is a sticking point for me as I feel as though I got off on a bad start in my Halo experience, running through numerous levels of generic hallways and fields. I'm glad to see the Bungie team moving away from that; it creates a much more compelling experience.

Let's back it up though.

Whenever I visit my friend down south, I'm bombarded with jealousy as I have to sit within feet of dozens of special editions of video games. Normally this wouldn't be a problem, but I absolutely love these things and it's what I've dreamed of since I was a child. Not until the last generation have we gotten so much care put into the packaging of video games. So, being somewhat broke, I can't buy all the editions I would like to; instead, I selectively pick and choose, running releases through a filter of which I myself can't comprehend. One of the criteria seems to be my enjoyment of the game, for good reason. But it's also dependent on how much I owe the series. For instance, I bought the Fable III special edition because I haven't invested very much in the series already. I owe it to Fable to pick this up to show my love or whatever. Halo has been up and down for me, but generally, I like the games. It is, after all, why this blog site was initially started and it got me subscribing to a gold membership on Live at the very beginning of it all.

I'm perusing my favourite game sites and see Halo: Reach heavily discounted on Amazon.com. Brought down to a very reasonable price, and I bite, placing my order before fully thinking of it. The automaton known as Game Buying Ryebone took hold and yeah, it was scary. But reason came through and I decided to look at the Canadian version of Amazon. It wasn't any cheaper (a little more, actually) but factor in taxes, S&H, and you were looking at about the same price. So, I cancelled the US order and placed the CDN one instead, and my package of Halo delight arrived two days later. I can get into the specifics of the edition itself but all I'll say is that Reach is one of the best out there. The packaging - like the level design - is tight. The artifacts and documents are very neat, and as a bonus, it doesn't take up much space on the shelf and what space it does take up is quite presentable (as much as I love that giant tin of Assassin's Creed II, it looks bonkers sitting anywhere). Little did I know the package would be such a precursor to how good the game inside actually is. And in typical fashion, it would take me nearly six months after buying it, to actually play.

OK, so after writing this up, then going home and (almost - I need to fuel my body first) immediately hunkering down for a night of Reach, I finished it. Probably wasn't even an hour later and I was watching the credits. Disappointed a bit, only in that I wanted it to keep going. Then all of a sudden it was back on: the eleventh "level" where you basically have no choice but to die. You can hold out as long as you like, but it gets crazy as swarms of enemies are devastating you. Absolutely brilliant were the broken visor effects and I guess, the epic-ness of the situation. Its reminding that you knew the ending before going in. I sort of knew, but I don't really follow the stories in Halo. Reach was the beginning of the major assault on human forces - or something - and was the first to fall. Even the back of the game case indicated as much, as did the beginning of the game as it opened and closed on your broken helmet.

So, going back to the special edition stuff, have I paid my respects to the Halo franchise? I have just about all the core games, I believe. I even bought the special edition of Halo 2 way back, although that was more because it was on sale dirty cheap and it would be completing my (original) XBox steel book series. The legendary edition of Reach was a monstrosity of an edition, including some giant statue of the Noble team from the game. I didn't understand it at first when I saw a teenager receive it for his birthday at the other end of a restaurant. He pulled it out of the box and everybody was watching - as well they should - and the look of sheer excitement in his face made me a bit jealous for those days when I could get crazy-excited like that. I wondered why you would want such an intricate statue without the Master Chief in there, but now I see the point a bit more clearly now. You have to appreciate that they release various levels of special editions for these games so it gives us "intermediate" gamers a chance at something special without going ridiculous. My experience with Reach all but guarantees I buy the next special edition Halo game that comes out.

Father's Day Bioshock 2

How fitting it is that I finish the game on Father's Day, of all days. As you control one of the first Big Daddies - Delta - seeking out your original Little Sister, you can explore the bonds of that father-daughter relationship. Or perhaps, you shouldn't be taking cues from a videogame where you, as the dad, are playing a grotesque monster who has been revived after being dead for ten years and living inside a steampunk style pressurized diving suit. Oh, and you inject yourself with various plasmids that alter your genetic code, enabling you to shoot fire, ice and electricity - among others - from your hand. Yeah, it is quite the ride and when you start thinking of these game worlds and the characters you play from a distance, you can completely understand some groups' apprehension towards the gaming industry. But that's all besides the point, cause the important thing here is your exploration of Rapture, it's inhabitants and your role as a Big Daddy.

I made a post last week detailing one specific story where I was in awe of the game; since then I have been playing the game religiously until I completed it a few days later. And I walk away in complete love of the game, and the series. As I previously mentioned there seems to be a bit of hate on for the sequel, and I can understand why. The story isn't as good, and the gameplay is similar. But I can't see how that's a bad thing. The story is intriguing and way beyond your average game. The gameplay is stellar; they took the already polished mechanics of the first and refined them even further. Allowing you to control a plasmid and weapon at the same time; advancing you with different weapons and more interesting upgrades, and providing an absolute boatload of plasmids and gene tonics. So many tonics, in fact, I was going crazy managing them. I wanted to equip them all. In the first game I don't think I even bothered to max out the slots while here, it was an absolute priority. I enjoy the hacking mini-game much more, not only because it was faster, but it didn't pause the game and seemed to play a more important role in the game. I was eager to turn bots against each other and allow them to help me. The ability to repair them (and subsequently get them names) was a nice touch.

One of the issues I had was my luck of using all the weapons: for the most part I stuck to the machine and rivet gun. Rarely did I switch up the gun I used or even their specialty ammo, although I kind of wanted to. It just never happened. I also didn't focus on using a variety of plasmids either, sticking to the same few in most cases. But near the end I was beginning to branch out and wished the game would go on longer so that I could experiment more. This leads me to the question of repeating the game. Perhaps on a harder difficulty? Perhaps to max out my research this time? I missed the achievement by just an inch, as I kept forgetting to scan in the spider splicer whenever he jumped me. Instead I went nuts and killed his ass, then remembered that I should have made that snuff film before opening fire. The audio diaries are back and absolutely fantastic as they bring a lot of intriguing depth to the world and its characters.

Playing the game on Father's Day is certainly no replacement or replacement for the relationship you would have with your real daughter (or son, I guess, but there are none of those in Rapture), but it's something. I couldn't harm those Little Sisters if I wanted to. In the beginning I wasn't sure if they were impervious to damage. I would make sure they were out of harm's way before I devastated her Big Daddy. I never wanted her to get caught in the crossfire. And I defended them with a newfound vigor as they were gathering, making sure those jerk splicers got what they deserved. When it was time to let them go, I always "rescued" them (I've never even see the harvest animation) and waited patiently for them to go safely into the hole in the wall to freedom. The process of adopting, then doing the gatherings numerous times in a level become a little tedious at times, but was always worth it. And most definitely worth the trouble when you see them without those zombie-esque glowing eyes at the end of the game. They were safe now, and being a father, that's all you ever want for your children.

Bioshock 2

My friend bought me the limited edition of Bioshock 2 which was, quite frankly, a pleasant surprise. The edition is nothing short of epic, and was the catalyst in getting me into the vinyl game. A hardcover book was the icing on the cake, and then the game, of course. Every day that I didn't play the game was slightly guilt-ridden, but there is a flood of high quality, must play games in line that were taking precedence. And of course, you have to switch it your gaming genres to keep things fresh. So after finally completing the arduous grind of (the story mode of) Lego Rock Band, I could finally move on. Perusing the shelves of games beckoning at me, my hand went towards Bioshock 2. With one finger, I pulled on the top, angling it out. The slightly exposed title had me thinking: do I tackle this? The original had me hooked for a week straight; I couldn't pull my hands off the controller. Would the sequel have the same effect?

Without a doubt this I have high expectations for this game, and in my casual reading over the past year I see a general sentiment of disappointment. What is it? The game just didn't live up to the first one in terms of character, story, atmosphere. Is that such a bad thing? What if these elements was only 95% of the original game? Considering how stellar the first one is, 95% of that would still be epic. In fact, if the game is only half as good I think we have a solid experience on our hands. And I'm glad to report that so far, this game is an awesome experience, and definitely not a disappointment. Perhaps I'm just being too realistic; I don't expect the exact same game, or even something of the same quality. And perhaps because of that, I'm allowed to enjoy the game more. Really though, why justify all this? There's a lot to enjoy here, but I want to share a quick story with you that had me in awe.

Part of the game is adopting Little Sisters and having them harvest bodies for adam. The harvesting process can take a couple of minutes, and inexplicably while this is happening, splicers (bad folk, for the uninitiated) come out of the woodwork to attack the little girl and get the adam for themselves (because the are all addicts). So it's your job, as the Big Daddy, to protect the Little Sister while she's doing this. I performed a few "gatherings" successfully: I would lay traps in all the entry points I could see, make sure my guns are loaded and ready for action. Sometimes there would be a turret nearby: you can hack it and make it work for you. But this one gathering was a bit different, because it was a little bit in the open. Flanked by a large open area and multiple halls, there were a lot of traps to lay but I knew the battle would be hard. After a couple of minutes setting up my traps I could hear the thud, thud, of another Big Daddy approaching. I saw in the distance a little girl prancing around him. But just as I had noticed where they were, I put my girl down to begin the harvest.

Other Big Daddy's are initially neutral to you; they only attack you if you attack them first. Which is nice, because they can be tough to kill and can be avoided. The pair were now travelling directly towards me, yet no splicers had appeared yet. The other little girl ran up to the body that my girl was harvesting. She stopped, put her hands on her hips and looked on in what seemed like disappointment as the body was already taken. Her Big Daddy caught up to her and started doing the moaning thing they always do. At this point I was ducking behind a counter watching this happen: hiding, thinking that perhaps the Big Daddy wouldn't see me. I wasn't sure what to expect, then the splicers poured in. And the Big Daddy was not pleased: he started killing them with deadly efficiency as I continued to hide. He was protecting his Little Sister and unknowingly (?) protecting mine too. I let out a couple of blasts whenever I could, making sure not to hit my new partner (he would instantly turn on me if I did). Before I knew it, my Little Sister was jumping up and down: she was done and wanted to get back onto my shoulders.

When I retrieved her the achievement popped: not taking damage during a gathering. Sweet! Then the splicers stopped, and the Big Daddy continued about his business lurching about. The final task after gathering is either rescuing the Little Sister or harvesting her; of course I rescued her and she went about her way. I turned around and my buddy was still thumping about. I needed another Little Sister to do more gatherings to complete the level, but do I take his? He was right there. So yes, I killed him. It wasn't an epic duel by any means; he was grossly overpowered. As he lay slumped on the floor, his Little Sister cried. I walked up to her, and she started jumping up and down in a complete change of emotion: she wanted to be adopted now. I pressed the X button the gamepad and she jumped up onto my shoulders, ready for another gathering adventure.

Shift 2: Unleased

In a word: disappointed. I loved the first Shift tremendously; it's style of racing fit my preference perfectly and it's still a game I can put in the drive and continue playing. Racing games have always been a part of my life, and with Gran Turismo I was at a crossroads. In those games, you are encouraged to tune, simulate, advance through your "career" and earn money, all for what? You would spend quite a bit of time outside the track, and would find yourself grinding more than anything else. I remember playing the same race over and over just to get some money to buy a new car in order to have a slight chance of competing. After a few hours I would become discouraged and give up. And then Project Gotham Racing came about, and my interest in racing games was renewed. The physics and handling were more arcade-style, yet you were racing real vehicles and awarded for doing neat things on the track. You didn't have to technically master anything, and the result - for me - was a ton of fun. So you could imagine my sadness when the series ended, but then Shift came out and I was overwhelmed with joy.

Shift 2 was released recently, and the fact that I actually pre-ordered the title should indicate how excited I was for it. I picked it up, put it in and started playing. And for a time, it was good. Like, really good. The graphics are amazing; the cars are incredible. The sound is loud and immersive. The new helmet cam is innovative but not up my alley; the game's default view is from within the rider's helmet and I found myself switching out to the classic chase cam. I've tried that helmet cam since and it's weird. The drive looks into turns as you approach them and you get a real sense that the car is a separate entity than the driver. You can look around in the cockpit and truly appreciate the developer's love for cars: the detail is amazing.

So what happened? The difficulty has been spiked, is what, and it's been spiked in terms of driver AI and technical racing. In the first Shift was a bit of a postive/negative karma system, in that you could get points for clean overtake (in which you do not touch your opponent as you pass him) or a dirty overtake (in which you do make contact in order to pass). Dirty overtakes were common and fun: you could run someone off the road and keep on going; in Shift 2 if you dare touch another car you are spinning wildly out of control and your race is over. Indeed, the pack is so hard to catch up to that if you fail and run off the course at any moment it's time to restart the race. The driver AI has been ramped up and they are more aggressive; this is advertised as a feature of the game but I don't like it. I need to be battling morons. If I wanted harder opponents I would take it online. The AI will drive out of its way to block you, and in most cases making contact, which as mentioned will quickly take you off the track.

So you've got to be a better racer, but perhaps I don't want to. If I did, I would go play Forza or Gran Turismo. I like the arcade elements in these games; there is a best driving line you can follow to help you master corners but not following it shouldn't mean you lose the race. Perhaps I am incredibly picky: I require that perfect balance between sim and arcade racing. I believe Shift had that, and now Shift 2 is veering ever so softly into an uncomfortable simulation area. Or perhaps I just suck, and need to practice more. I want to race, I want to win (not all the time of course) and continue through the game. Give me credit for finishing third, fine, but make it close and let me advance. I'm at a point in life though where I don't want to grind away at the same track just to win by fractions of a second. I simply do not have the time or patience; there are many other games out there that can grab my attention and entertain me.

Fallout 3: Completion

What better way to ring in your 30th birthday than to plow through some Enclave soldiers and beat the main storyline in Fallout 3? This also marks the fourth Fallout post in four weeks: Fallout Friday seems to be official, but without a main quest to journey through, I can't imagine there will be many more. Then again, there are a number of expansions...we shall see. I've already installed Broken Steel; apparently it was the first expansion released and for good reason as it's the only way to continue the game after beating it. It goes like this: once you start the very last quest, there is no turning back. You complete it, credits and video roll, and you are booted to the main menu. You can reload a previous save, but you can't really exist in the world after beating it. Broken Steel continues - so to speak - the main quest and if you have it installed, the game continues and the world is your plaything.

Broken Steel also raises the level cap from 20 to 30, although after just a few hours more of playing I am now at level 22. I was at level 20 and not thinking I was close to the end of the game when I was very near, which speaks to the length of the main quest. It's short. I spent 55 hours traversing the Capital Wastelands and only doing main story here and there, surely there had to be more, right? Not so much; the quest was interesting, but not difficult (thankfully). In contrast to the 150 hours I put into Oblivion, you could ask what's missing here? Well, all I can say is that Fallout 3 is tighter. Exploration is not as tedious, and the side quests seemed more relevant. Those guild quests from Oblivion can feel like grinding, as they just seem to go on forever without much variety.

So what else is there to say about the finish? This game has me in complete addiction. Do I want it to end? There are a few things I want to do, many of which just revolve around the achievements. Earlier this week I collected all the bobbleheads (I had about 12 throughout most of the game - there are 20 in total). I finished a couple of side quests and I'm starting to install the other packs. From what I understand they are not incredibly long, which is nice. This means tighter gameplay and story. Remember Shivering Isles? It was good, yes, but I could live without trudging through a mushroom infested multi-colour cave again. I don't feel that same attachment as I did in Oblivion, and you can blame that on the world. Nobody wants to live in the Wasteland; Cyrodill looked pretty appealing: colourful, lush and vast. Oblivion was a world I wanted to go back to; I have no urge to play through Fallout in its entirety again, but I will be very eager to jump into a Fallout 4.

Fallout 3: Difficult Times

One of the things that prevented me from getting into this game when it first came around was The Hump. There's not better way to describe this than to say that for a time, you will be frustrated out of your mind. This happened in Oblivion too. It's strange: you're at a level, and because the game scales the levels of enemies to match your own awesomeness. But sometimes, they up the level of the enemies to a point where you just have a rough go at beating them. You can't explore the vast wonder of the world without fear of dying over and over again. This happened for a bit as I travelled to Rivet City for the first time; now granted, that was an ambitious journey, and required lots of saving, but I made it.

But The Hump reared it's head and I couldn't go anywhere without dying, and reloading. And I found it was getting in the way of my enjoyment of the game; I love going to new places, seeing how the world has evolved and to a lesser degree, meeting some interesting characters. I've been immersed in this game for nearly forty hours now and the major thing that almost prevented me from continuing on was The Hump. But even when I could trudge my way through the environment, ammo and health were always dangerously low. I was saving every minute, fearful of the next dark corner. You never know, you could hit a land mine and have three of your limbs crippled. At that point, it's easier to load instead of going through the "proper" way. You're supposed to use stimpaks, see doctors and whatnot.

So, here's what I did: I put the difficulty down to "easy." Some would consider this cheating, and to that, I must argue. There is some technical fault there: the setting is in the game, so why not use it? Would increasing the game to "hard" be cheating too? Rock Band gives you the no fail option, providing you the option to just play through the music. For some people, that's all they want to do. I just want to play through Fallout, enjoy the story, the world. In some games you may be penalized, or motivated - depending on the way you look at it - to play on harder difficulties through the awarding of achievements and various in-game items. I certainly don't feel like I'm getting less of an experience here, and I'm not feeling guilty for doing it. There are plenty of games to test the challenge: remember in Goldeneye, where you started off on the easiest difficulty? You couldn't tell while playing, until after you beat the level and opened up the harder difficulties. But here's the real key: not only did your enemies get harder, but you had more objectives. More things to juggle, and to me, that should be the de facto standard for difficulty scales.

When you beat a game like that, you feel accomplished, then you can go back and play more becase there are additional objectives to reach. They are harder, but there is that compulsion to do them. The difficulty slides up at a nice rate, not making impossible leaps; this keeps you coming back. Rogue Squadron did the same thing, and in doing so, increased re-playability greatly. Will lowering the difficulty increase re-playability on Fallout? Will I be compelled to go through the game again? The sheer number of hours is enough to dissuade me from such an act, but I can see the appeal for some: go through the game with different stats, do quests in a different order and choose different outcomes. Unfortunately, that's not for me: I want to go through the game once and move on: there's a backlog of games waiting to be enjoyed.

Fallout 3: Rivet City

Last weekend was a marathon; borderline addiction, perhaps, but it happened. I just need to say that my personal life (what little there is of it) did not suffer. I may have added eight hours onto the time spent clock on Saturday alone. More hours would follow; as of this writing (Tuesday night) I just surpassed twenty five hours.

The focus here though is about Rivet City. Early on in the game (early being relative here, I guess) I had two quests pointing me to the floating city. One involved searching for my father, and the other was finding a rogue android. Now, as I was prepared and heading out of my home in Megaton, a lady got my attention and provided me with an android component that would prove the rogue was dead. Seems simple enough.

I begun the journey and was quickly blocked by a group of raiders living under a bridge. I must have died four times before clearing the group out, and continuing my journey. Time are tough: no stimpaks, a little bit of food and barely any ammo. I was only halfway there. I ran across the Brotherhood of Steel's Citadel but they offered no assistance. This is the point in the game where I realized that I would need to save often. Now I have hundreds of them, and they certainly came in handy.

Reaching Rivet City was great; once I got in, I began exploring and felt some stability. Previous to this, I wasn't sure how the game would play out, but now I was in a structured environment, with lots of characters and things to check out. Dr. Zimmer got a hold of me early on and I gave him the component, proving the android was dead (although he really isn't) and getting my good karma and achievement points. I would later discover that I missed a big component of the quest: there was a perk that I could have gotten if I chose another route. Well, this was upsetting, but also a testament to the many avenues available to you in the game. You can end the quest early, getting very little reward (50 caps in this case) or go full out and get some pretty nice things.

Now I had a decision: load up a previous save and replay two hour of game, or just keep going? As it turns out, it was an easy decision and I reloaded an older save and started playing. One thing is for sure though, it did not take long to catch up as you don't have to go through every conversation choice and didn't have to root through every container. I would jump off the end of the sip and swim through irradiated water, fight giant lobster-creatures and work my way through booby-trapped halls. But the reward was there: I got a great plasma rifle that absolutely vapourizes enemies, and a nice perk to add to my skills. I have to step back and wonder, in the grand scheme, if the time spent doing this was worth it. Depends on how far you scale back, but I may be missing the point: is anything you are doing, that you are having fun with, a waste of time? The Replicated Man was a nice quest, and really got me into the game. It proved that Fallout is not screwing around, it has depth and interesting things to do. It's full of interesting characters, and little back stories. Rivet City seems to have some decent history, and the world you're in is extremely rich.

Fallout 3: Big Town

It's a little pre-emptive to post about a game that I'm only seven hours into, but do you really want to wait until I'm done a hundred hours before posting? Also, I'm late to the party: the game has been out for quite some time and I'm just getting around to playing it now. Why is that? I blame Oblivion: the game I sunk 150 hours into, and was so addicted to (emotionally too) that I'm afraid to get into another game that offers up similar gameplay.

Of course, you know the same studio has done both series, and the similarities between the two titles are prevalent. But the environment is so vastly different, and it's because of the world itself, I'm not sure I want to continue playing. To say the world you are exploring is bleak would not be doing it justice, but it's rather fitting and accurate. This is how a post-apocalyptic world would look. Ruined buildings, decaying roads, no plant life: just shades of grey and brown. Hardened people, wandering gangs and towns built out of junk. The graphics are amazing, but depressing. It's a different experience to Oblivion's lush, green landscapes and clean people.

But perhaps what really got me was some of the difficulty: I had animals randomly attacking me and killing me. I don't stand a chance. What hope do I have on a mission to rescue people from super mutants? I don't even feel like trying. Because I spent so much time with Oblivion, I had forgotten that similar things happened: you are, for a time, very underpowered. It takes patience and some skill to "get good" and take on the more daunting tasks. Keep in mind you just have to punch through missions, save often and you will be rewarded. At this point I'm completely hooked, and actively looking for trouble; it only took a few hours.

Now, before I delve into other game aspects - to be done in other posts - I like to share some in-game stories. This blog started as a Halo 2 online storytelling sesssion, and if I was into blogging at the time, Oblivion would have dominated and generated posts every day. I'll try not to do that with Fallout 3, but you can expect some stories in the next little while.

I went exploring, and discovered this sad sack of a town called Big Town. There were only a few residents, including Pappy, who greeted me at the gate. Everybody is down on themselves and they have accepted death by super mutants or raiders, both of whom have been terrorizing them for a while. I meet Bittercup, who doesn't accept my advances, and accept a mission to go rescue some kidnapped townspeople from a settlement of super mutants. The people don't hold out much hope that I'll be successful. I don't either.

Once I left the town and headed north a short bit, I was attacked by my first super mutant. He was tough, and I barely scraped through the battle. My right arm was crippled, and I was out of stim packs. I ate terrible food but it wasn't enough. Immediately upon looting the corpse, I was attacked by another mutant, who seemed to be shooting grenades or rockets at me. Forget about that, I run. I run back from the direction I came from, and run right past the towns gates. I can hear the guard from Big Town shooting at the super mutant, but I kept running. I looked behind me, and I was no longer being chased, but I could hear the people of Big Town fighting this super mutant. Pillows of smoke erupted from behind the buildings as the mutant slammed explosives into the town. I paused, and thought of going in for the rescue, but I know I would not survive. Surely, if I kept going Big Town would be ok; the game wouldn't kill those people whom I just accepted the mission from, right? I kept walking.

It would be quite some time later, after doing some other quests, before I returned to Big Town. Things were grim, and I knew, through my inaction, I had failed them. Pappy was in pieces at the front gate. The guard's limbs were sticking out of the water. Another fellow lied dead in the centre of town. All the town members, save Bittercup and somebody in the infirmiary, were dead. I felt responsible. Immediately I set out to lay waste to the super mutants responsible. And to my surprise, I was able to complete the mission; at this point I was powerful and skilled enough to weave my way up to the old police headquarters and rescue two Big Town residents. We traveled back to Big Town where they were re-united with what remaining villagers were there. There was a glimmer of hope but so much had been lost already; I feel bad, and that is the trappings of these games: the odd emotional attachment we get to these digital characters.

Halo 3: ODST

If I recall and comprehend properly, ODST started out as downloadable content for the core Halo 3 game. Evidence that seems to support my supposition is that the "complete Halo 3" online game experience is included on a second disc in this package. The first disc is purely ODST. I guess, if you were inclined, you could pop the second disc in and play Halo 3 online? Without buying Halo 3? Although, you kind of did buy it already because you bought this game, and they realized it wasn't enough on its own. They would be right, but when you buy it at a discounted price, it just doesn't matter. I played through the campaign, and am happy to put it back on the shelf.

I was confused: the early part of this game was overwhelming and lost and I can't help but think this is because I'm not a Halo nut. I have played the trilogy, and while entertaining, they were never big standouts for me. That being said, I played Halo 2 online a lot. In fact, this blogs origins lay concretely in stories of online Halo matches.  However, I tend to focus on the solo campaigns of games these days, unless I'm playing online with friends (playing with strangers is just bad news). So getting back to it, ODST has the campaign starting out with you playing The Speechless, Mysterious Bad Ass Rookie as he wanders through the streets of the first city to be hit by the invasion of the Covenant. Fair enough, but strange. The game has you blindly following beacons, until you get to the first memento, at which time you take control of one of your missing squadmates.

Once you complete all the stories from each of your squadmates, your brought into the present and enter the final "level" so to speak. I'll leave it up to you to find this all out for yourself. But basically until you get to the end, playing as the rookie is very boring and seemingly useless. When you come across an object and jump into the story of another squad member, the game picks up and plays like your traditional Halo games. You have your sniping level, your tank combat, your regular wave fighting scenarios, amongst others. I think one of the reasons I didn't like the city wandering parts, is because the game was dark. You turn on a type of night-vision here but it's just odd: the flashbacks get you into the regular, bright Halo worlds we're used to.

And just like that, the game is over. I thought we were over it, but the final level brought back the classic Halo repetitive halls and chambers. You have no clue where you are, but you keep fighting anyway. Just when you are about to quit because there is no end, the light shows itself and you keep going to the next repetitive section. It's how the game goes though, and we enjoy it regardless. Halo has had an odd fascination with epic story that just never felt proper to me. The scale is epic, but has lacked real substance. There are lots of cinematic but the same old gameplay feels lacking when trying to support them. The focus has always been online play, but the sheer magnitude of the story is rammed down our throats in the campaign.

Either way, the game is a great little distraction and worth the few hours it takes to blaze through it.

Mass Effect 2

Mass Effect 2 was a roller coaster of experience, both in-game and out. I was a bit late on the boat with the first game, as I picked up on the cheap and fell in love; the game was around 30 hours (was it?) and I must have blasted through it in a week or two. The addiction ran so deep, that I may have required counselling. It was like having a second full time job for a week. Perhaps one of the ways you can define an addiction is when it starts affecting your life and people around you. I'm pretty sure I was missing in action for a week, although I still went to work so I should be in the clear.

My excitement reached a peak when I picked up Mass Effect 2 just after launch day and delved right into it. I wouldn't go as insane with this one - spreading my time throughout a few weeks. Unfortunately my time with the game would keep spreading thin as something strange was happening. My interest just wasn't there. The missions were different; there was less involved in this game. I'll go into some more detail in a bit, but the point immediately is that I was twenty eight hours in and I stopped playing. This has happened in the past before, sometimes with disastrous results. In some cases, I just never pick the game up again. Other games, I try playing again and it fails: the game goes incomplete. In even further cases, I restart the game from the beginning and blast though in entirety.

My friends and I were concerned: what would happen to ME2? Well, I tried easing my way back into gaming. I played some Rock Band, some Super Mario Galaxy and a little online play with Left 4 Dead and more recently, Resident Evil 5. Saturday morning around 10:30am I wondered over to my collection, and without thinking, opened ME2 and put it in. This was going to happen.