Gaming Addict

So there’s going to be another Silent Hill movie.  I loved the first one, because I’m a huge fan of the Silent Hill series.  Silent Hill remained remarkably true to the spirit of the game, as well as the look and feel, and even story.  In fact you’d have to credit Silent Hill with being one of the best, if not the best videogame adaptation so far.  But it looks as though I won’t be seeing Silent Hill 2, because the early plans are to make the sequel “more accessible” to the movie going public.

The first Silent Hill was great because of the controversy.  They didn’t pull any punches, and you were delivered the same gory, shocking experience you’d expect from the game.  The movie maintained the same scary atmosphere, enigmatic characters, etc.  

Taking away those things, and making the movie more accessible means gutting the idea that is Silent Hill.  Now we’re going to be stuck with some Resident Evil crap.  A horrid script, and even worse acting/directing, to feature a simple plot with one dimensional characters that have a lot of “exciting” action sequences.  In the end Silent Hill will be lost, and in it’s place will be another piece of Hollywood drivel.  

Too bad, just when some hope could be put forth for the videogame to movie biz.  But I stand by my opinion that Silent Hill is the best adaptation, and everything that’s yet to come in the future will fall far short.

Videogames are videogames for a reason.  When you take away the player’s involvement in the remarkably thin plot lines, you lose the magic.  Then you’re faced with the reason videogames aren’t books or movies to begin with. 

So there isn’t a lot of videogame news today, or at least nothing ground breaking.  So let’s go back to my love for Dragon Age: Origins now that the game released and I’ve been completely addicted since last Tuesday.  Dragon Age is spectacularly difficult in a way that so many RPG’s have seemed to shy away from.  All the big battles will test your strategies to the limits, and your ability to manage your supporter characters, as well as your main to get the job done.

The best part of Dragon Age: Origins, and really any BioWare RPG is the uniqueness of the characters.  There are always a few that will have you interested beyond belief.  Like the way Morrigan and Alistair banter during your journey, any time both are present in your party.  Literally the funniest conversations you’ll hear from any character combination.  

But nothing touches how amazing it is to have Shale in your party.  Shale is of course the stone golem only available through The Stone Prisoner DLC.  But more than that Shale is a living battering ram that you’ll want with you in any combat scenario.  But where Shale really shines is his dialogue.  

Anybody that has played Star Wars: Knights Of The Old Republic will feel that Shale is somewhat familiar.  I’m always reminded of the interactions with HK-47 his lack of understanding, and complete disdain for humans.  Shale is the same. A logical mind that can’t understand the attitudes of other living things, so naturally responds in the only way possible, sarcasm.

Shale is brilliant, and one of my favorite parts of the game.  The Stone Prisoner DLC is not to be missed, so if you bought a used copy of the game, buy the DLC online.  Sure it’s kind of on the expensive side, and the quest to get Shale himself is only about an hour long.  But you’re not paying the money for the quest, you’re paying to have Shale as a companion.  That’s worth $15 easy.  

 I finally played Brutal Legend over this weekend.  I have to say, what I got in the experience is exactly what I expected from having played Tim Schafer games previously.  I would liken Brutal Legend to playing Psychonauts.  Here you’ll find a fantastic, imaginative and vibrant world that you’ll see is endlessly interesting, but that just seems to disappoint from a gameplay perspective.

The combat, a big feature of the game, is pretty atrocious, simply because Brutal Legend tries much too hard to be a jack of all trades.  Here you find elements of many other games you’ve played before.  From the RPG upgrade system, to the incredibly simplistic and yet overly complicated RTS controls for the large scale battles.  Sure you have cool combat combos to pull off, and even better special ranged spells through shredding on your guitar, but the whole thing just isn’t polished enough. 

But the world, plotline, and sound are what completely makes up for any combat shortcomings.  A true metal soundtrack, coupled with fantastic guest voiceover appearances by legends the likes of Ozzy Osbourne, and a man character voiced by Jack Black are all awesomeness defined.  Brutal Legend still features a fantastic open world for you to explore that’s ridiculously fun, engaging, and at times incredible.  

What Tim Schafer does well, he does extraordinarily well.  That shows through in the imaginative portions of the game.  He just needs to brush up on the little things, like combat systems, upgrade systems, and RTS controls.  Other than that Brutal Legend is typical Schafer fare, and that’s never a bad thing.  

Grand Theft Auto IV’s next episode, The Ballad of Gay Tony was released today, and if you haven’t yet, I’d recommend downloading it immediately.  Ballad of Gay Tony represents everything right with Grand Theft Auto, rolled into one fantastic package.  From the start Ballad begins by doing everything with a bang, a much larger bang than you’ve seen in GTA up till now.  

 Here you enter the world of Liberty City’s drug junkies with money.  You’ll encounter socialites, and trust fund brats, all with ridiculously expensive sports cars, and just as expensive drug problems.  As Luis Lopez you’re a part of this world, but you definitely aren’t accepted just yet.  Basically Lopez is a thug, and the only good thing that’s happened in his life has been title character Tony Prince taking Lopez under his wing.

From there you’re tasked with helping your benefactor rebuild his crumbling nightclub empire.  Tony Prince is riddled with debt from trying to make ends meet.  The sort of debt owed to some of Liberty City’s shadiest sources, the kind you’d never want to owe money.  Luis Lopez is tasked with doing the necessary dirty work to keep Tony Prince in business. 

From there the game picks up into the most fantastic wild ride you’ll find in a Grand Theft Auto game.  Most of the missions are larger than life, as well as the great military weaponry you’ll be able to use.  All in all Ballad of Gay Tony makes many promises, and delivers on all counts.  Definitely worth a try if you’re looking to prolong your Grand Theft Auto experience.  

Borderlands isn’t without it’s share of problems.  Actually, Borderlands has many games share of problems.  Seems there are more than a few bugs that Gearbox Software hadn’t fully worked out before the game shipped, leaving many gamers to suffer their wrath.  These bugs range anywhere from minor glitches, like ammo clip shortages.  To much more devastating bugs that cause your save files to be corrupted, and your skill points to be reset.  

Of course most of these are tied to multiplayer.  Many players have reported disappearing loot, experience, and many other glitches upon entering and exiting a multiplayer session.  Considering one of Borderlands big selling points is the awesome drop in-drop out co-op, this is a pretty severe problem.

Gearbox maintains that they are hard at work on fixing all the bugs, and you can keep up on the details via their forums a:

http://gbxforums.gearboxsoftware.com/showthread.php?t=77748

For now Gearbox’s list of  known issues is as follows:

Both Consoles

Issue: (360, PS3) Save file is corrupted
Frequency: Very Low
Status: A fix is being investigated

360 only

Issue: (360) Aim-assist does not toggle on and off properly
Frequency: Very Low
Status: The cause of this problem is being investigated

PS3 only

Issue: (PS3) The console freezes during play
Frequency: Low
Status: The cause of this problem is being investigated

Issue: (PS3) Error codes displayed when attempting to sign into multiplayer
Frequency: Low
Status: The cause of this problem is being investigated

Issue: (PS3) Frame rate drops in a game with 3+ players
Frequency: Moderate
Status: The cause of this problem is being investigated

PC

Issue: PC users experience a “General protection fault” error
Frequency: Low
Status: This issue is being investigated

Issue: PC version locks up in server browser
Frequency: Low
Status: The cause of this issue has been identified and a solution is being investigated

All Platforms

Issue: Lilith’s Phase Strike not functioning as intended
Frequency: n/a, all users
Status: A fix is being investigated

Issue: Skill points or items disappear, or skill points are gained, usually after a multiplayer game
Frequency: Low
Status: The cause of this problem is being investigated

Issue: Weapon proficiency progress is lost upon leaving a multiplayer game
Frequency: Moderate
Status: The cause of this problem is being investigated

So I just played Wolfenstein for Xbox 360, and wow was that a bad game.  Normally I try to be more professional in my assessments of a game, but I just can’t muster anything beyond saying that Wolfenstein was severely disappointing.  The whole campaign just felt very unimaginative, given the power of the current generation of consoles, and everything else that is available on PC.  You’ve got an FPS here that feels like a port of an older game…but it isn’t. 

Everything from the textures to the fights with the bigger enemies just feels so hack.  When compared with games like Modern Warfare which is pushing the boundaries of FPS brilliance, Wolfenstein isn’t even worthy of an afterthought.  The textures look original Xbox quality at best, the AI seems right out of an older Xbox game as well.  The gameplay all feels like something you’ve done before in F.E.A.R., only with a worse presentation.

All in all, this is a rental if you must, but you’d be better served playing CoD 4 again while you wait for MW 2. 

I really wasn’t prepared to like Saw as a game.  I’m a big fan of the movie series, but normally games based on movies turn out to be terrible.  But what I got with Saw really impressed me more than I would have thought.  Of course the Saw game isn’t anything ground breaking or spectacular, but what you get is definitely worth of your play time.

The game starts out just like a Saw movie.  You’re introduced to the game’s protagonist Detective Tapp, who finds himself in a rather precarious position.  The gameplay picks up with Tapp regaining consciousness in a dark room, finding that Saw’s famous reverse bear trap has been affixed to his jaw.  You are then tasked with matching the button sequences on the sides of the trap to disarm the reverse bear trap.  You’ll have to do that quickly, or else Tapp’s skull will be pulled apart in a nice little gory game sequence.  

The first trap is very easy of course, but serves as a good set up of things to come.  Not to mention, including one of Saw’s most popular traps in the first few moments of gameplay is a brilliant stroke to capture the feel of the movies.

The gore won’t make you feel as queasy as anything in the films, as the game’s graphics leave something to be desired.  But they do stand up just enough to disturb where intended.  All in all not a bad game, but once you’ve gone through the traps for the first time, you won’t need to do it again.  So I’d suggest renting Saw, because you’ll only play it once if you buy the game.  

I knew for a fact that if I played Halo 3: ODST that I would be disappointed.  So I’ve tried to avoid playing the game, despite my love for the Halo series.  But alas my efforts were completely in vain, as this weekend I gave in and bought a copy.  What a waste of $60…

I’m seriously disappointed here, more than I feared I would feel.  Bungie and Microsoft have collectively slapped me in the face this time.  I’ve been a loyal Xbox and Halo customer over the years, and I’ve been rewarded by being given underwhelming content at an overwhelming cost.  Put simply Halo 3: ODST is a DLC expansion pack at best, not a standalone box $60 FPS game.

The biggest disappointment here was in the campaign, which just feels uneventful, unfulfilled, and for the most part unexciting over the astounding 5 hour length.  Seriously, 5 hours for a standalone game?  Even by today’s horrid standards that’s a short experience.  Multiplayer doesn’t do much to justify the cost either, with modes that won’t make you forget your old battles on the original Halo 3…not by a long shot.  Basically what we get here is a disappointing short campaign with a main character that’s infinitely inferior to Master Chief, a terrible storyline, and slightly tweaked graphics.

The best thing I can say about ODST is that you should rent, or better yet borrow this from a friend, and give it a shot, so that you can avoid spending full price like I did.

Bungie may have finally killed my interest in the Halo franchise…which is a huge shame, because I was a very big fan.  But now I just feel cheated…and cheated for the last time.  I’ve paid for crappy map packs before…but this is a whole new level of fan misdirection and abuse.

Thanks Bungie and Microsoft.

South Park Let’s Go Tower Defense Play! is ridiculously entertaining, but probably only if you’re a South Park fan.  Which I have been for the show’s entire run, and the unflinching brilliance that is Matt Stone and Trey Parker’s writing throughout the series.  South Park LGTDP captures this humor perfectly, which is just what this paint by the numbers tower defense game needed.  Featuring a story by the South Park scribes, and their custom awful and hilarious voice over work, LGTDP is a full South Park experience.

While many will be painfully reminded of the horrendous South Park gaming forays in the past, LGTDP is not among those.  I still remember the South Park FPS game that I had on Playstation, and how everything seemed like a good idea at the time.  But the gameplay got repetitive and severely boring almost immediately.  LGTDP suffers no such fate.  Rather LGTDP stays fairly fresh and always hilarious as you control Stan, Cartman, Kenny and Kyle throughout the games campaign.  Creatively sprinkling show references throughout dialogue, and enemy types like ginger kids, and hippies.  

LGTDP really shines when played with a friend, as the game can be fairly annoying when played alone.  But as long as you can find a buddy that’s also interested in South Park, you’ve got yourself a decent experience.  South Park combines traditional tower defense tactics, such as building your own defenses and then upgrading as levels progress, with the ability to take the reins of any character and unleash your own snowball based attacks.  Each character also comes with their own special powers that can be triggered during a level.  All of which offering their own level of uniqueness, usefulness, and hilarity.  

All in all worth the 800 MS points in my book.  While semi short, South Park Let’s Go Tower Defense Play provides endless replay ability.  As long as you’re a South Park fan, you can’t go wrong.  

If you haven’t played the newest Mass Effect DLC yet, you may want to just avoid the download altogether.  Sure, it’s only 400 MS points on Xbox Live, but honestly, in my experience, it’s just not really worth the price.  What makes Mass Effect fantastic, is the story, thematic elements, incredible graphics, and the depth of customization you can perform on your character.  The combat is fairly low on the list, as it’s clearly just a Gears of War rip off, and was designed by a team that wasn’t used to designing shooters.

Yet BioWare’s new DLC release only offers combat, as Pinnacle Station is little more than an addition that allows you to go through simulated combat scenarios.  You go through computer generated combat scenarios, trying to get the high score, then move on…that’s about all that’s on offer.  Talk about a disappointment after how awesome Bring Down The Sky was.  I don’t like Mass Effect’s trend of affordable, but short DLC however.  Oblivion really set a standard that has left me disappointed with any other RPG DLC with Shivering Isles.  

Also, you may have to wait to buy Pinnacle Station anyway, as BioWare has announced that the original format of the DLC contained a bug in which Pinnacle Station was unplayable on Platinum Hits copies of the game.