Vacation's over...

... well it's been over for two weeks but little to no gaming (of new games, at least; some Darksiders and Riddick there).

I did try From Dust (on the PC); it's a nifty little god game with raise/lower earth/water (or lava ;) ). Very "Populous for the 2010s" -kinda thing. Recommended.

Oh, and Conan, the MMOG game, went free this summer. I still can't get myself to play that one. It just seems there's nothing much to do and lots of running around to find even that little thing to do. I had a two month subscription and probably logged in four times. Good thing the pre-paid card cost me less than 5 euros... ;)

QnD Quick Review: Call of Duty: Black Ops

Let me start this by telling about my history with CoD; I've played pretty much every CoD game (except "The Big Red One") that ever came out, on pretty much every platform that ever came out (excluding the handheld PSP).

Most have been from "Good" to "OK" with a few exceptions that were just "Blah!". Those few exceptions seemed to drag the otherwise good series under the bar of "good".

- CoD, the first one, was OK. Nothing special.
- CoD2 was good. It was still mostly a "pipe-run", but the awesome Normandy beach invasion was something you'd never seen before. It felt like you were dropped straight in "Private Ryan".
- CoD3 looked like the previous ones, but the gameplay was uninspired, the feeling of running inside a glass pipe was bigger and it was... in a word "Bleh!"
- CoD 4, ie Modern Warfare, was something I thought I'd never like since "CoD is a WW2 game!" - wrong. The game was good. Not awesome, but good.
- The fift CoD, World at War, was another CoD that seemed to capture the feeling of "no-freedom" with uninspired gameplay and plot. Ie another "Bleh!" CoD...
- MW2 was a bit better than the first foray into Modern Warfare, nearing the "awesome" line. Gameplay was fast, weapons great and game balance good.

Then there's CoD: Black Ops. Do you know what's in common with CoD, CoD: WaW and CoD: Black Ops? They're all made by the same studio: Treyarch.

Now,  Call of Duty: Black Ops, at first, looked like Modern Warfare, but played like World at War. The feeling of The Glass Pipe was still there, not as pronounced as in WaW or CoD, but still. Mostly what pisses me off about Black Ops were the many unintuitive missions and "choices" (I use the word with quotes since you really have *no* choice while playing this game) sprinkled in the game. Oh, and the endlessly spawning enemies.

Take one of the Vietnam missions for example; the NVA is assaulting your position and you're told by the game's waypoint system to advance to the first trench. I did this a dozen time, each time dying to the endless mass of respawning enemies.

At one point I half-noticed, while taking cover behind some sand bags, that one of the AIs was doing something behind the bags. After a couple of more failed tries, I noticed this again. This time I saw he stabbed a barrel and kicked it down the hill.

"Nice" I thought, I'll shoot it and it'll probably blow up. Err... No. Nothing happened when I sprayed it with a M60 machine gun. Damn, that's one tough barrel...

Next time I noticed there were more barrels, oh! After 15+ tries - I finally "got it"; you had to "use" each barrel and they would blow up after *all of them* were rigged with C5, stabbed and kicked down the hill. Well, doh! Why wouldn't the damn AIs just come up and say so. Not do something, somewhere, while mumbling to themselves - not something you're likely to hear in a place where hundreds of bullets are whizzing by and grenades are exploding...

Those kinds of "what-where-why" -moments are common in Black Ops. Sometimes you're left wondering why you have to do something just because it's the "Only Right Way To Do It" (tm)...


As for the graphics, they are OK. Exploding enemies and dismemberment by the heavier weapons are mostly just comic "LOL" moments though. (Uhh, like a magnum revolver or M60 would blow off limbs.) Sometimes you feel like you're playing Rambo The Video Game, and not just because of the Vietnam missions.

(Especially in the end) the game is another "Praise the US" -type thing which has no problems dismembering, neck-stabbing, gutting or just plain wholesale slaughtering enemies and blowing up poor third world bamboo huts, while lamenting the death of one "young soldier" mid-mission in a totally out of place WTF-moment.

Also, the absolute stupidity of the main character just plain leaves you flabbergasted at some points - how many god damn times does he have to get knocked down or unconscious by the same damn bad guy? The only enemy that can, without any trouble, surprise and drop the main guy with one blow does it like 4-5 times? Get a friggin' clue man!

Oh, and of course there are nazis - this is the sixties after all (WTF!?!?)...

So in short? Black Ops is a game with zero freedom, uninteresting plot, cliche missions, cliche enemies and pretty much nothing new, all mixed in a very predictible plot.  The best thing is that it won't last more than 5-6 hours even if you take your time.

So, in keeping with history, Treyarch have made another crappy CoD game. I should be familiar with how the thing goes by now; big advertising budget makes sure the game sells outrageously well while still being a steaming pile of crap compared to the "good" CoD games. Oh, well... It's still a good series if you ignore every CoD they make...

Score: 7/10

First Impressions: Just Cause 2 (PC)

"Looks good, improves on every aspect compared to the first one."

That's how I'd summarize JC2 for the PC after a few hours' quick bout with it.

The grappling hook isn't the most original idea (Batman: Arkham Asylum or Bionic Commando, anyone), but it works well. It has more freedom than in AA or BC, and it's easier to use than the BC one.

Capturing helicopters brings Mercenaries 2 into my mind.


More later, maybe. ;)

iPhone quickie: Tiki Totems, Lion Pride, Textropolis

Ie. "stuff for free" (well, were, at least).

Tiki Totems
... is probably most fun of the bunch. You have a totem that cannot touch the ground, but you have to destroy (by tapping) X number of blocks from underneath it.

Gets a little repetitive but it's still fun.

Graphics are "OK", sound is "there".
Physics are... "iffy". ;)




Lion Pride
... is a pretty boring "drag your finger to aim lions at prey" -game. *Yawn*










Textropolis
... is a fun way to pass time if you like making up words from jumbles of letters (or names of different Cities, in this case).

iPhone review: iBomber

Price: free (on 1.2.2010), lite version available
Publisher: Cobra Mobile
Release date: 18.7.2009

iBomber is a top-down bombing game where you never actually see your own plane, but rather view the action from the bombing scopes.

The era is WW2 and you're bombing Japanese targets in 14 missions that range from target bombing to escorting a fleet of ships through an archipelago.

Along with your basic, unlimited bombs, you can collect limited power-ups that include "triple bombs" called Blockbusters, black bombs that are more powerful that basic ones and the Grand Slam, or "The Nuke" as I like to call it; a single powerful, but slow moving bomb.

The other power-up is the health booster that will heal you for a small amount (pictured left).

You collect the power-ups by touching them on the screen (luckily you don't have to hit them with bombs, as they stay on the screen only for a short while).

Controls are fairly easy; you turn and control your speed by tilting the device and hit the only button available to drop your bombs (creatively labeled "BOMBS AWAY"). The forward / backward tilt is calibrated in the menu, so you can play at an angle that feels natural to you.

Speed of course affects how far your bombs will land from the initial dropping location, but unlike real bombers, yours will nearly turn "on a dime". All it's really missing is reverse.

Different enemies of course take different amounts of bombs to destroy, from the small mg-placements that only take one bomb to the battleships and carriers that take several (or a well placed "nuke", which is the slowest moving bomb in the game, and which "duds" if you hit the water with it).

You can also hit airplanes with your bombs, of which there are several kinds; small escorts that circle around islands or carriers, bigger bomber types and some US fighters.

Everything on the map is of course committed to killing you (with the exception of command huts, fuel depos, etc stationary targets), so those health power-ups not only come in handy; they are mandatory to your survival.

Your health is shown on the left, right next to your radar that will show enemies as red blimps, allies as green and mission targets as yellow triangles. The radar acts like the real counterpart, only showing the location and heading of the targets for a time after a radar sweep.

Gameplay is mostly fun, and why not; dropping bombs and seeing things explode is a great way to pass the time. Some missions feel a bit long though, and especially the escorting missions tend to take some of the fun away while you're juggling between the protection detail and gathering health-ups to keep yourself alive. In the latter missions, the flaming death spin that drops you from the skies becomes a somewhat a familiar sight.

Graphics are good - you have little trouble distinguishing what is what, and even in this small scale you can tell a destroyer from a battleship, etc.

Sound is mostly nothing to write home about. Its your standard fare of explosions, splashes and flak.

It's free (in early February, at least), so you can't really complain.

Score: 8/10

Mini-review: Wolfenstein RPG (iPhone)

The Black Friday sales got me; I bought the Wolfenstein RPG for 1.59€.

Not disappointed, not one bit, though. Game is very tongue-in-cheeck with it's chicken kicking minigame, poking fun at ol' Adolf, etc.

You'll get to shoot "axis" soldiers, female spies, different colored zombies (you think red is bad, try a *golden* zombie, LOL!), skeleton in fire or not, etc.

For weapons you have fists/brass knuckles, akimbo pistols, Thompson machine gun, sniper rifle, dynamite, and so forth.

For health and other boosts, you can mix and use syringes that range from heal over time and max health boosts to 25-100% damage boosts.

All in all, a fun game. And very, *very* easy to pickup and play because of the turn based gameplay and easy controls. To move you have a virtual D-pad, and to interact with or to shoot, you just tap on the screen. Menu offers you the map / save / inventory options and clicking on the weapon, health, etc icons brings up a shortcut to inventory or the weapon choice list.

Graphics are full 3D landscape, mixed with 2D sprites. Sprites could have more animation cells, but they do the job. The enviroment seamlessly scrolls when you move or a cut-scene cuts in.

I heartily recommend this one, especially at the reduced price.


Score 9/10

First impressions: Call of Juarez - Bound in Blood

The PC version is beautiful, plays well, runs well (on a 8800GTS/X2 4400+) and has great voice acting.

The plot is akin to the first one, which wasn't anything super-hyper-special, but it's like playing a Eastwood western - all down to the north vs south riverbank battle with trenches, cannons and a bridge to blow up. ;)

One new addition are the secondary missions you can do between the main missions (three so far).

Seems to be a great game.

First Impressions: ARMA 2

Ok, lets get the negative ones out first:
- Worst Voice Acting, EVAR
- iffy mouse controls (almost feels like mouse lag)

Now, there. I said it.

The good:
- Realistic
- Looks damn good
- Very "OpFlash"/"ARMA"


I'll dive deeper tonight, now that I've installed the oh-so-tiny 120MB patch that was waiting just after the game was released (in English).

Cheapest at the moment:
- Amazon £22.62
- The Hut £23.73

First impressions: Prototype

Aptly named; the game feels like a prototype of a game.

Not involving, camera problems, control issues, uninteresting gameplay, bland graphics.


First impressions for the PC version: 6.5 / 10

Free gaming: America's Army 3

The latest installment of the multiplayer first person shooter is coming on the 17th of June and you can preload (Steam link) it from Steam now.

It's been *years* since I played AA and I'm kind of anxious to try this one out.


Edit 24.6.2009:
Finally had time to try it out. Looks fine - multiplayer can be a "bit" laggy. Feels like good ol' AA.

Sims 3

Sims 3 = more crack for the masses.

One of those games where you glance at the watch and go "ok, a little more", then notice two hours later that you should already be asleep in your (real life) bed...

Horse warfare: Mount & Blade

Finally release last autumn, after a years long beta period, Horse & Blade is good game by itself in the area that it tries to cover: realistic medieval combat.

But with mods like Graphic Enchantment; which will bring you clearer, high-res textures and HDR graphics, Hundred Years War; which covers the english vs french war on continental Europe and Lords and Realms; that brings you more realistic damage, faster combat, etc improvements - the game and it's replay value reaches incredible heights.

Especialy if you consider that the game costs a whopping £7.5 pounds now (at thehut.com, for example) or is available for around ten USD as digital download.

I can also recommend the Panoramic Sky mod that allows for a much nicer looking sky (textures and a new "skybox").

MTW2: Third Age - first impressions

I never knew The Witch King had it so hard, budget wise! I'm churning out orcs and trying to build improvements so I can churn out more orcs, and I'll tell you it is hard work. I'm constantly out of money and the armies running amok around Gondor do not help. ;)

All in all, the mod looks extremely good. Aside from a few spelling mistake niggles, it's top notch quality.

Recommended.

MTW2: Third Age mod

Wow.

That's all I can say. Some people have too much time on their hands - which is good. This makes me think about ordering MTW2 Gold (the mod requires the Kingdoms -expansion).

Just, wow...

Link to the mod release thread.
(Pictured above: dwarven units going after orcs. Below: Mûmak charge against Rhun infantry. Images borrowed from the screenshot thread.)


Edit:
So I took a ride to the local game store after lunch. You know, one of those small dungeon-like places where the sales clerk looks like a goblin and smells funny. I found a copy of MTW2 Gold for 18 euros.

Installing it reminded me why I hate original, bought, PC games so much; first thing the game did after I inserted the first DVD was to inform me that I'm a bad person because I have Daemon Tools installed and that I wouldn't work.

Thankfully the "workaround" (as suggested by the SecuROM website for Fallout 3) was to open the DVD and run the setup.exe manually.

Oh, joy. I can't wait to run the game for the first time (it probably won't work) and then apply the no-cd patch from GameCopyWorld (thankfully, they're still around...).

QnD Review: Drakensang: The Dark Eye

Platform:

• PC
  Tested on: WinXP SP3, 4GB, AMD X2 4200+@2450MHz, GeForce 8800GTS, SB Audigy

What and where?

• £25 at Gamestation

In Short:

• German developer dabbles at classic high fantasy with good to average results.
  

QnD Review:
Hey! Stop the press!! This clearly isn't a "bargain" game! In fact this game has just been released (03/2009)! Well, for my defense I'll tell you that this game costs less than most full priced PC releases and it's worth a look for anyone into the high fantasy RPG genre.

Drakensang introduces nothing new. What it does, on the other hand, is that it takes all the classical elements of the "RPGs of yore", throws them into one melting pot, stirs a bit and then serves you a very enjoyable RPG experience.

You have your usual elves, dwarves, fighters and mages with the murder mystery, bad guys and gods thrown in the mix.

Based on a true pen & paper RPG ruleset, the game tends to be a bit challenging at times, but it offers you a free ranging character development system where you can take most classes (and I use that term loosely) where you want to. So a spellcaster can wield a sword or an axe and even use armor (though metal armor prevents spellcasting) and a fighter can learn spells or alchemy with it's companion plant-gathering skills.

Visually the game ranges from "Ooh-aah" (mostly nature scenery) to "ho-hum" (mostly dungeons, sewers, etc). It runs reasonably well on an older maching and is less buggier than most PC games on release.

While no The Witcher, Drakensang: The Dark Eye is still a recommended RPG snack to tide you over while waiting for the next big classic RPG.

The Good:

• Old School RPG feel
• Character skill development variety
  
• NWN style "pause combat" - you can pause at any time and issue commands to your fellows
• graphics and sound, when they feel like it
• map / quest pointer system is one of the best thus far
  

The Bad:

• challenging; sometimes the opposition is just too damn hard, forcing you to abandon something until you get some more levels below your belt (but that's "Old School" for you)
  
• graphics can also be dull at times
• gaining levels and skills is slow work
  

Score:

• price: 6
• graphics: 8
• sound: 8.5
• gameplay: 9
• story: 8.5
  

TOTAL: 8.5
(Not an average)