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Reviews Video Games

Vikings!

I’ve been casting about for something to fill the void since I completed Fallout 3, and so my brother’s timely gift of Viking: The Battle for Asgard has me wandering around hacking at anything in my path with a sword and an axe.

When I first found this game on the store shelf, I was actually picking up Conan, and the sales assistant told me that Viking was very much a similar game. That is very mucha  simplistic comparison. Sure, they both involve muscle-bound protagonists in a third-person hack ‘n slash fest, but that’s about where the similarities end.

Categories
Reviews Video Games

Falling out not with a bang, but a whimper

A long time ago, I declared Fallout 3 to be little more than “Oblivion with guns” and set off to play said fantasy game and its expansion. Naturally, my short attention span got the better of me. I created a new character for Oblivion, spent a few days levelling him and finishing the Mages Guild quest path, and went to explore the Shivering Isles expansion. Too bad that this was exactly the moment when I got bored with the game.

In the meantime, I had been watching Flip play Fallout 3 and decided that it looked like fun. We had also been talking with nobody, who had already finished it once and had some good things to say about the versatility of the character build system. So, I resolved to dig in and give it a try. Flip generally plays a good character, so I went for agent of chaos (which in too many CRPGs is equivalent to destruction) and found a build online which would allow me access to pretty much all the skills fairly quickly.

In the fast moving world of game critique, a lot has already been said about Fallout 3. I know I’m several months behind the ball, but I’m happy to not be bleeding edge, and pitch you my own observations.

Categories
Reviews Tabletop Games

EYECON 2009

It’s been a while since I did a con report. Admittedly, I was an organiser for SYDCON 08, but I still could have written something. Anyway, other than providing the IT services, I was largely left to play games at this year’s EYECON. For the first time in ages, I played only freeforms (oh, and a LARP — you can’t have everything). I’ll review them in a second.

I want to acknowledge the hard work of all the game designers (whether or not I played your game), and my colleagues in the SRGA. As a secondary organiser, much of my work was done weeks before people started registering for games. Props go to everybody who did all the running around, lost hours of sleep, and nearly went insane due to everyone else’s “special” requests. You guys know who you are, so give yourselves a pat on the back and get some sleep.

Before reading further, be warned that I may not be able to avoid spoiling these games. In the event that you may want to play them in the future, you may not want to read my review.

Categories
Tabletop Games

If they sold games based on the way we played them…

Through liberal use of StumbleUpon, I found the “When we play the game, it has this cover” thread on Story Games. The basic idea is for the participants to produce covers for the RPG books they use as though they advertise the way their group plays.

I was particularly amused by Graham’s entries for the Esoterrorists and Trail of Cthulhu.

If I were to do one, it would probably be for Dragonlance. A human cleric argues with a half-elven woman. A number of other people stand around looking bored, obviously waiting for the two to resolve their differences. Over it all, a dragon breathes fire that is about to engulf the group.

Via: Highmoon’s Ponderings

Categories
Video Games

Play it again? You’ve got to be kidding me!

I finally got round to finishing my second play-through of Mass Effect. I got a couple of the achievements I had been chasing, but not all, and this has reminded me of why I’m not really a completionist.

Mass Effect, like many RPGs encourages the player to talk to every character, explore every planet and complete every sidequest. You only get rewarded (via Renegade/Paragon points) for taking part in quests, even when inaction would leave far more impact on the game world. On top of that, there are specific sidequests that require you to explore every last nook and cranny of the galaxy hunting down this widget or that ore seam. All of this I did on my first play-through.

The game, however, dangles the carrot of Xbox Achievements (and in some cases, enticing character improvements) for you to re-do a lot of these tedious paper chases in subsequent runs through the game. I can understand that; RPGs tend to be single-player games, and without the fun of multi-player deathmatch, replayability becomes a strong indicator for “getting your money’s worth”.

Unfortunately, the main thing holding me back from yet another go at Mass Effect is its lack of variability. Even if I didn’t remember where everything was (I don’t, but it’s not hard to figure out), all the planets, buildings and quests are so similar they blend into each other. There are no surprises, and the outcomes for your character choices don’t really impact the game in ways that force you to wonder how it might have gone if you’d done something different.

Why would I want to go through all of that so I can get a little badge that tells me:

  • I’ve played the majority of the game with each of the party members actively by my side
  • I’ve mastered each weapon, biotic, and tech ability
  • I’ve completed it on each difficulty level
  • I’ve taken my character to the maximum experience level

Sure, some of them come with a little bonus for building my next character, but that doesn’t eliminate any of the drudgery. Tech powers and biotics have the same activation mechanic, and very similar visuals. The three weapon classes are very similar. By the time you’re level 45, you’re nearly unstoppable, regardless of your character class, choice of companions, or established battle tactics.

At least in Fable 2, the landscape around you changes as you make choices. Whole towns develop along different lines and prosper or suffer under the consequences of your actions. This is more likely to impact your willingness to replay the game.

For me, the pinnacle of replayability in a proper RPG is still Planescape: Torment. Even though the bad old Infinity Engine doesn’t produce awesomely immersive 3D worlds, I still return to Torment for a different swing at things. You can take completely different approaches to the game, have wildly differing experiences, come out with amazingly different plotpaths, and still have as much fun as the next guy.

Maybe I’m not well-versed enough in video games, but I can’t think of a narrative-based game that allows for such a rich experience. Can you name any?