The Gamer's Quarter

Winged Assassins (1984) · Posted: Mon Feb 26, 2007 12:51 am Post subject:

Or Alone In The Dark 2.
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dessgeega · Posted: Mon Feb 26, 2007 3:07 am Post subject:

Nana Komatsu · weak sauce Joined: 17 Jul 2006 Posts: 1293

Shapermc · Hot Sake! Joined: 14 Oct 2004 Posts: 6279

I’ve been playing Crackdown, a lot. At this point I want to call this game the antithesis of GTA3.

To me, GTA3 is a lot of mediocre parts (shooting, driving, running, melee) which are put together into something that is greater than it parts: the sum of the parts. This is an overwhelming and grand experience which leads to constant dicking around and not really paying attention to the game proper. The game is so large it’s distracting. Many times when people talk about it they don’t even mention the story or missions of the game.

Crackdown has a terrible story, a bad announcer, it’s racist, level design which is completely transparent and fairly uninteresting character designs. Yet the individual parts (running, jumping, driving, shooting, melee) are all completely fantastic. The way the character progress through gaining levels is fantastic because you reap the rewards in actual gameplay, and even though this may sound like it presents artificial boundaries, there is almost always a work around for these artificial boundaries.

For example: I was playing one night with a friend in co-op and he was at level 4 agility, where I was only at level 2. He could easily just jump to the tops of buildings where I had to find low buildings then move progressively to taller ones to finally reach the same point. Were this a linear game this would be labeled as sequence breaking, but since it’s not, it really just presents an excellent puzzle.

I’m also pretty sure that this game nailed what I didn’t like about GTA’s missions: Crackdown has every mission (which are only “kill boss X”) open from the very moment you start the game. So the free form exploration that this type of design (sandbox) promotes is married with open missions which you’re informed of when you come close to them (the boss). So frequently you will find yourself jumping around from roof top to roof top building up agility, and then you realize there’s a boss around the area and so, in the spirit of exploration you decide to see if you can kill the boss.

It’s really great, and for the people who end up not liking it I have a feeling it will be a case of seeing the forest for the trees. I actually appreciate it more the more I play it, where with GTA its always the opposite.
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"There is no place in this enterprise for a rogue physicist!"

Dracko · . Joined: 10 Oct 2005 Posts: 2613

What makes it racist? And I was under the impression it didn't need a storyline.
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SuperWes · Posted: Mon Feb 26, 2007 10:35 am Post subject:

Mister Toups · Posted: Mon Feb 26, 2007 11:03 am Post subject:

Shapermc · Hot Sake! Joined: 14 Oct 2004 Posts: 6279

Ketch · . Joined: 17 Sep 2005 Posts: 420

Dracko · . Joined: 10 Oct 2005 Posts: 2613

helicopterp · . Joined: 13 May 2006 Posts: 1435 Location: Philadelphia

A relevant quote from Jeremy Parish's blog entry on Crackdown:

SuperWes · Posted: Mon Feb 26, 2007 3:48 pm Post subject:

player 2 · . Joined: 10 Jul 2005 Posts: 585 Location: Madison, WI USA

I've been playing Neverwinter Nights Diamond. I know someone else here was a NWN fiend back in the day. Would you care to come out of the woodwork and share? I'm looking for interesting modules to coop with my roommate. Btw, Witch's Wake was the biggest cocktease I've ever played.
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simplicio · . Joined: 03 May 2005 Posts: 1091

Wasn't that shaper?

I haven't touched a game in weeks now, except for a few odd moments of blocksum.

I've got Izuna, Rhythm Tengoku and a bunch of Bit Generations titles languishing somewhere off in the international postal system. I think I'm in a state right now where I couldn't handle a full PC/Console gaming commitment.

Dracko · . Joined: 10 Oct 2005 Posts: 2613

SuperWes · Posted: Mon Feb 26, 2007 6:47 pm Post subject:

Winged Assassins (1984) · Posted: Mon Feb 26, 2007 10:37 pm Post subject:

Pixel's new game. It's reet old school and refreshingly uncomplex.
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dhex · Posted: Mon Feb 26, 2007 10:49 pm Post subject:

shaper was the NWN dude, though he only told me the sp sucked after i bought it. then again, i can't really get it to run right on my machine (doesn't like the resolution, bah) so whatevs.
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Scratchmonkey · . Joined: 02 Mar 2005 Posts: 1439

For those who can't figure it out (it took me about a minute):

NWN = Neverwinter Nights
sp = single player

Lasa · . Joined: 26 Nov 2006 Posts: 128

I witnessed an odd/humorous Crackdown bug/AI quirk where a gang boss ran off a building to his death.

Nana Komatsu · weak sauce Joined: 17 Jul 2006 Posts: 1293

My apartment is officially clean enough to have company over. This having been accomplished, I decided to celebrate by watching Heroes (oh god fucking amazing) and playing a copy of Street Fighter Alpha 2 for the Saturn that I found while unpacking my things. I have a bunch of loose Saturn games that I bought from a Blockbuster going out of business sale that come in a variety of jewel cases. From what I remember, most of them don't work, but thankfully SFA2 does!

While I've played a lot of fighting games, I haven't spent much time with the Alpha series in particular so I was worried about all the Grooves and nonsense I'd heard about. Thankfully, I was able to jump in with Sakura (who I used extensively in MVC2) and play to my heart's content. I wasn't able to get nearly as far with Chun-Li, although I find her moveset changes just slightly enough with each series to throw me off. I do have the Alpha Collection for PS2 on my shelf, I just need to get around to play it (like the other 10 million games I own), although I'm thinking tomorrow night if I have free time I'll mostly be polishing up my Guilty Gear skills since I feel like I've been away from the game for too long.
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Shapermc · Hot Sake! Joined: 14 Oct 2004 Posts: 6279

Ketch · . Joined: 17 Sep 2005 Posts: 420

Just got Kameo for my birthday, pretty cool so far ! Better than Star Fox Adventures anyway. Love the character designs.

ryan · . Joined: 20 Feb 2005 Posts: 999

I'm turning this paper crown into gold as the emperor of the Holy Roman Empire in Medieval 2: Total War. After flourishing for a bit while minding my own affairs, Venice attacked. The new war did not dissuade me from assaulting Denmark - I need to keep my coffers filled up somehow - but then Milan, Sicily, and now Hungary are attacking me. I am central Europe, so I shall now proceed to stomp out Milan in central, then work West to finish them off, then fortify the East against Hungary and the remains of Venice. Busy man!
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friedchicken · . Joined: 16 Mar 2005 Posts: 496 Location: Port Land, OR

I've finally gotten Rondo of Blood working in emulation, so I've been playing a bit here and there. Oh, and I got Lunar Knights and played it for about ten hours straight on Friday. It's good, but not really a great game, but it's still pretty distracting. The biggest problem is that the interface used for 'towns' and other non-dungeon settings is horribly clunky.

dessgeega · Posted: Wed Feb 28, 2007 2:09 am Post subject:

alien hominid. not the metal slug reskinning but the bonus "pda game" included with it. lloyds to london, it honestly is better than the titular game on the disk. the manual claims there's "over 200" stages. there are, in fact, exactly 201. i just played through all of them in one sitting. i did game over and continue a few times - i don't feel bad, since it's really a platform puzzler.

it's a single-screen platform puzzle game of the really good kind. it uses the same handful of stage elements for all 200+ of its screens. and the level design is devious, clever and playful. there are lots of things cleverly hidden, offscreen or under the hominid's thumb (the game takes place on the hominid's "pda", held in its hand - it moves its finger off the screen when you get close). elements are placed in inaccessible parts of the stage, just to provide scenery. on one screen, the moment the stage begins, a crowd of enemies fall to their deaths and you're free to proceed to the next screen. one stage is exactly like the one before it, but with a subtle difference that changes the way you need to approach it.

and like any true single-screen lode runner-esque puzzle platformer, there are stages built out of the developers' initials. and an editor. (also, and kind of a rarity among this type of game, support for up to four players. the first time i played through was with my sister, and it was great.)

the only really offensive issue is a glitch where boats (pushable objects that you can climb in when on water) take a second to "settle" into water before they're enterable, during which time you can pass right through them and fall into the water (causing death). it comes up sometimes because due to the boat's nature as a pushable object (outside of water), you can often be shoving it off the land and following it into the water only to "miss" it. my solution is simply to always enter a boat by jumping onto it from a solid surface.

there are a few other things that could have been tighter, mostly collision detection. most likely the game is less polished simply because it's just a bonus "minigame" included with a larger commercial work. but it totally is a better and more original game than alien hominid itself.
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Ketch · . Joined: 17 Sep 2005 Posts: 420

Nana Komatsu · weak sauce Joined: 17 Jul 2006 Posts: 1293

I wonder if the 360 version has this included...
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SuperWes · Posted: Wed Feb 28, 2007 5:08 pm Post subject:

Mister Toups · Posted: Wed Feb 28, 2007 6:37 pm Post subject:

Ryan - SuperWes' Bane · Posted: Thu Mar 01, 2007 2:30 am Post subject:

I'm playing Xenosaga III when I get the chance at home, and when I'm at work or on the road, I'm usually switching between Starfox Command for the DS (which is a great game, more than I expected) and Final Fantasy V. I've also gotten pretty far in the Onimusha 4 game but hate how cheap that game can be, and also I started a save on Shadow Hearts 1.

Six · . Joined: 15 Jul 2006 Posts: 313 Location: montreal

Nana Komatsu · weak sauce Joined: 17 Jul 2006 Posts: 1293

Anna has been playing a little Assault Heroes, maybe she will tell us about it?
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dessgeega · Posted: Thu Mar 01, 2007 3:48 am Post subject:

so far i find it slow-paced and boring! i think it would work a lot better if the developers had built the game around a single weapon rather than three. incidentally, the blaster master dungeons seem to be the strongest part of the game for this reason. it reminds me of rush 'n crash, which can't but be a good thing?

i only played to stage two before we decided that i need my own live arcade account. what i played of it was really easy.
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Ryan - SuperWes' Bane · Posted: Thu Mar 01, 2007 7:35 am Post subject:

ryan · . Joined: 20 Feb 2005 Posts: 999

Did anyone else play Company of Heroes?

I'm finally getting to the demo and, wow, what a great game. I've seen that you UKers get a double pack of it and Dawn of War, which is a fantastic deal.

I think the old drivers were giving me blue screens of death, so hopefully those are gone now so that I may enjoy it in all its rat-a-tat-tat glory.
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Come to me, Mordel. We shall depart.

Mister Toups · Posted: Thu Mar 01, 2007 2:05 pm Post subject:

Since I last posted RE0 has gotten tedious and then AMAZING.

The more I play it the more it seems like a western-designed RE game. From how "open" it is (once you get off the train anyhow) to how experimental the mechanics are, and just how loose feeling it is.

And it's fucking difficult!
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extrabastardformula · . Joined: 08 Feb 2007 Posts: 295

I'm gonna be playing a bunch of the Catan games with friends tonight in anticipation of the XBLA edition. I expect this will be awesome.

friedchicken · . Joined: 16 Mar 2005 Posts: 496 Location: Port Land, OR

As if I haven't already been playing enough stuff right now, SSX Blur for the Wii arrived yesterday and my wife has been edging toward throwing the wiimote through the wall since then (due to frustration, not a weak wrist strap).

It looks nice though.

dessgeega · Posted: Fri Mar 02, 2007 12:54 pm Post subject:

other xbox live impressions:

doom is fantastic. the control scheme they came up with is revelatory. i don't think i can imagine playing this on a keyboard anymore.

geometry wars is good too. the most interesting thing it does is relinquish a stage-based structure in favor of a continuous, unbroken game (though one that is not without clear periodic "waves" of enemies). i've decided, though, that grid wars has done absolutely nothing to hurt the sales of this game. the audiences of the two titles are different: people with xboxes will buy geometry wars, people without will play grid wars. no one is going to buy an xbox360 to play geometry wars. and no one who owns an xbox360 is going to play grid wars on her pc when she could be playing the far more gorgeous geometry wars on her xbox with the xbox's dual-stick controller.

and those are the only compelling live titles i've played so far.
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Six · . Joined: 15 Jul 2006 Posts: 313 Location: montreal

dessgeega · Posted: Fri Mar 02, 2007 2:54 pm Post subject:

psp impressions:

exit: either a horribly slow platforming game or a really boring puzzle game. neither is something i'd want to play for very long.

loco roco: the developers came up with this amazing physics engine and then . . . used it to create a boring, straightforward platformer. with incredible art and sound direction. though i don't think charges of racism are unfounded, given that the enemies are black, big-lipped, dreadlocked faces.

game needs more cameltry.
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Shapermc · Hot Sake! Joined: 14 Oct 2004 Posts: 6279

Dess: Should I bring EEE, Ultimate GnG, and Megaman Powered up for the PSP?

Also, like, Exit begins to become interesting after you get through the really long and terrible tutorial. Some of the later levels are really good puzzles. it's not a platformer though.
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“The average man has a secret desire to be a swaggering, drunken, fighting, raping swashbuckler.”
-Robert E. Howard in a letter to a friend circa Decmber 1932

"There is no place in this enterprise for a rogue physicist!"

Nana Komatsu · weak sauce Joined: 17 Jul 2006 Posts: 1293

I already have Every Extend Extra and Megaman Powered Up.
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dessgeega · Posted: Fri Mar 02, 2007 3:45 pm Post subject:

i just played megaman powered up! it's a lot easier than i remember the original being. and the characters talk too much. you should bring ghouls 'n ghosts though.
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dessgeega · Posted: Fri Mar 02, 2007 4:32 pm Post subject:

i played lumines live, even though nana told me the psp version has better music, because i couldn't find her copy of the umd. i don't dislike the music but, wow, the game is really boring. i'd love to say it's the most boring puzzle game i've ever played, but i've played trioncube, which is like lumines with only one color of block.

lucky star mode is offensive. it's not a particularly good song to begin with, but it's a lot more abrasive in the background than one of the more downtempo, vocal-less songs. and the music video, full of large shapes flashing black and white, is incredibly distracting behind the game board. i quit when i realized the entire mode was that same one song, played and replayed over and over until you finally lose the game six hours later.
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Cycle · Mac daddy Joined: 08 Sep 2006 Posts: 2767

hey dess you should try to beat wes' hexic 3d score.
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Shapermc · Hot Sake! Joined: 14 Oct 2004 Posts: 6279

SuperWes · Posted: Sat Mar 03, 2007 12:06 am Post subject:

Treedweller · . Joined: 03 Mar 2007 Posts: 5 Location: Canada

Hm, well I'm new here, but I figure this is as good a place as any to start my posting career...

Anyways, I've been playing the import version of Mother 3 for the second time with a translation guide (I don't know a lick of Japanese) and it's just as amazing as the first time I completed it... I haven't played any of the other games in the series, but the culmination of the impact of the visuals, music, story and sound battles make for a fun and, at times, emotional game; definately what I'd call soulful and artsy. However, the game does lose a bit considering I'm not playing in English, and it's too bad Nintendo really hasn't taken the opportunity to bring it to North America...

I'm actually surprised I haven't ran into an article directly relating to the game in TGQ yet, but perhaps I didn't look hard enough or something >_>
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