Miscellaneous comments pertaining to computer games that interest me.
Apparently there has been a new Incredible Hulk console game, and it is good.
I sometimes like mindless violence in my games, and I can’t think of a better character to play for a bit of mindless violence than the Big Green Guy. The first incredible hulk game got luke warm reviews, but so far Incredible Hulk- Ultimate Destruction has been getting some pretty decent reviews, holding up at 8 out of ten on most reviews.
Continue reading Hulk Smash! I might just have to buy an XBox…
I bought Sacred by Ascaron the other day. Its a pretty good game, basically a super-sized Diablo with a huge world to run around in. There is only one problem: it doesn’t run on my computer.
Sony and Stuff have announced the winner of the Antonia Bayle contest.
Anna Wainscoat wasn’t my choice- I felt Teresa Noreen was closer in appearance to the Queen of Qeynos and seemed more interested in EverQuest and its players, but…who knows? Anna bears at least a passing resemblance to Antonia, and maybe she actually gives a damn about the game. There’s an interview with her on Gamecloud that sort of implies she’s a console gamer and new to PC games…although it also implies she’s at least tried EQ2, so thats something.
Back in the bad old days (circa 1999), massively multi-player online games allowed player to player interaction. I’m not talking about player killing: I’m referring to the ability of one player’s actions to impact another, for good or ill. Then things began to change…and I don’t personally believe the changes were all for the better.
Continue reading EverQuest 2- the Rise of Isolation in MMOGs
I play massively multiplayer online games (MMOGs, or sometimes MMORPG if the game is of the roleplaying type). At times in the past seven years or so, playing these games has consumed the lions share of my free time: up to about 20 or so hours a week.
I’m playing Doom3 at the moment. Its the most claustrophobic, frightening, heart-rate-increasing game I’ve ever played. I’m far from finished (barely even started), so I’m not yet ready to write a review or form a final opinion. Consider this an “early review”. Continue reading Doom 3
First off, I should point out that I’ve never played any of the other Thief games. But I have read about them. The “thief” in the game is one Garrett, a mysterious fellow adept with a lock pick, bow, or blackjack. Garrett’s place is in the shadows: the Thief games are first person sneakers, which basically means that you are better off skulking past trouble rather than running into it head on.
So, with the stage set, how was the game? Graphically, Thief III is top notch. Lighting and shadow are, not surprisingly, very important in this game, and are rendered well. The moonlight shining through a window produces diffuse beams of light with motes of dust…its actually quite pretty. Sound is also very important: much of the time, Garrett is hiding in a corner and risking a peek at the nearby guards could be deadly. But hearing the footsteps as the guards complete their rounds is nearly as good as seeing the guard.
The hard part with a sneaking game like Thief is the AI…
Continue reading Thief III: Deadly Shadows
Computer games…I’m a big computer gamer, and so I spend probably far too much time thinking about and playing computer games. I recently bought FarCry, a fancy first person shooter. I hadn’t really been planning on buying it, but I wanted a diversion one day, and I had read a lot of very positive things about this game.
So, here I am playing FarCry. Its got very pretty graphics. A tropical paradise, rendered in bump mapped 3D, complete with real time shadows, reflective/translucent water, skeletal animation, and sophisticated physics. In this tropical paradise are a lot of people with guns, and your character is supposed to be trying to figure out why they sunk his little cruise boat and kidnapped his passenger. So far, so good…
This game is renowned for its sophisticated artificial intelligence in addition to its graphics. I’ll say one thing for sure: the guys wandering around the island with guns are no slouches…
Continue reading UPDATED: Far Cry…and the meaning of challenge