I've finally touched down in spring hill. I think I've done enough driving for a couple days. Going from east Tennessee to middle Tennessee is quite a drive. Hopefully I can get a job around here pretty soon or at work from home or something. Not that I'm hurting for money I just need some insurance. Its bitterly cold around these parts at this time of the year. I have my space heater on right next to me to keep me warm thankfully. Enough simple sentences though time for me to about vidya game
The last game about spess I have to talk about is SPAZ or Space Pirates And Zombies. Its somewhat similar to FTL in concept - explore various star systems and upgrade your ship(s) as you go. On the most basic level its reminiscent of the original asteroids in regards to how the game controls. To grasp the feel of the game it's essentially "welcome to space, everyone hates you." and I love it. The atmosphere and humor of this game are what drive this game to be exemplary in my opinion.
Its a classic tale of going from scraps to riches, gathering various pieces of junk to assemble a capable team of (from what I've played thus far) 3 ships not including your mothership. There are two factions; UTA and CIVs. The UTA are the intergalactic space police so to speak but they are more or less completely inept in in regard to keeping the peace and they go out of their way to be dicks to everyone. The Civs can be scientist, miners, or regular space faring folks keeping to themselves. Both the CIVs and the UTA can have different opinions of you every time you go from one system to the next. Sometimes the CIVs will be stronger than the UTA or vise versa. You can serve either faction depending on what they have that you want to get for making them like you. If you don't want to bother buttering them up you can always kill them for what you want. This can be easy or difficult depending on how each side is laid out in the respective star system and since every new game presents a randomly generated universe you're going to get a different map every time.
time to wrap this up though
the positives-
+Like all the other spess games I reviewed as of late this one isn't really graphically demanding so most computers shouldn't have too much trouble playing it
+Style wise the atmosphere is what really brings this game together and sets it apart from other titles.
+You have moral freedom to help or hurt any faction in the game with consequences for your decisions accordingly
the crapitives
-theres not much difficulty in this game. Its hard to do bad if that makes sense. As long as you have a large bank of space money you're more or less good to go.
-space in this game can get boring when the missions usually revolve around you going to x galaxy and killing/looting/escorting the exact same way you did for the last couple star systems
-progression in this game is tedious and will take a while if you go through and explore each star system. You can easily lose an hour in one star system if you want to make one faction like you a lot.
Saturday, January 5, 2013
Thursday, January 3, 2013
more about spess
I'm getting ready to for launch and should be making my way to spring hill shortly. It was nice to see my parents but god help them. I'm beginning to remember now why I left. This blog is definitely no testament to my dutiful pursuit of writing. Still, I'd rather try to adhere to a new schedule than lament failing older ones so lets continue from yesterday.
Awesomenauts has been described as a side scrolling MOBA. That's a rather accurate description but what is a MOBA? The acronym of MOBA stands for Multiplier Online Battle Arena. This style of game was originally popularized by Warcraft 3 and went on to spawn many games of a similar flavor. Most notably DotA (Defense of the Acients) and HoN (Heroes of Newerth). In a MOBA things basically boil down to you picking out a fighter and using team work and a various combination of skills to break down "towers". These towers are powerful defensive points that deal death to the opposing team if they're approached without an army of minions. Minions take damage from towers so you use them to shield yourself as you attack your enemy's towers and eventually get to their base where you can attack said base. Awesomenauts implements all of these facets like you'd come to expect from most MOBAs. Unlike most MOBA's however, matches don't drag on for more than 10 to 20 minutes compared to League of Legends where you can expect to spend 30 minutes to an hour in a single match...assuming of course both teams are equally matched.
Aesthetically Awesomenauts is very well rounded. The environments and the characters work together to create a Saturday morning cartoon kind of feel ( check out the intro here). The game controls well but the action can be all over the place which is not uncommon in the genre. From what I played it so far it was fun until one match which had a space monkey that would hover unending while attacking me from beyond my reach. I stopped playing and figured there may be some rebalancing in the future. When I wasn't getting trounced the game was actually very fun. I'd hold off on buying the game until they manage to fix matchmaking to make sure new players don't get matched up against better skilled ones as well as one's who have a high level player level. On that note you get experience after every match that increases the level and gives you access to more (read better) options for customizing how your character plays in matches.
to go over some things quickly
+the game is pretty is simple to learn and easy to get into.
+stylistically it looks wonderful and sounds great.
+like FTL it has a smaller file size than most games and the graphics won't strain your computer but this game does have future updates planned so the small file size may change.
-lack of variety- more specifically there's a hand full of "Awesomenauts" to pick from so far. This should be addressed in future updates hopefully. Also a few more levels would be nice too and since things are in 2D the sky is pretty much the limit here.
-The game also lacks balance in some areas (Jetpack monkey I'm looking at you). Hopefully issues regarding balance will get resolved in subsequent patches.
Awesomenauts has been described as a side scrolling MOBA. That's a rather accurate description but what is a MOBA? The acronym of MOBA stands for Multiplier Online Battle Arena. This style of game was originally popularized by Warcraft 3 and went on to spawn many games of a similar flavor. Most notably DotA (Defense of the Acients) and HoN (Heroes of Newerth). In a MOBA things basically boil down to you picking out a fighter and using team work and a various combination of skills to break down "towers". These towers are powerful defensive points that deal death to the opposing team if they're approached without an army of minions. Minions take damage from towers so you use them to shield yourself as you attack your enemy's towers and eventually get to their base where you can attack said base. Awesomenauts implements all of these facets like you'd come to expect from most MOBAs. Unlike most MOBA's however, matches don't drag on for more than 10 to 20 minutes compared to League of Legends where you can expect to spend 30 minutes to an hour in a single match...assuming of course both teams are equally matched.
Aesthetically Awesomenauts is very well rounded. The environments and the characters work together to create a Saturday morning cartoon kind of feel ( check out the intro here). The game controls well but the action can be all over the place which is not uncommon in the genre. From what I played it so far it was fun until one match which had a space monkey that would hover unending while attacking me from beyond my reach. I stopped playing and figured there may be some rebalancing in the future. When I wasn't getting trounced the game was actually very fun. I'd hold off on buying the game until they manage to fix matchmaking to make sure new players don't get matched up against better skilled ones as well as one's who have a high level player level. On that note you get experience after every match that increases the level and gives you access to more (read better) options for customizing how your character plays in matches.
to go over some things quickly
+the game is pretty is simple to learn and easy to get into.
+stylistically it looks wonderful and sounds great.
+like FTL it has a smaller file size than most games and the graphics won't strain your computer but this game does have future updates planned so the small file size may change.
-lack of variety- more specifically there's a hand full of "Awesomenauts" to pick from so far. This should be addressed in future updates hopefully. Also a few more levels would be nice too and since things are in 2D the sky is pretty much the limit here.
-The game also lacks balance in some areas (Jetpack monkey I'm looking at you). Hopefully issues regarding balance will get resolved in subsequent patches.
Wednesday, January 2, 2013
jobless and games about spess
I quit my job a while back to move down to spring hill. Fate has been kind to me so far as I have house full of wonderful friends. Various video games have distracted me in this time, most notably Borderlands. Its more of the same if you liked the original borderlands with a few quirks about it. Its one of many games that will suck away all your time if you're not careful. I played this game almost exclusively while down at my new place and it screwed up my sleep schedule accordingly. My parents wanted me to come see them for the holidays so I drove 6 hours to get to East Tennessee. As if to be expected I had to watch my step as dog crap carpet mines lay in wait. Animals with no regard for their excrement aside, I managed to grab a couple different games during the steam sales thus far. I bought multiple copies of Awesomenauts, FTL, and SPAZ (I'll go into detail about those in a bit) as well as a gift for my bro christian; Warhammer 40k space marine. I hope his computer can run it.
As previously mentioned got a couple different games for christmas, the first I'll mention being FTL (you can click that link before this to check the website) or Faster than light. If you click on that link there it will take you to the website for it. It of course can also be found on steam. This is quite the gem and for the low price of about $2.50 I paid for. I couldn't help but buy up a couple copies. Most describe it as a rougelike space adventure and that's pretty much spot on for a description. If you're not familar with the rougelike genre the basic premise is this- Your ship has data valuable to the federation fleet (just go with it). You have to jump through 7 star systems to deliver this data and get to the final boss. Each of the star systems have multiple planets and other features with random events occurring in many of them. You have to manage your crew, maintain your ship, battle other ships or use diplomacy to get out of sticky situations and adapt to unique challenges along the way. Its a fun if not unforgiving experience. To keep things short here's the main points to be aware of-
The positives-
+the game is genre aware and plays itself perfectly in this respect making you feel like a starship captain with its almost tongue in cheek style.
+there's a lot of customization in this game- from what crew you use to what weapons are on your ship and how you upgrade your ship's stats as you go.
+There's lots of replayability with all the content unlocked by completing certain challenges .
The crapitives
- The game as I mentioned before is very unforgiving. Even on an easier difficulties its not uncommon to encounter a terrible end.
-the graphics are nice for what they are but this isn't going to push your computer to the brink. If you have a older computer this won't be a problem.
-its very short. It can easily be beaten in one sitting if you're lucky enough to get to the end. Again this may not be a bad thing if you don't want to get lost in a 60+ hour game.
I'll go over Awesomenauts and SPAZ what when I can. I won't flake out like normal I hope.
As previously mentioned got a couple different games for christmas, the first I'll mention being FTL (you can click that link before this to check the website) or Faster than light. If you click on that link there it will take you to the website for it. It of course can also be found on steam. This is quite the gem and for the low price of about $2.50 I paid for. I couldn't help but buy up a couple copies. Most describe it as a rougelike space adventure and that's pretty much spot on for a description. If you're not familar with the rougelike genre the basic premise is this- Your ship has data valuable to the federation fleet (just go with it). You have to jump through 7 star systems to deliver this data and get to the final boss. Each of the star systems have multiple planets and other features with random events occurring in many of them. You have to manage your crew, maintain your ship, battle other ships or use diplomacy to get out of sticky situations and adapt to unique challenges along the way. Its a fun if not unforgiving experience. To keep things short here's the main points to be aware of-
The positives-
+the game is genre aware and plays itself perfectly in this respect making you feel like a starship captain with its almost tongue in cheek style.
+there's a lot of customization in this game- from what crew you use to what weapons are on your ship and how you upgrade your ship's stats as you go.
+There's lots of replayability with all the content unlocked by completing certain challenges .
The crapitives
- The game as I mentioned before is very unforgiving. Even on an easier difficulties its not uncommon to encounter a terrible end.
-the graphics are nice for what they are but this isn't going to push your computer to the brink. If you have a older computer this won't be a problem.
-its very short. It can easily be beaten in one sitting if you're lucky enough to get to the end. Again this may not be a bad thing if you don't want to get lost in a 60+ hour game.
I'll go over Awesomenauts and SPAZ what when I can. I won't flake out like normal I hope.
Sunday, September 30, 2012
tanks galore oh my...
I want to do more nowadays but tanks takes up a lot of time. I'm definitely addicted. I'll get more into that at some point soon. Apart from TANKS I'm trying to branch off into torchlight 2. Its a good game to be sure and for 19.99 you cant go wrong. I don't know how good Diablo 3 is but I know I'm not going to spend 1/9 of my check on a game. Torchlight is about 1/26 of my paycheck. Being cheaper is nice but the fact the game worked on launch day is always bonus as well. If you have 19 bucks to spare and enjoy action rpgs you should definitely pick up torchlight 2.
I need to change my schedule a bit at work. Either taking on less hours or working later or earlier. I'm thinking about working earlier. I wake up early as it is so I should be fine I think. This should give me more game time in the afternoon as well as free time to do things during business hours. I am an adult after all. I need to get do Harlogin Texas, hopefully right after December but I have to take an exit exam and take care of some dental issues I have. Such is life. Well I need to sleep. Night
I need to change my schedule a bit at work. Either taking on less hours or working later or earlier. I'm thinking about working earlier. I wake up early as it is so I should be fine I think. This should give me more game time in the afternoon as well as free time to do things during business hours. I am an adult after all. I need to get do Harlogin Texas, hopefully right after December but I have to take an exit exam and take care of some dental issues I have. Such is life. Well I need to sleep. Night
Wednesday, July 25, 2012
Carl of duty and the PC benchmark of 2007
Call-o-duty black ops is fairly short and sweet but since I got it on sale for 19.99 so I don't feel terribly cheated- "cheated" though? Why does this purchase invoke that feeling. Well the game was fun as was the multiplayer it offered as it was your typical call of duty modern warfare ...fare so what was I expecting? I was expecting something worse to be honest but my impossibly high standards have left me burdened with my spoiledness with various other gems to compare it to. More prominently and somewhat louder I guess is a voice in the back of my mind that keeps nagging me "You should of waited for it to be cheaper." and I probably should have seeing as how I'm not going to bother with the multiplayer- arguably the main focus of the game. I could of just as easily pirated the game for the single player and been done with it but there's no sense in feeling regret about it now I suppose. Personally, I blame Gabe for making games so reasonably priced that even a tight ass like myself breaks down and buys them.
A whole paragraph on buyer's remorse, a cynical asshat am I to be sure.
Black Ops is yet another game that pretty much has it all in the title. You're the no joke dude sent in do complete secret operations, you get captured twice thrice and escape every time, wield a mini gun with your bear hands (he's in Russia at the time yuk yuk), shoot explosive crossbow darts, and various other manly things. Its actually nice to see a game acting like a video game again and by this I mean I want to see a future call of duty game have you fighting space nazis on the moon while riding on a dinosaur that has lazer guns for hands. Make it happen treyarch. To be more clear- I want to see more ridiculousness that borders on surreal so that when I'm playing a game I'm genuinely entranced in the universe it presents. Its obvious that with the Call of Duty franchise they have a lot more creative freedom to enjoy and that's never a bad thing.
Interesting tidbit though, I did some research and a lot of the guns in Black Ops shouldn't actually exist... at least in the time line Black Ops presents. For a more elaborate explanation check out this page on imfdb. The word they use a lot is "anachronism" which , as wikipedia reads-
"An anachronism, from the Greek ανά (ana: up, against, back, re-) and χρόνος (chronos: time), is a chronological inconsistency in some arrangement, especially a juxtaposition of person(s), events, objects, or customs from different periods of time. Often the item misplaced in time is an object, but it may be a verbal expression, a technology, a philosophical idea, a musical style, a material, a custom, or anything else associated with a particular period in time so that it is incorrect to place it outside its proper temporal domain."
Its a really cool word but the chance to use it comes up so rarely due to the abstract definition.
Well that's enough reflection today. I've yet to beat crysis so I don't yet feel qualified to speak on it in depth as of yet, but I feel compelled to as it has given me some unique experiences.
Monday, July 23, 2012
So I got a few games during the steam sale, allow me to run through them with you and explain why you should of bought them if you haven't already.
Shoot Many Robots is pretty much what the title says. I bought a four pack for the price of a cheap pair of sun glasses- 7.50 or so. While on the surface it looks like your typical side-scrolling shooter, reminiscent of Metal Slug or Gun Star Heroes it has some things that set it apart.
The most stand out feature is the character customization which is arguably the back bone of the game. Basically you unlock and find items through leveling up your character or finding things in the map. You can assemble some rather odd looks for your robot killing paper doll, each piece of equipment having different stats that affect how they move or how much health they have among other various stats and perks.
It also has a comical style that feels like a bit of borderlands and redneck rampage with and maybe a dash of the aforementioned metal slug. It also has music that adapts to the tone of the gameplay becoming more frantic when lots of killer robots are on screen and cooling down when you're idly strolling through a level. A lot of games do this but an equally large amount don't and this makes me quite sad. On a similar note (terrible pun) the music matches the atmosphere of the game wonderfully...unless you don't like rock and roll at which point you need to re-examine your tastes. Ihate don't agree with Ubisoft's DRM and their poor management of otherwise good properties but this is a great game even if its by a not so great publisher.
the brief-
+4 player co-op
+lots of customization
+highly stylized world
+good music
+easy to get into
-Not the deepest gameplay
-the grind for the lewt
-its not on sale anymore
the verdict-
BUY THIS GAME
=====================================================
Renegade ops is pretty much your favorite SNES game you never got to play and wanted to exist. Well seeing how its published by Sega perhaps that description leaves something to be desired but I digress. This is the kind of over the top A-team styled story you've been waiting for in a game for a while. I forget how much I payed for the 4 pack but I think it was similarly priced to shoot many robots respectively.
Like shoot many robots, Renegade Ops is pretty much describes itself. (a disturbing pattern seems to be emerging...) You can take control of up to 4 renegade operators and drive around in supped up combat vans and speed buggies. There's also a Gordon Freeman character which prompted me to call foul but he's about as renegade as you're gonna get so I let it go even if it breaks the fourth wall of this games's universe. You basically travel the globe hunting down Dr. Evil or his somewhat more menacing counterpart as the case may be, holding down the fire button and killing everything while collecting power ups and racking up high score. GREAT
The game's art style makes me think of venture brothers which is never a bad thing, albeit it lacks the more comic styling of said show. The game has a leveling system because it has to keep you hooked, wherein you unlock skills by leveling up. The character's vehicles are all the same in that they all upgrade their guns the same way and they can all collect special weapons. Each character has their own special ability which I believe is in place merely for the sake of arguing with your friends over who their favorite character is. There's much else to say past that, its pretty straight forward drive and shoot.
the brief-
+4 player co-op
+easy to get into
+unique art style
+over the top atmosphere that pokes fun at 90's games
+Cars n guns
-Controls are a bit stiff with keyboard, and crazy with a gamepad, pick your poison
-somewhat repetitive game play
-not on sale
the verdict-
BUY THIS GAME
=====================================================
Next time I'll talk about Call of Duty Black Ops and Crysis. Mainstream enough for you? Also I'm late to the party I know. I need to talk about things other than video games at some point. Wanna hear about life at a call center? Yea I thought not.
Shoot Many Robots is pretty much what the title says. I bought a four pack for the price of a cheap pair of sun glasses- 7.50 or so. While on the surface it looks like your typical side-scrolling shooter, reminiscent of Metal Slug or Gun Star Heroes it has some things that set it apart.
The most stand out feature is the character customization which is arguably the back bone of the game. Basically you unlock and find items through leveling up your character or finding things in the map. You can assemble some rather odd looks for your robot killing paper doll, each piece of equipment having different stats that affect how they move or how much health they have among other various stats and perks.
It also has a comical style that feels like a bit of borderlands and redneck rampage with and maybe a dash of the aforementioned metal slug. It also has music that adapts to the tone of the gameplay becoming more frantic when lots of killer robots are on screen and cooling down when you're idly strolling through a level. A lot of games do this but an equally large amount don't and this makes me quite sad. On a similar note (terrible pun) the music matches the atmosphere of the game wonderfully...unless you don't like rock and roll at which point you need to re-examine your tastes. I
the brief-
+4 player co-op
+lots of customization
+highly stylized world
+good music
+easy to get into
-Not the deepest gameplay
-the grind for the lewt
-its not on sale anymore
the verdict-
BUY THIS GAME
=====================================================
Renegade ops is pretty much your favorite SNES game you never got to play and wanted to exist. Well seeing how its published by Sega perhaps that description leaves something to be desired but I digress. This is the kind of over the top A-team styled story you've been waiting for in a game for a while. I forget how much I payed for the 4 pack but I think it was similarly priced to shoot many robots respectively.
Like shoot many robots, Renegade Ops is pretty much describes itself. (a disturbing pattern seems to be emerging...) You can take control of up to 4 renegade operators and drive around in supped up combat vans and speed buggies. There's also a Gordon Freeman character which prompted me to call foul but he's about as renegade as you're gonna get so I let it go even if it breaks the fourth wall of this games's universe. You basically travel the globe hunting down Dr. Evil or his somewhat more menacing counterpart as the case may be, holding down the fire button and killing everything while collecting power ups and racking up high score. GREAT
The game's art style makes me think of venture brothers which is never a bad thing, albeit it lacks the more comic styling of said show. The game has a leveling system because it has to keep you hooked, wherein you unlock skills by leveling up. The character's vehicles are all the same in that they all upgrade their guns the same way and they can all collect special weapons. Each character has their own special ability which I believe is in place merely for the sake of arguing with your friends over who their favorite character is. There's much else to say past that, its pretty straight forward drive and shoot.
+4 player co-op
+easy to get into
+unique art style
+over the top atmosphere that pokes fun at 90's games
+Cars n guns
-Controls are a bit stiff with keyboard, and crazy with a gamepad, pick your poison
-somewhat repetitive game play
-not on sale
the verdict-
BUY THIS GAME
=====================================================
Next time I'll talk about Call of Duty Black Ops and Crysis. Mainstream enough for you? Also I'm late to the party I know. I need to talk about things other than video games at some point. Wanna hear about life at a call center? Yea I thought not.
Sunday, July 22, 2012
games, games, games
So I've been playing a lot of video games- primarily World of Tanks. Thanks to steam my library has increased substantially with the summer sales. For anyone who has kept up with my blog regularly I apologize with the lack of updates. I'll go into detail of what I got tomorrow but I have lots of work to do when the dawn comes.
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