Impressions: Dirt 2 Demo.

I enjoyed the first Dirt game for the most part. The one issue I had with it was the handling of the cars. All the fun of rallying lies in the fact that your car is pointing sideways more often than straight ahead. In this regard Dirt got it all wrong. It was almost impossible to get the car sliding through corners as it always just seemed to stick to the road way more than it should. So with this in mind I was eager to fire up the Dirt 2 demo to see if they had addressed these issues.

From the moment you take the first corner it becomes apparent that they have indeed worked on the handling of the cars. The back end slides out easily now and it doesnt take much efford to get a nice drift going. I have seen some people complain in forums that the handling is too floaty and that its like driving on ice. I can see why people say this when comparing it to the first game but I dont find that the handling is unrealistic.. not that I have ever driven a rally car but it just feels like you have more control over what you would like the car to do than in the first game.

Another point worth mentioning about Dirt 2 is the visuals. The game really looks amazing and the framerate appeared to be pretty solid throughout. The in-car view looks very good indeed and a nice touch is that you can have your Xbox avatar dangling from the rear view mirror if you want… complete with whatever outfit it is currently wearing. A meaningless but nice touch nevertheless.

This demo really changed my mind about the game. It went from being a game that I didnt really care about to being one that I am now seriously considering purchasing.

Impressions: Lost Planet 2 Co-op demo.

I was really looking forward to this demo since I heard it was coming out a couple of days ago. I played the first Lost Planet but never finished it because it just became too frustrating. The fact that Lost Planet 2 has coop made me think that it would maybe be a bit easier this time around … I would have some help after all. With this in mind a friend and I fired up the demo and got stuck into the action.

Apart from the gameplay itself (which we will come to in a second) the structure of the demo is rather disappointing. All it is is a boss battle. You run up a short path, around a corner and there is the boss… a giant salamander. The whole demo is just all about killing it…. no glimpse of story or the new lush forests they have been teasing us with.

Gameplay wise the game is even more disappointing. The main reason for me was that I couldn’t really tell if they have changed anything. It felt identical to the first one… which immediately left a bad taste in my mouth considering my experience with the original. Since the demo is basically just a boss fight you don’t get to see any of the new environments or much cooperative features. I can’t understand why anyone would put out a demo like this. In my humble opinion this demo will do more to dissuade people from buying the game than to motivate them. That certainly was the case for me and my coop buddy.

This is another example of where the Japanese take a fairly simple concept and overcomplicates … and takes most of the fun out of it in the process. Why cant we just push B to get into the mech and off we go? Why must we now push X to Activate it as well? And why cant we just pick up ammo instead of having to get out of the mech… pick up another gun… attach it…. get back in… activate it.. and finally be ready to fight again. Yes I guess attaching a new gun to it is more realistic but this isnt exactly a game based on realism is it? I mean you play some futuristic samurai looking guy with what looks like a giant tap on your back.

All I can say is thank goodness for demos. This is the second demo recently that has convinced me not to buy a game… the other being Batman: Arkham Asylum.

30,000 at last!

Just a quick post to say that I’ve finally reached 30,000 gamerscore. What makes it even more special is that I didnt get to 30,010 or even 30,005 … no, I reached it right on the button.. 30,000 exactly! (No… it wasnt planned either.)

Dead Space vs Resident Evil 5.

So having just finished Dead Space last night (finally) it got me thinking. For the record I really loved Dead Space. It is one of the few games that when I think back about things I dislike about it I come up blank. This game does what it does extremely well.. it looks amazing… it plays well..and it sounds fantastic. People classify this as a horror game in the same vein as Resident Evil 5 (RE5) and that's when I started comparing the two in my head. From my previous post you already know that I am disappointed about how some things work in RE5 so I thought it would be interesting to see how those things could have been done better if they borrowed from Dead Space (DS).

1. Controls
This is my biggest gripe with RE5 so I have to mention it first. DS just gets it right. It plays like you would expect it to play.. and that all you really want from a game (control wise at least) isn't it? To pick it up and for the controls to feel intuitive and natural. Hey look.. my guy and move AND shoot at the same time!

2. Inventory Management
Again DS gets it right by making it just that little bit quicker and slicker. The inventory management looks pretty similar on both (grid system) but it just feels simpler and faster to use on DS.

3. Melee
Why cant you just have a one button melee attack in RE5? DS actually has 2. Right trigger to take a swing and RB to stomp and enemy (or a helpless box) on the ground. Having the hold the LB and then use the right trigger just to swing your knife in RE5 just isn’t simple and quick enough.

4. Switching Weapons
Although the inventory management of both games are comparable DS did one simple thing that makes a major difference to the gameplay .. they removed your weapons from your inventory screen and mapped it to the D-pad. Now instead of having to open the inventory, navigate to the weapon, selecting it and then choosing Equip you can just hit one of 4 directions on the D-pad to switch weapons quickly and painlessly.

By changing these few things RE5 would probably have been one of my favourite games of 2009. It’s coop after all! Sadly as it is currently the game is just too frustrating for me to enjoy. I guess I will have to wait for Dead Space 2 for my next good horror fix.

Am I the only one NOT excited about Resident Evil 5??

The more I hear about this game in the press and on podcasts the more I ask myself that question.  Everyone seems to like the game except me. Or is it just the fact that most people are long time fans of the franchise and are willing to look past all the bad points? I have played some of the previous ones but just briefly. I was really excited about this game right up to the moment I played the demo for the first time. I want to like this game.. I really do. I mean it looks absolutely amazing, the main characters are really cool (I prefer Sheva over Lara any day of the week), the setting is really interesting and it’s got coop. Tell me that a game has those features and I’m sold…. usually.

So why don’t I like it then? One reason … the much talked about controls obviously. I know die hard fans are going to say well it’s always been like that etc, etc but I am not a die hard fan… I am new to the franchise and am judging this game on it’s own. Surely they want to draw new players to the franchise? For many people this will be the first Resident Evil game that they will be playing. I know of 2 friends that were really looking forward to this game until they tried the demo and immediately decided not to buy the game any more. And I am right with them there… I will probably not be purchasing this game either.

So what’s wrong with the controls? It fights you every step of the way. The main issue is obviously the fact that you cant shoot and move at the same time. So you end up running away, turning around, shooting a few shots, running away, turning around, shooting a few shots, running ….. you get the idea. Oh and then you got to plan when you are going to reload too because, yes you guessed it, you cant move when you are reloading either! Then there is also the fact that simply switching weapons is a pain as well. And why cant you just run up to someone and hit them? Sometimes you can when the prompt comes up to press X… but only then. Why cant I punch someone when I feel like it? It’s a very stop/start affair.

Then there is also the inconsistencies. Sometimes you shoot someone in the head and it explodes and other times you shoot someone in the head and he just ends up holding it for a while before continuing to shuffle towards you.

All I know is that I was really looking forward to this game and that I am trying really hard to like it…. but I just can’t. I tried the demo in coop again about 2 nights ago and again it left me frustrated and vowing not to buy it. Will I give in to all the hype eventually and get it anyway? We’ll see.

To MMO .. or not to MMO…

I have recently been having the urge to play an MMO. Have always been curious about them but I think my interest was piqued when I started watching The Guild recently. For anyone not familiar with this web series I strongly urge you to check it out. Its a fictional web series about a group of MMO players and their (mis)adventures.

I started checking out some of the more popular ones. I am specifically looking at the more traditional sword and sorcery type ones. I started with Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures. This game is visually very impressive and for the most part plays ok. It takes a while getting used to the combat with the directional attacks etc and I really struggled to find a control scheme that was comfortable for me. Eventually I settled on using the Xbox 360 controller configured with custom button mappings using Xpadder. Anyone using the Xbox controller on a PC should check out Xpadder as it allows you to do some pretty cool key mappings to the controller… including multiple mappings per button and macros too. So far this has been the easiest way for me to play this game. As far as the game goes I am not that far into it yet but having fun with it so far. Consensus seems to be that this game is dying though although they just released a massive 2.2gb update for it. Time will tell I guess.

The next game I tried was World of Warcraft. I signed up for the 10 day trial and downloaded the client. After playing Age of Conan the combat in WoW is really simple and kinda less stressful. Looks wise the game doesnt come close the Age of Conan though with more “cartoony” graphics. I really didnt spend too much time with WoW cause my trial was up before I actually got to play it much.

Lastly I looked at Guild Wars. Guild Wars also has a trial which gives you 10 hours worth of gameplay time. I have done about 4 up till now but have really enjoyed myself so far. Visually the game looks really good. I am running it at 1680x1050 with all detail maxed out and 4xAA and it really looks good. Gameplay seems to be more WoW than Age of Conan with the combat being more of the click to attack kind than the active combat style of Conan. I definitely want to spend some more time with Guild Wars and promply ordered the Complete Guild Wars collection which includes the original game plus all the additional campaign released so far (Factions, Nightfall and Eye of the North) all in one box. Another reason why I prefer Guild Wars over the others is of course that there are no monthly fees to play.

Are there any other good MMO’s that I am forgetting about? Yes there must be tons but I either don’t know about them or just haven’t tried them. For now I’ll spend some time with Guild Wars and see how it goes. Look me up in Guild Wars sometime.

Back again… aka I decided to get off my lazy butt.

Well its been like 9 months since I last posted here…scary. Ironically the last post was just after GTAIV was released and now the first DLC (The Lost and Damned) is out already! A lot has changed and happened since I last posted but instead of trying to catch up I’m just going to carry on as if I didn't take a very long break. I am hoping to make the updates a bit more frequent from now on but we’ll see how it goes. I have recently (finally) upgraded my pc so I suspect I’ll be posting about pc gaming a bit more as well. I still don’t own a PS3 or Wii though but that's not going to stop me from posting about them though. I also set up a Twitter feed for this blog now so even if I’m not posting here you will probably see some Twitter updates coming though. See you soon.