So, Marvel Heroes.
Not heaps to the story of this one, save that they went with their go-to guy Doctor Doom as the main villain. Not that there aren't plenty of other villains along the way. Free-to-play, so most of my complaints should be offset by the fact that not only did I not pay for it, but the developer is still working on the game. Seems to me that there are plenty of people paying for characters and costumes. Characters are unlocked with rare item drops, so you could effectively play the game totally free. Plus, this game does right what DC Universe Online got wrong - namely, you play as the famous (some not so famous) heroes from the comics.
Gameplay - much like Diablo, but with Wolverine and The Punisher. Isometric view and randomised dungeons crawling with enemies and the occasional boss enemy. Loot grinding is the name of the game here. Random maps, random loot, level up and keep going. Most games try to hide the fact that you're really doing a simple repetitive task, this one can't hide it. Click, click, click. Over and over. Just keep clicking. Then click some more. Story mode is fairly short and straight forward, that's where the repetition comes in - with daily challenges and of course levelling up your other characters. Or if you really really want to, you can reset the story and play it again.
The microtransactions I can forgive - free-to-play after all - it's that the in game currency is so hard to come by. You can sell your loot, obviously, but in order for the vendors and crafters to have better stuff available you need to donate you gear to them in order to level them up. That takes a loooooooooooong time. I've racked up over 50 hours playtime, and I've got the crafting vendor to rank 10 (of 20). Other vendors nowhere near that high, and the most suckiest thing about it, is that the crafters require components and credits and they demand a HUGE PILE OF MONEY just to put a fairly ineffective low grade randomised buff to your costume. That's just ridiculous - play the game and you'll soon see what I mean. 150000 credits for a grade 4 affix. Even the 25000 needed for a grade 3 is too much of an ask, because instead of selling your loot, you'll need to donate it in order to have access to the upgrades.
What I liked: I like the simple clicking gameplay - provided I'm in the right mood. The character personalities are fleshed out with random banter based on other nearby characters, or combat taunts and whatnot.
What I didn't like: In game currency, just so poorly handled. Maybe they'll fix it, since they seem to be interested in feedback. They are also apparently into updating the balance issues you come across while playing. They've already patched a few times and it's only been out for a few weeks. Also, the free-to-play model only has a few characters to select from at the start - and whichever one you pick, that will be your only character for a while. I did receive a new character token fairly early on, but I'm not sure if that's the standard or not. At least Daredevil was one of the free characters, the others were not some of my favourites (I'm looking at you, Hawkeye).
Play or not, I don't think I'm that persuasive a writer. If you try it free, at least you've only spent time instead of money. Unless you like it, then you can go nuts if you want.
Thursday, 4 July 2013
Tuesday, 2 July 2013
Dunno
Things might change, I could be back on course for this whole world domination thing - Adsense is actually trying to review my blog instead of just carrying on about "copyright material". Also, still have some ideas for a few posts, they just won't be very current. Although I've been mucking around in Marvel Heroes and might have some nice things to say... Give me a day or two (which is rather absurd, as I have nothing but time on my hands at the moment).
Thursday, 27 June 2013
Just plain dead
A quick word about the new Deadpool game. Don't buy it, because it's a game you don't want to play. You'll endlessly repeat sections and boss fights because all that tactics that the game teaches you will fail to save you from hordes of enemies with automatic weapons. The aim feature of guns actually centres on the chest and keeps pulling back there, making headshots difficult. Most of the melee enemies will block your attacks and you have to wait to counter their attacks before being able to retaliate. They want you to build up long combos, but you can't try to pay attention to the combo meter because the action is too hectic.
Despite its being relatively cheap on Steam, I'd still say stay away from it. Watch a video of someone else playing it, because as far as I'm concerned, it would be better watching than playing. It's absolutely hilarious, until things go against you, which they always will.
ADDITIONAL
Just to elaborate slightly - the writing, humour and performances in this game are great, spot on for the character. It's just that the game gets far too frustrating to play, and I'm not even playing on hard. If playing on easy is the only way to enjoy playing the game, sorry guys that isn't proper as far as I'm concerned. Maybe I just suck at it, but I don't think it's just me. If you think you can handle the irritation - go right ahead and try it. I wrote the original post just after a rage quit, but the point still stands - the game has an artificial difficulty made by swarms of enemies. The controls are kind of awkward as well, the original "use" key was U, that's just wrong. There was something of a focus on the melee and it looks fine, handles OK, but it's when you're dealing with melee enemies while also being shredded by gunfire that the game gets annoying. And Deadpool's healing factor doesn't kick in until a few seconds after you stop taking damage, so if you've got nowhere to hide, you're screwed.
ADDITIONAL ADDITIONAL
Seems that the fight causing me the most frustration (took nearly an hour to do, retried about 25 times) was actually the prelude to the final boss fight - which was actually less frustrating than the build up. Now my other complaint is that the game is fairly short. Since it might technically be classed as a budget game ($29.99 on Steam) I suppose there is a little less to complain about, except that now I know how annoying it would be to play on hard. I think all my points here still stand, which is why I haven't retracted them. Hilarious, but frustrating.
Despite its being relatively cheap on Steam, I'd still say stay away from it. Watch a video of someone else playing it, because as far as I'm concerned, it would be better watching than playing. It's absolutely hilarious, until things go against you, which they always will.
ADDITIONAL
Just to elaborate slightly - the writing, humour and performances in this game are great, spot on for the character. It's just that the game gets far too frustrating to play, and I'm not even playing on hard. If playing on easy is the only way to enjoy playing the game, sorry guys that isn't proper as far as I'm concerned. Maybe I just suck at it, but I don't think it's just me. If you think you can handle the irritation - go right ahead and try it. I wrote the original post just after a rage quit, but the point still stands - the game has an artificial difficulty made by swarms of enemies. The controls are kind of awkward as well, the original "use" key was U, that's just wrong. There was something of a focus on the melee and it looks fine, handles OK, but it's when you're dealing with melee enemies while also being shredded by gunfire that the game gets annoying. And Deadpool's healing factor doesn't kick in until a few seconds after you stop taking damage, so if you've got nowhere to hide, you're screwed.
ADDITIONAL ADDITIONAL
Seems that the fight causing me the most frustration (took nearly an hour to do, retried about 25 times) was actually the prelude to the final boss fight - which was actually less frustrating than the build up. Now my other complaint is that the game is fairly short. Since it might technically be classed as a budget game ($29.99 on Steam) I suppose there is a little less to complain about, except that now I know how annoying it would be to play on hard. I think all my points here still stand, which is why I haven't retracted them. Hilarious, but frustrating.
Wednesday, 19 June 2013
Awake
A short review of Alan Wake.
Short because it's not all that great and also because it's not a brand new game. Astute readers will have noticed that I discuss little of the story and here will do less so due to the fact that this game is all story. Well, mostly plot anyway. Big maps, nice scenery, but generally a straight line. Slight deviations for collectibles but despite some open looking areas, exploration is not really rewarded. You'll follow a path towards a pool of light, where you get a checkpoint save. Normally I hate checkpoint saves, but at least here you get plenty of them.
The game is really aiming for atmosphere, which it does well but still can't really frighten the player with much other than jump scares, though it has some creepy moments. But there is plenty of darkness and the game features an excellent lighting engine. Seriously guys, make Pitch Black into a game with this engine. As much as they touted the "light as a weapon" though, it's really "use light, then a weapon" most of the time. The light has to burn off shadow to make enemies vulnerable. Thematically this is somewhat coherent, but I really get the feeling that it was "I have this story in mind, and here's how we can make a game out of it". And I don't recall, but was this game released in episodes? Because it plays as episodes. This means that you start over fresh as far as weapons go, every time you have an episode break.
Combat just feels really jarring at times, even though it looks cool when you fire a flare gun (the game's super-weapon). Part of my issue with the combat is that the controls aren't always responsive; try to dodge and you get hit, dodge too much and you can't run away and jumping doesn't always happen. And enemies spawn all around you most of the time, so you'll be lighting up baddies in front and get hacked at from the side. What's weird though is that the camera is positioned so Wake is always running at an angle to the centre of the screen, but seems to back off a little when enemies are around.
What I like: The lighting is fantastic, the graphics in general are great and despite playing out mostly in darkness, this game features more colour than Tomb Raider did. I kind of like the story, but I definitely like the in-jokes and Max Payne references (Sam Lake is not above self-satire).
What I didn't like: The camera and controls. Combat. Huh, that's about it really, although combat makes up a fair amount of the game.
So far the Nightmare mode pages haven't been hard to find, but it doesn't really lend itself to repeats. I got it very cheaply, so a few (OK, several) moments of frustration during combat and occasionally falling off a ledge can be overlooked somewhat. And this came out about as long as my other game reviews, hmmm.
Short because it's not all that great and also because it's not a brand new game. Astute readers will have noticed that I discuss little of the story and here will do less so due to the fact that this game is all story. Well, mostly plot anyway. Big maps, nice scenery, but generally a straight line. Slight deviations for collectibles but despite some open looking areas, exploration is not really rewarded. You'll follow a path towards a pool of light, where you get a checkpoint save. Normally I hate checkpoint saves, but at least here you get plenty of them.
The game is really aiming for atmosphere, which it does well but still can't really frighten the player with much other than jump scares, though it has some creepy moments. But there is plenty of darkness and the game features an excellent lighting engine. Seriously guys, make Pitch Black into a game with this engine. As much as they touted the "light as a weapon" though, it's really "use light, then a weapon" most of the time. The light has to burn off shadow to make enemies vulnerable. Thematically this is somewhat coherent, but I really get the feeling that it was "I have this story in mind, and here's how we can make a game out of it". And I don't recall, but was this game released in episodes? Because it plays as episodes. This means that you start over fresh as far as weapons go, every time you have an episode break.
Combat just feels really jarring at times, even though it looks cool when you fire a flare gun (the game's super-weapon). Part of my issue with the combat is that the controls aren't always responsive; try to dodge and you get hit, dodge too much and you can't run away and jumping doesn't always happen. And enemies spawn all around you most of the time, so you'll be lighting up baddies in front and get hacked at from the side. What's weird though is that the camera is positioned so Wake is always running at an angle to the centre of the screen, but seems to back off a little when enemies are around.
What I like: The lighting is fantastic, the graphics in general are great and despite playing out mostly in darkness, this game features more colour than Tomb Raider did. I kind of like the story, but I definitely like the in-jokes and Max Payne references (Sam Lake is not above self-satire).
What I didn't like: The camera and controls. Combat. Huh, that's about it really, although combat makes up a fair amount of the game.
So far the Nightmare mode pages haven't been hard to find, but it doesn't really lend itself to repeats. I got it very cheaply, so a few (OK, several) moments of frustration during combat and occasionally falling off a ledge can be overlooked somewhat. And this came out about as long as my other game reviews, hmmm.
Friday, 7 June 2013
Who's counting?
I know I haven't posted for a few weeks, I'm sure you're all overwrought with anticipation of... who am I kidding?
Haven't really felt like writing. Still have things I could post about - made a little list and everything. Still have older games to talk about, other game related stuff. Just started playing Alan Wake so I might have something there - I like the Max Payne references so far. Deadpool is coming out in a few weeks, so I should have something there as well. Can't promise anything though, wait for me. Or don't, whichever is easier.
Haven't really felt like writing. Still have things I could post about - made a little list and everything. Still have older games to talk about, other game related stuff. Just started playing Alan Wake so I might have something there - I like the Max Payne references so far. Deadpool is coming out in a few weeks, so I should have something there as well. Can't promise anything though, wait for me. Or don't, whichever is easier.
Friday, 17 May 2013
Illusion of Choice
As something of a corollary to my Bioshock Infinite review (which I thought of updating but it really would be just to discuss this issue) I'd like to point out one of the great nuisances of its gameplay. The few "choices" you're presented with have either little or no impact of the outcome of the game. The pendant choice is purely cosmetic; not killing Slate has him show up in a prison cell later, eliciting a comment from Elizabeth; and a choice I'd forgotten - whether to draw on a ticket booth guy or let him stab you in the hand has the impact of some comment from Elizabeth followed by her bandaging the wound, or not if there is nothing to bandage. And it seems that if you are aggressive and harm unarmed, non-combatants, someone notices and offers you gear as a reward for your bloodlust.
That's it. Completely linear rail shooter of a game (with some literal rails) that offers choices that really have no impact. If anyone wants to complain about my complaint, let me put it this way: If the choices have no meaning, then don't bother putting them in there. If a game says it's a linear story game, I can deal with that. Giving me choices as if a second playthrough could lead to a different outcome only to leads to my disappointment. You want people to pay $80 for something that gives about 10 hours of fun? At least in other games there is lateral gameplay, such as "RPG" (to be discussed in a future post) like The Elder Scrolls series, which lets you do different things and play the game different ways. They're equally disappointing in terms of not really being able to change the outcome, but they're also relying on that lateral gameplay (not to mention lots of exploration) to extend the life of their games.
Bioshock Infinite is a straight line, and if it had been upfront about that, I wouldn't be as irritated as I am.
That's it. Completely linear rail shooter of a game (with some literal rails) that offers choices that really have no impact. If anyone wants to complain about my complaint, let me put it this way: If the choices have no meaning, then don't bother putting them in there. If a game says it's a linear story game, I can deal with that. Giving me choices as if a second playthrough could lead to a different outcome only to leads to my disappointment. You want people to pay $80 for something that gives about 10 hours of fun? At least in other games there is lateral gameplay, such as "RPG" (to be discussed in a future post) like The Elder Scrolls series, which lets you do different things and play the game different ways. They're equally disappointing in terms of not really being able to change the outcome, but they're also relying on that lateral gameplay (not to mention lots of exploration) to extend the life of their games.
Bioshock Infinite is a straight line, and if it had been upfront about that, I wouldn't be as irritated as I am.
Friday, 10 May 2013
Blah
I have nothing to talk about, this has been a very disappointing week, lots of inanity. Why I'm bothering to post about nothing bewilders me. Try harder world, be a better place.
Friday, 3 May 2013
Tomb Raiding (optional)
A review of the latest Tomb Raider game from Square Enix.
This is from the perspective of someone who has never played a Tomb Raider game, so I have no opinions on how this reflects on the series. I don't mind platform games, which I understand most of the series were, and there are elements of the platform style here, at least when it comes to moving around environments. However I find there to be a startling lack of depth in both the story and the gameplay.
So after being shipwrecked on a mysterious magic island (which is kind of Lara's fault since she's the one who led everyone there) we get to see the systematic breakdown of Lara's character. Everything gets taken away from her, friends, mentors and of course her humanity. Because after coming to terms with the need for survival (the overarching theme of the game) Lara fairly quickly becomes a mass murderer. That is not a joke. While there are attempts (at least early on) to show Lara struggling with her new found blood lust, she fairly quickly gets over it in the name of survival. I'm stressing the survival because the game uses this as an excuse for lots of violence. Technically all the bad guys are out to kill you and technically you could call it self-defence, but I don't think you can call it realistic to have your character kill a few hundred people and not come out as a stone cold psychopath.
General madness aside the game handles the motion of exploration and combat fairly well. Most of the time it's preferable to stealth kill so as to avoid enemies alerting the swarm of guys hanging around. Open combat is a little unusual in that it utilises a soft cover system - there's no "enter cover" button, but Lara will hunker down next to objects and pop out to aim. Of course you could try charging in, but you can die pretty quickly.
Speaking of quick, Quick Time Events are something you'll have to get used to. This is not handled very well because you can't always tell when they're going to appear and when they do, they can go by fast. So at least at the beginning, expect to see Lara die a few times while you sort out which buttons to push and when. Also there are button mashing episodes, which I'm sure everyone can't get enough of. I mention both of these because I find it annoying that in a game with a fairly decent control system for third-person movement also throws in the occasional button mash or QTE. At least in games that use heaps of QTE you know to expect them; here they just pop up at inconvenient moments.
As my review title suggests, most of the "tombs" you'll discover aren't the primary objective, which even for me makes the game title rather misleading, serving simply to tie it to the series despite being a prequel/reboot. Most of the plot is about the crazy cult inhabiting the island and an undead queen, so yes there is supernatural magic involved in this game which is ostensibly about archaeology.
What I like: The graphcis are good but very bland - mostly grey, even Lara's tank top is grey. I don't understand why everyone wants newer and better ways of rendering grey. Graphics have been pretty good for several years now, can you start focusing on something else? The controls are easy to use, movement is good and doesn't screw you over most of the time. The weapon modding/upgrading system is nice, letting you focus on your preferred weapon to save on "salvage".
What I didn't like: Button mashing, QTE, lacklustre visual style, lacklustre voice acting, lacklustre story. The open world exploration is also lacking in depth, all of the documents that give back-story only give fragments. I suppose they were going for suggestion of detail rather than having to come up with reams of text on the history of the island. Despite the open world, exploration is not really necessary and also not very rewarding unless you really want to get skill points and weapon upgrades.
This isn't a bad game, it's just rather bland. Not much about it stands out. It's also rather short, about 10-15 hours depending on how much exploring you do. Really though the exploration isn't necessary because if you focus on one weapon and the appropriate and related skills, you can just play through only picking up the relics and so on that you come across along that path. I haven't tried the multiplayer, so maybe that might add some longevity, but I'm not going to lose sleep over it. Buy it cheap and you shouldn't be disappointed.
MULTIPLAYER
So I've tried the multiplayer and I would suggest that you think long and hard about whether you enjoy being killed repeatedly. It seems wildly imbalanced towards higher level players since they have better weapons and abilities unlocked. Plus it's a bit jumpy so you may find yourself dying for no apparent reason because you have no idea where the enemy is. There are a few game modes but I found myself in team deathmatch most of the time, but at least when I saw another mode, people were going for the objectives rather than just kills. One saving grace is that one of the starting skills gives you more XP for kills, I guess it's to give a leg up to new players.
This is from the perspective of someone who has never played a Tomb Raider game, so I have no opinions on how this reflects on the series. I don't mind platform games, which I understand most of the series were, and there are elements of the platform style here, at least when it comes to moving around environments. However I find there to be a startling lack of depth in both the story and the gameplay.
So after being shipwrecked on a mysterious magic island (which is kind of Lara's fault since she's the one who led everyone there) we get to see the systematic breakdown of Lara's character. Everything gets taken away from her, friends, mentors and of course her humanity. Because after coming to terms with the need for survival (the overarching theme of the game) Lara fairly quickly becomes a mass murderer. That is not a joke. While there are attempts (at least early on) to show Lara struggling with her new found blood lust, she fairly quickly gets over it in the name of survival. I'm stressing the survival because the game uses this as an excuse for lots of violence. Technically all the bad guys are out to kill you and technically you could call it self-defence, but I don't think you can call it realistic to have your character kill a few hundred people and not come out as a stone cold psychopath.
General madness aside the game handles the motion of exploration and combat fairly well. Most of the time it's preferable to stealth kill so as to avoid enemies alerting the swarm of guys hanging around. Open combat is a little unusual in that it utilises a soft cover system - there's no "enter cover" button, but Lara will hunker down next to objects and pop out to aim. Of course you could try charging in, but you can die pretty quickly.
Speaking of quick, Quick Time Events are something you'll have to get used to. This is not handled very well because you can't always tell when they're going to appear and when they do, they can go by fast. So at least at the beginning, expect to see Lara die a few times while you sort out which buttons to push and when. Also there are button mashing episodes, which I'm sure everyone can't get enough of. I mention both of these because I find it annoying that in a game with a fairly decent control system for third-person movement also throws in the occasional button mash or QTE. At least in games that use heaps of QTE you know to expect them; here they just pop up at inconvenient moments.
As my review title suggests, most of the "tombs" you'll discover aren't the primary objective, which even for me makes the game title rather misleading, serving simply to tie it to the series despite being a prequel/reboot. Most of the plot is about the crazy cult inhabiting the island and an undead queen, so yes there is supernatural magic involved in this game which is ostensibly about archaeology.
What I like: The graphcis are good but very bland - mostly grey, even Lara's tank top is grey. I don't understand why everyone wants newer and better ways of rendering grey. Graphics have been pretty good for several years now, can you start focusing on something else? The controls are easy to use, movement is good and doesn't screw you over most of the time. The weapon modding/upgrading system is nice, letting you focus on your preferred weapon to save on "salvage".
What I didn't like: Button mashing, QTE, lacklustre visual style, lacklustre voice acting, lacklustre story. The open world exploration is also lacking in depth, all of the documents that give back-story only give fragments. I suppose they were going for suggestion of detail rather than having to come up with reams of text on the history of the island. Despite the open world, exploration is not really necessary and also not very rewarding unless you really want to get skill points and weapon upgrades.
This isn't a bad game, it's just rather bland. Not much about it stands out. It's also rather short, about 10-15 hours depending on how much exploring you do. Really though the exploration isn't necessary because if you focus on one weapon and the appropriate and related skills, you can just play through only picking up the relics and so on that you come across along that path. I haven't tried the multiplayer, so maybe that might add some longevity, but I'm not going to lose sleep over it. Buy it cheap and you shouldn't be disappointed.
MULTIPLAYER
So I've tried the multiplayer and I would suggest that you think long and hard about whether you enjoy being killed repeatedly. It seems wildly imbalanced towards higher level players since they have better weapons and abilities unlocked. Plus it's a bit jumpy so you may find yourself dying for no apparent reason because you have no idea where the enemy is. There are a few game modes but I found myself in team deathmatch most of the time, but at least when I saw another mode, people were going for the objectives rather than just kills. One saving grace is that one of the starting skills gives you more XP for kills, I guess it's to give a leg up to new players.
Sunday, 28 April 2013
Plus Days
I don't want to build the expectation that I will post every day, so I'm countering that by trying to avoid empty days...
I don't know, but I think that sounded very stupid, even to me and I'm the one that wrote it then decided to share that brain fart with the rest of the world. So anyone who actually reads this blog, don't expect daily posts, but I'll try for at least one larger post per week. The retards at Adsense seem to think that I'm hosting copyrighted material and preventing both myself and them from making money out of nothing. The most appropriate counterpoint to that would be for my blog to become quite heavily trafficked. It's not likely, and it would also be disappointing to not profit from such popularity.
Anyway, posting later, it seems I've got myself into something of a pattern of writing for here, let's see if I can keep it up.
I don't know, but I think that sounded very stupid, even to me and I'm the one that wrote it then decided to share that brain fart with the rest of the world. So anyone who actually reads this blog, don't expect daily posts, but I'll try for at least one larger post per week. The retards at Adsense seem to think that I'm hosting copyrighted material and preventing both myself and them from making money out of nothing. The most appropriate counterpoint to that would be for my blog to become quite heavily trafficked. It's not likely, and it would also be disappointing to not profit from such popularity.
Anyway, posting later, it seems I've got myself into something of a pattern of writing for here, let's see if I can keep it up.
Friday, 26 April 2013
Finite Shock
A Bioshock Infinite review, as will be obvious to anyone who continues to read this post...
Anyway, still figuring out how I'm going to format this thing, but given that it's going to be my opinion and impressions of the game, not a thorough description or recap of the plot.
Anyway, the opening has little in common with the majority of the game, although it does establish the Luteces and their confusing banter, which makes a little more sense towards the end of the game. While it's made very clear that you must succeed or face dire consequences, the most prevalent theme related to the player character (Booker DeWitt) is that of guilt over past actions. You don't find this out right away, rather your first experience is the whole " the South will rise again" attitude of the inhabitants of Columbia - which is a flying city held up by science-magic (quantum physics is the new magic, it seems). I initially thought (and was somewhat correct) that the theme of the game would be an examination of the cult of the USA, as "founding fathers" are worshipped by the locals. There is even a quote from the antagonist (Comstock) that "no animal is born free, except for the white man": subtlety in action. While this theme does carry through most of the game, it wanes in influence towards the later stages to make way for alternate realities and time travel. Like I said, science-magic.
Aside from this, most of the game is plot driven - go here, do this, go there, shoot things, run around, throw magic at people. Most of the game has you "escorting" Elizabeth, the girl you were sent to retrieve. I say "escorting" because you mainly follow her, she even runs faster than you do. And unlike the usual escort mission in games, Elizabeth is entirely immune to damage and enemies don't shoot at her. So in that regard, the game separates itself from the pack by not punishing you for failing to protect your companion. There is also a fair amount of self-awareness in the game, something of a hallmark of the series, that draws attention to the lack of real choices in the narrative. Highlighted in this case by the "infinite" in the title, there being infinite possibilities, but of course not displaying all of them to the player.
Speaking of choices, there were only a few here, unlike the previous titles which had a cumulative effect over the course of the game (which will be discussed in a different article I have planned). Your only choices are who to target at the raffle, which pendant to give to Elizabeth and whether or not you kill Slate after he requests it. Otherwise you really only choose how to engage in combat, whether to mainly use guns or vigours or some combination of the two, or to just swing your sky-hook around and carve people up. Having only played through once, I mainly focused on guns, which is done in a rather old-fashioned run-and-gun style most shooting games avoid these days, mainly because it's rather bland. But at least it's not some cover-based shooter that would be equally bland in gameplay. You're limited to only two guns at a time, and two active vigours, but at least you can always swap vigours around. This makes the weapon upgrade system a little useless, as you'll always need to pick up other weapons which may not have been upgraded. Either that or you can spend your money on ammo every chance you get. I didn't, but that's because I wanted to try the upgraded guns, and that costs a lot.
Well that covers story and gameplay, though not as thoroughly some readers might prefer. So I'll follow up with a simple "what I did/didn't like".
I liked the design, rather futuristic looking for 1912, but that was obviously intentional. Bright and colourful for the most part, getting darker as the game progresses, and eventually the nice looking city becomes cracked and ruined as revolution hits the streets. I liked the self-awareness, considering that most of the game is combat in various shooting galleries, the game introduces you to the combat controls by having you visit carnival shooting galleries. And the explicit reference to the previous Bioshock games was neat.
I didn't dislike much of the game, mainly just some little annoyances. It seems to be more linear than it's predecessors, which is saying something. And the few choices you can make have more obscured outcomes than the prior games as well. Even though I made a separate post about achievements, they have become somewhat integral to the way developers build their games - and here, the collection achievements bugged me because I thought I was quite thorough in my exploration, yet I failed to complete any collections. And I missed quicksaves the entire time I was playing this. Checkpoint saves on a PC game? Really?
Well there, not quite how I imagined the review might turn out, but the game wasn't quite how I imagined either. Perhaps it could have been more detailed, but I can't retain details of gameplay for all that long, so I'm left with impressions, which I have passed on here. Plenty of other places are discussing the game in more detail and laying out more of the plot/story. If you want the game ruined for you, go read them, of you want a recommendation, play the game, it's fun for the most part.
Anyway, still figuring out how I'm going to format this thing, but given that it's going to be my opinion and impressions of the game, not a thorough description or recap of the plot.
Anyway, the opening has little in common with the majority of the game, although it does establish the Luteces and their confusing banter, which makes a little more sense towards the end of the game. While it's made very clear that you must succeed or face dire consequences, the most prevalent theme related to the player character (Booker DeWitt) is that of guilt over past actions. You don't find this out right away, rather your first experience is the whole " the South will rise again" attitude of the inhabitants of Columbia - which is a flying city held up by science-magic (quantum physics is the new magic, it seems). I initially thought (and was somewhat correct) that the theme of the game would be an examination of the cult of the USA, as "founding fathers" are worshipped by the locals. There is even a quote from the antagonist (Comstock) that "no animal is born free, except for the white man": subtlety in action. While this theme does carry through most of the game, it wanes in influence towards the later stages to make way for alternate realities and time travel. Like I said, science-magic.
Aside from this, most of the game is plot driven - go here, do this, go there, shoot things, run around, throw magic at people. Most of the game has you "escorting" Elizabeth, the girl you were sent to retrieve. I say "escorting" because you mainly follow her, she even runs faster than you do. And unlike the usual escort mission in games, Elizabeth is entirely immune to damage and enemies don't shoot at her. So in that regard, the game separates itself from the pack by not punishing you for failing to protect your companion. There is also a fair amount of self-awareness in the game, something of a hallmark of the series, that draws attention to the lack of real choices in the narrative. Highlighted in this case by the "infinite" in the title, there being infinite possibilities, but of course not displaying all of them to the player.
Speaking of choices, there were only a few here, unlike the previous titles which had a cumulative effect over the course of the game (which will be discussed in a different article I have planned). Your only choices are who to target at the raffle, which pendant to give to Elizabeth and whether or not you kill Slate after he requests it. Otherwise you really only choose how to engage in combat, whether to mainly use guns or vigours or some combination of the two, or to just swing your sky-hook around and carve people up. Having only played through once, I mainly focused on guns, which is done in a rather old-fashioned run-and-gun style most shooting games avoid these days, mainly because it's rather bland. But at least it's not some cover-based shooter that would be equally bland in gameplay. You're limited to only two guns at a time, and two active vigours, but at least you can always swap vigours around. This makes the weapon upgrade system a little useless, as you'll always need to pick up other weapons which may not have been upgraded. Either that or you can spend your money on ammo every chance you get. I didn't, but that's because I wanted to try the upgraded guns, and that costs a lot.
Well that covers story and gameplay, though not as thoroughly some readers might prefer. So I'll follow up with a simple "what I did/didn't like".
I liked the design, rather futuristic looking for 1912, but that was obviously intentional. Bright and colourful for the most part, getting darker as the game progresses, and eventually the nice looking city becomes cracked and ruined as revolution hits the streets. I liked the self-awareness, considering that most of the game is combat in various shooting galleries, the game introduces you to the combat controls by having you visit carnival shooting galleries. And the explicit reference to the previous Bioshock games was neat.
I didn't dislike much of the game, mainly just some little annoyances. It seems to be more linear than it's predecessors, which is saying something. And the few choices you can make have more obscured outcomes than the prior games as well. Even though I made a separate post about achievements, they have become somewhat integral to the way developers build their games - and here, the collection achievements bugged me because I thought I was quite thorough in my exploration, yet I failed to complete any collections. And I missed quicksaves the entire time I was playing this. Checkpoint saves on a PC game? Really?
Well there, not quite how I imagined the review might turn out, but the game wasn't quite how I imagined either. Perhaps it could have been more detailed, but I can't retain details of gameplay for all that long, so I'm left with impressions, which I have passed on here. Plenty of other places are discussing the game in more detail and laying out more of the plot/story. If you want the game ruined for you, go read them, of you want a recommendation, play the game, it's fun for the most part.
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