I was pretty ambivalent about jumping into Age of Empires Online. I loved the first two games in the series, and I was on the fence about the third. But I had written off Age of Empires Online. Most of the press at launch was negative, tending to the word “grind”. If there’s one word to turn me off a game, it’s “grind”.
But then I actually played Age of Empires Online for about 16 hours. I’ve discovered four things to like.
After the jump, I get all listy with it. Continue reading →
I really like the Mass Effect 3 multiplayer, but you have to play with four players. Trust me. This is a lesson I learned the hard way.
Last Tuesday I stopped by Best Buy to pick up two copies of the game, one for me and another for my friend Chris. I walked in when the doors opened and asked the guy if they had a collector’s edition. He laughed in my face and told me I should have pre-ordered. I replied with “I had no idea this was Gamestop.” I hate that guy.
After the jump, saving the galaxy can get pricey. Continue reading →
On a moonlit night,
every thousand days,
the restless dead,
rise up to play.
They did not expect,
on this night though,
a fierce opponent,
of sauce, cheese and dough.
Thus begins the journey of pizza.
That’s probably the weirdest opening I’ve ever written, which fits because Pizza vs. Skeletons is one of the weirdest games I’ve ever played. Well, played and liked. I can think of several weirder, yet horrible, games.
After the jump, a culinary favorite declares war on the dead. Continue reading →
When I first discovered Minecraft, it was still pretty early on. Survival mode had been added but there weren’t a ton of monsters in the game yet. It resembled what the game has become, but it wasn’t nearly as advanced. I played around with it a bit and fell in love.
Whenever I find a game I love, one of the first things I do is introduce it to my wife Sarah. I love watching people play games. Watching someone play, the concentration on the action and the elation at success, is like a drug to me. However, before I introduce a game to Sarah, I go through my checklist of things that she likes. If I don’t, I end up with two copies of the same game sitting on my shelf.
After the jump, she likes it! Continue reading →
Every time I get into the groove of Kingdoms of Amalur, something shoves a stick in my spokes. Just wandering through the world and discovering new locations is a thrill. The game is littered with enemies to encounter and places to explore. The combat is exciting. All of these things go into making a successful game, but something isn’t right.
What’s missing, after the jump Continue reading →
Project Zomboid is a work-in-progress indie game based on the concept of impending doom. When you launch the game, it gives you the option of following a story or starting in sandbox mode. I’ll be playing in sandbox mode.
The character creation system is still early on in development, but has a few interesting bits. You can choose perks and drawbacks, as long as they balance out. You choose a profession. There are more professions coming, but for now you can pick from police, fireman, security guard and a handful of others.
After the jump, my name is Jason McMaster, I’m a security guard, and I’m about to die. Continue reading →
Many sites on the Internet have gone black. They are either shut down or somehow showing their protest for the SOPA and PIPA acts that our Congress is currently debating. If you haven’t done so, please take a moment to learn about what’s happening and how you can get involved.
The Old Republic has the same sense of morality that’s present in the other Bioware games. The choices you make often give you light or dark side points. These points are combined, light subtracting from dark, etc, to give you an overall score. For instance, Willy has 3,900 points towards the dark side because I have 250 light side points and 4,150 dark side points.
Morality has never been so easy!
After the jump, diplomatic immunity… revoked Continue reading →
Each day I wake up, put on my Sith dress and get ready for the party I’m about to crash. After scratching, yawning, and using the bathroom, it’s time to jump in the pilot’s seat and wreak some havoc. Space havoc. But first, I do my “I’m about to murder” dance (pictured above).
After the jump: space Continue reading →
In The Old Republic, there aren’t any big spooky caves full of monsters. Or hell, maybe there are and I haven’t seen them yet. I’m cave-free at the moment. Instead, in this game, there are flashpoints. Which sound suspiciously like flash mobs, but with less dancing. Note that I said “less”.
After the jump: the neutron dance Continue reading →
The first group of levels in the Old Republic is what you’d expect from an MMO: familiarization and training. To that end, instead of discussing the academy in depth, I’m going to show you a letter my character wrote to his parents towards the end of his stay on Korriban.
After the jump, the epistle Continue reading →
When it comes down to video game morality choices, I usually skew towards the bad guys. Not because I’m the kind of guy that wants to go on a killing spree, but because I like the freedom evil affords. If someone is a dick to you and you’re a good guy, you usually turn the other cheek. A Sith will stab you in the face. Which would you prefer to deal with?
After the jump, you’re going to deal with the Sith face stabbing Continue reading →
Valve has opened the Defense of the Ancients 2 beta to some players. Such as yours truly. So what makes DOTA2 stand out?
1) DOTA2 has a lot of personality. Valve knows how to inject life into a game with dialog. During a round of DOTA2, the characters will have little conversations and will sometimes quip back and forth. When Windrunner dies, a red headed archer, she whispers in her dying breath “Why do you hate gingers… so?“. I smiled the first time I heard that.
2) Until I played DOTA2, I wasn’t a huge fan of the less cartoony graphics. I really liked League of Legends’ graphics for being colorful enough that it’s easy to distinguish what’s happening in team fights. But the effects in DOTA2 are unique and interesting enough that I can still distinguish what’s happening in team fights. In fact, the effects for the spells are really cool.
3) I’m a big fan of bots. I want to be able to practice an online game offline. For a few reasons, not the least of which is avoiding embarrassment, I want to try new characters in private. To that end, the DOTA2 bots are pretty good. Well, the enemy bots are pretty good. The bots on your team work together, but they basically ignore you and what you’re doing. In a way, this improved my play faster than it would have if they were supportive. Hell, it might as well be simulating a pub game, so it’s still a win.
Next up: The parts of Defense of the Ancients 2 that have me on the fence.
Bethesda games are, traditionally, buggy at release. After release as well. When something weird starts happening in an Elder Scrolls game, I take it with a grain of salt. This behavior can be intended, but often enough the game’s quirky behavior is thanks to a bug. I’ve played through all of the main Elder Scrolls games, so I think of myself as a junior problem solver when it comes to wacky AI scripting (pictured).
But last night, something happened that shook me to my bug-squashing core.
After the jump, I meet Farkas. Continue reading →
I’m surrounded by beautiful terrain. A brook babbles idly as I stalk through the bush. I’ve been following this party of Imperials for the last half mile. They have a Stormcloak captive that is, most likely, bound for a rather unpleasant evening. I was in that same place not too long ago and I can’t let a fellow rebel meet that fate.
I’m a few dozen yards away from my prey. I can almost taste their acrid clothing, coated with days of road dirt and hardship. The prisoner stumbles, prompting the guards to halt. I’m close enough now to hear them speak. Oh my God, what the hell is that?
I’m no longer in the woods; I’m in my living room. The illusion is completely gone. When the guard opened his mouth, it sounded like Arnold Schwarzenegger’s “slow” cousin. We went from Patrick Stewart to this?
Now that’s not to say the entire game is voiced poorly, it isn’t, but there are quite a few moments that range from odd to flat out laughable. I suppose this next bit could be considered a spoiler, but it’s a spoiler in the same way that saying there’s a Thieves Guild in the Elder Scrolls games. The leader of the Thieves Guild in this game sounds like he suffers from an angry version of VI.
That being said, Skyrim is on my short list for Game of the Year. Thank God it does just about everything else right.
