Dwarf Fortress is an independently made game by Bay 12 Games, and is currently in Alpha. Because of this, please take the graphics, UI, and sound reviews with a grain of salt. However, it is unlikely this game will ever be finished, which is why this may also be considered a review.

Review done during v0.28.181.40d.

Dwarf Fortress

What do you get when you mix ASCII graphics, short, angry people, a complex system that allows you to construct entire towers made completely out of fat, and a user interface so unintuitive it’s like pushing the fat kid into a pool of molasses? You get the sadistically awesome game known as Dwarf Fortress.

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Above: What we played.

The release of Age of Conan was hugely successful. Many turned out to buy what was to be a revolutionary MMORPG. The combat system alone was to bring the genre out of the rut it had gotten into, and make it a far more active experience. It was also to be the best PvP focused MMORPG since Dark Age of Camelot, with an active risk/reward system giving out the best gear in the entire game.

The sun looked bright around release, shining on the release of AoC and blessing it with a record breaking amount of pre-orders. It was hyped to not only match WoW, but beat it into the ground, I even gave into it against my better judgement and bought it at launch. Alas, we all should have known better.

The first sign that all was not well on the good ship Conan was probably the somewhat significant cut of DirectX10 features from the game. Graphically AoC was set to be a beast, only bested visually by games such as Crysis.

Above: What we expected.

The cut of DirectX10 features showed that this was not the case, and set in some fears as to whether FunCom could handle even DirectX9 graphics smoothly. At release these fears were not allayed in the slightest, with many players left with abominable performance on otherwise brilliant cards; memory leaks were discovered left right and center, and patch after patch seemed to only generate more issues among those who were originally able to play. Content post level 50 was reportedly unfinished, which was a crucial issue, considering the leveling speed was comparatively fast as opposed to other MMORPGs. The omens didn’t look good for the future.

Above: What we actually got.

FunCom continued to make promises, after the first month was over very few of those original players remained, and the community at large took a wait-and-see approach. Could FunCom bail out their boat in time? Or would it just sink like many began to predict.

It’s December now, so what have they done? They’ve had 6 months to patch the leaks, and attempted to make us all believe that November is the new July. For one, their PvP system seems to finally be implemented in full. A few tweaks are probably necessary as is with any major patch to any game, but at least the main draw of the game is now actually existent. A whole new level 80 area, Ymir’s Pass, has been brought back from the box of cut-content and fleshed out into a real zone for end game players looking for a fresh new alternative.

Above: Ymir

FunCom mysteriously seem to have managed all of the class boards to contain the same amount of whining, which is the closest thing to actual MMORPG balance, so they are actually making an attempt to please the fans.

An expansion is already announced to be in the works, and DirectX10 is reported to be in the finalising stages before it is pushed out onto the public beta servers. So perhaps by February, it will be July.

A new pack was just slipped into Tuesday’s release: a Foo Fighters triple shot, to complement the entire The Colour and the Shape album released last month.

December 23, 2008 (360/PS3)

Foo Fighters Pack 01 ($5.49 / 440 MSP or $2 / 160 MDP each)

• DOA
• Times Like These
• This Is a Call

Videos after the break.
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My bad for missing last week. It was a country music 5-pack, and between finals and country music being, well, country music, I wasn’t eager to write an in-depth analysis. Feel free to check out the songs’ info on the Master Song List.

December 23, 2008 (360/PS3)

Rockin’ the Holidays 2008 ($3 / 240 MSP or $1 / 80 MSP each)

• Barenaked Ladies – Hanukkah Blessings
• Billy Squier – Christmas is the Time to Say I Love You
• The Pretenders – Blue Christmas

Song info after the break.
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Recently, Atlas launched a beta of their first attempt in the growing field of online games, with the help of Aria Entertainment, which puts out various free online games. Imagine Online also comes with no subscription cost required, though it’s unsure if additional services will be available that will have a fee or not.

Imagine Online is unique in one way, because it’s actually not a WoW ripoff, as many other developers have attempted to do in the past (see Lord of the Rings Online and Warhammer). Players have almost complete free reign over how they want to progress their character. If you want to be a physical type, then you’ll need to use those kinds of attacks to skill up, and unlock new skills. Want to be a caster? Then you’ll want to use spells a lot. Want to specialize in demon recruitment? Well, there’s a skill tree for that as well. The level of customization in regards to player type is very high.

The game also keeps true to Megaten tradition. Players have the ability to recruit their very own demons, and can work with them either alone, or with other players and their own demons. The game also keeps a strong emphasis on exploiting weaknesses, and if you’re using a demon that uses spells that another is resistant to, you’ll end up taking a dirt nap quickly. The level of difficulty is higher than that of many other MMOs out there, and the learning curve is equally high. Thankfully, there’s a training area you can go to shortly after the beginning events to hone your skills.

The game looks to be coming along nicely, though some things, such as players attacking demons you’re trying to recruit, are annoyances that should hopefully be addressed soon. Players looking for something different, along with Megaten fans, will want to keep an eye out on this one.

Imagine retains numerous aspects from the Megaten series, including the Cathedral of Shadows, where demon fusion takes place.

Many different creatures from mythology are available in Imagine.

I do enjoy a good bit of classic-style gameplay, and anything reminiscent to a 2D Puzzle/Platformer is just aces to me:

Those mystical backgrounds send my heart aflutter. Frozenbyte appears to be some small-time developer, with a library you can count on two fingers, and their publisher’s track record seems to be just as . . . juvenile. Nevertheless, I am all for young, upstart developers going for their one chance to break into the industry, and this looks like a title to watch out for.

Looks like it’ll be up for grabs in Q2 of ‘09. It’s the wait that kills me.

December 9, 2008 (360) / December 11, 2008 (PS3)

No Doubt – The Singles 1992-2003 (album) ($20 / 1600 MSP)

1. Just a Girl
2. It’s My Life
3. Hey Baby
4. Bathwater
5. Sunday Morning
6. Hella Good
7. Underneath It All
8. Excuse Me Mr.
9. Running
10. Spiderwebs
11. Simple Kind of Life
12. Don’t Speak
13. Ex-Girlfriend

Videos, difficulty tiers, and more information after the break.

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If you’ve got a Sony Playstation 3, then chances are you’ve snapped up Naughty Dog’s platformer-slash-cover shooter, Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune. While it didn’t exactly wow over critics with its gameplay mechanics that had obviously been inspired from quite a number of other IPs, it definitely made waves with its stellar presentation, poloygon-crunching graphics and superb voice acting ( which made Nate and his associates quite the memorable crew). Now, we get wind of its sequel, Uncharted 2: Among Thieves, via the cover of GameInformer’s upcoming issue.

In their website, GameInformer teases the reveal-all article by letting slip a few details about the sequel: the game will revolve around the exploits of Marco Polo this time around. The game will also feature a new free-climbing mechanic to set itself apart from its predecessor, as well as stealth sections that will probably have Drake sneaking around to avoid enemy encounters.

Stealth gameplay? Free CLIMBING? I’m sorry, Naughty Dog, but since when was blatant imitation and thoughtless copying part of the deal? And in this day and age of dry humor, witty one-liners and shooters that utilize cover effectively? You had a market with Crash Bandicoot, hell, you had a HUGE following, and that series of PlayStation One games have gone on to have legendary gameplay that rivals that of Mario and Sonic. The videogame world considered HIM as a viable rival for those two icons. You’ve got a market for people who want something different, and yet you churn out more of the same. Not just more of the same, but literally regurgitated and recycled material. We don’t blame you for trying something new, but if you just thought for a second about how Free Climbing was done already effectively by Assassin’s Creed and stealth gameplay is but one of gaming’s most tired (and most annoying) cliches, then you’d have thought twice about putting them in as key draws for your game. Your game of mishmash gameplay mechanics from other games that do them better and had done them BEFORE.

I’ve played the first Uncharted and I had fun with it, but even with graphics whore glasses on I still couldn’t shake the feeling that I’ve done it all before. Sure, you’ll say that other games do mimic other games’ key features but at the very least they tried damn well to be original.

Bring back Crash, you immensely unoriginal pollocks.

I watched the Ghostbusters: The VideoGame Atari Live trailer.

There are no words.

Discounted tracks for Thanksgiving! A significant DLC milestone is reached next week, too. Read on to learn more.

December 2, 2008 (360) / December 4, 2008 (PS3)

Singles ($0.99 / 80 MSP each)

• Children of Bodom – Are You Dead Yet?
• Finley – Tutto È Possibile
• Platero y Tú – Hay Poco Rock N Roll
• Squeeze – Tempted
• Tokio Hotel – Ready, Set, Go!
• The All-American Rejects – Real World
• The Naked Brothers Band – Body I Occupy
• The Naked Brothers Band – I Don’t Want To Go To School

Singles (Free)

• Miranda Cosgrove – Headphones On

More info on all of these tracks, and this week’s milestone, after the break.

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