While Sony has made several blunders in the current gen console war one of the biggest was allowing Call of Duty 4 to go multi-platform. The game has become such a runaway success that it could have single-handedly changed the face of the war as we know it. Perhaps equally as big was allowing Grand Theft Auto 4 to go multi-platform. Although the game sold about 45/55%  on the PS3 and Xbox 360 respectively, there are rumblings that the next installment in the GTA series may become a Playstation exclusive by default.

Wait, what the hell are you talking about?

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Tired of killing creatures such as goblins, elves, druids, etc.? Then do I have a game for you. Fallout 2 is a game that’s totally revolutionary; with a post apocalyptic world, violence, and a lot of side quests.There’s an infinite amount of things to do in this game, which will make you want to play through it several times.
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Now I’m going to take you back in time –  12 years to be exact — to the year 1997. The company in focus is Blizzard Entertainment. Blizzard at this point in time was fairly new to the game creation scene, and I’m sure many of you may remember such titles as The Lost Vikings, Rock and Roll Racing, or the PC strategy game Warcraft: Orcs and Humans. To say the least, they were still in the infancy stages.

When Blizzard went to make Diablo, they had hired Condor Games in 1995 (give or take) to do the job for them. Eventually in 1996 they had acquired them, and Condor games became known as Blizzard North; all the while they kept toiling away, creating a game that would be a great hit. Let’s fast forward to the game; I’ll save the Blizzard Entertainment History Lesson for later.
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Preface

Everyone has an opinion. There’s a rude saying that compares opinions to a part of the human anatomy that practically says one’s opinion is worthless. So why read any reviews? If you’re not a terrible cynic you may be able to pore through a handful of reviews, develop and understanding for what sort of lens the reviewer sees games with and define some sort of truth from the fluffy words of praise or harsh criticisms that would have no tangible value.

You might be thinking, “Get to the review already!” or “Stop wasting my time and give me your score!” but without a preface you may not understand the “lens” I see games through and how to get what you need from my opinions. If you really can’t stomach anymore though feel free to jump ahead and read the review.
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Platform games have always been around, from Super Mario Brothers, to Banjo-Kazooie, to Portal, to Mirror’s Edge.  These games are great and all, but those titles are adventure platforming, not just pure platforming (except for maybe Super Mario Brothers). Most titles that offer platforming only use it as a means to base gameplay, often offering similar challenges and repetitions. Well platformers now are not as popular, but throughout the last few years, there has been one title that resorted my faith in platforming games. That title? N, just N.

N is an indie computer game developed by Metanet Software. It’s 100% free, and for a free game, it packs a hell of a lot of content. The levels are each unique and challenging and what I truley love about this title is that it’s just pure platforming. No storyline, no background story, no cutscenes, no bullshit. Just pure running and jumping.

So you play a ninja, or ninja shaped man-person, and your goal is to get to the exit door. Sounds easy enough right? Well now throw in some switches and buttons and some frustrating enemies, and hey, you have N. The enemies are very well designed, and well suited for each level, and the challenge each enemy offers is unique and often times frustrating. You have: Automated Robots, Lock-on Robots, Lock-on Missiles, Targeting Lasers, Snipers, Steel Thwomps, and Sliding Rocks. All of these can kill you, and you can’t do a damn thing about it except dodge and run. That’s what makes N unique from other platforming games, in most games you have the option to eliminate enemies, in N you must run to survive. Oh yeah, don’t forget the landmines, sit there waiting for you to fall or jump into them.
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Once upon a time, I saw a friend playing F.E.A.R. on the Xbox, and I remember thinking “This is kind of creepy”, of course I was a couple years younger at that time. Here comes F.E.A.R. 2, and I decide to go out and get the first one so I can play the second one right after it. So after playing the game fully through, here’s what I have to say about it.

F.E.A.R. is in fact not a horror game, but a first person shooter with paranormal and horrific undertones, you’ll run into the occasional freaky occurrence here and there but it’s more shooter than anything else. That being said, the game is still pretty creepy with random occurrences of ghosts or demons popping up and voices being heard. However you don’t feel this creepiness throughout the game, actually when you are in combat, you feel none of it, the paranoia becomes fun for a while.

The scariest or creepiest parts of F.E.A.R. lie completely in the sounds, and the lighting. Even when you are not in combat there is intensive music playing, and often you’ll find yourself jumping at bit at sounds of yourself moving and sounds of the environment. There were many times throughout F.E.A.R. when I jumped because of my own shadow, it’s unnerving. (continue reading…)

Moving at the speed of the internet, a video leaked to youtube with a trailer for Dead Rising 2 has prompted Capcom to confirm that there is a second Dead Rising game in the works and that it will be on the XBox 360, PS3 and the PC! You can see the aforementioned video here

This time around it looks like the protagonist is clearly not Frank West, but some similarly strong chinned man that fancies matching his hair with his sporty bike jacket. The zombie infested mall sandbox has been given a theme swap and now puts the player in some sort of luxury resort casino called Fortune City.

Dead Rising was developed and distributed by Capcom, Dead Rising 2 will still be distributed by Capcom but developed by Blue Castle Games, a developer that until now has only made a few sports games. As with all fast breaking news, details are still scarce but when it’s considered that the first Dead Rising has established a fan base and Dead Rising 2 will be multi-platform there’s little reason, other than Blue Castle Games’ repertoire, that it won’t play or sell well.

When I read this blog, I was astonished. I couldn’t believe what I just read. I completely disagree with the aforemented blog, and here’s why.

First of all, what do these casual games have anything to do with us ‘real’ gamers? Veraliis suggests that for some reason gaming becomes less fun because his grandmother is playing Peggle. Really, I don’t care at all. If I play a game because of my e-peen, I’ll at least compare myself to others that play the same game, not people that are playing an entirely different game.

Secondly, it’s not like there are suddenly less real games coming out because of these casual games. Almost all developers that make these games are new to the market. There are almost no renowned developers making flash games or easy downloadable games, unless they have already been doing so from the start (PopCap, for example). Most developers that make these kinds of games are new to the market, just looking to make a couple of bucks and using video games as a medium. These are honestly not interested in video gaming, but just see it as a business. They will never make real games, and will continue to pump out bad games until they stop making a profit.

So Veraliis, could you please tell me how casual games are destroying the PC? It’s the medium that’s probably suffering the least from the fad of casual games. Other systems suffer from renowned developers, like Ubisoft, making bad minigame collections or amazing Imagine games. Have you ever looked at the shelves of the Wii in a game store? At least 50% of it is pure, unfiltered crap. And do you know why? Because the Wii hasn’t got a download service for new games. You can just download your crappy games from the internet on your PC, but for the Wii you have to buy them.

The flood of casual games can be annoying, yeah. But it’s never more than a minor nuisance. The PC definitely isn’t dying because of this.

Many people constantly argue over gaming: “Hey, do you think that you could beat me at Team Fortress 2?”, “I can beat the crap out of you in CoD4″, or my favorite, “COME ON LOSER! I WILL DESTROY YOUR LIFE!!!” The last one wasn’t so much arguing as it was trash talk, but you get my point (or not. You rebel.). One topic I always have fun looking at is one that has been around since I can remember: PC gaming VS. Console gaming. You may be thinking, “Why is this loser wasting his time, my 360 is awesome brah.” Personally, I think that the whole argument is stupid. Either way, you get your games, and both options are viable choices, so who cares? Seriously, time wasted on arguments is time you could spend playing the games. I am not going to post the differences and post my opinion, but, I just want to point out the pros and cons of each choice.
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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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