Here there be Dragons

The fifth installment in the Elder Scrolls series is out this coming month. I did not enjoy my first (albeit brief) adventure into the realm with Morrowind - becoming frustrated almost immediately with the necessity to walk everywhere. Little did I know that later you would have the ability to fly and so on - to make the slow transportation more bearable. That would have been 2004. When Oblivion was released on 360 in 2006 I was admittedly intrigued but wary as I had been burnt its over-hyped predecessor. I watched alot of videos and read some reviews and realised that the issues that I had with the previous game were something that would not be an issue for me with this installment. So I picked it up.

I spent at least half an hour crafting my character, the decision of race was not particularly difficult (Dark Elf), and went on to refine his features for a time. Playing through the intro was fine (although grating on subsequent play-throughs), once outside I was amazed by the landscape - the mountains, lake and wildlife. I wandered the exterior walls of the city until I found an entrance. However, I did not enter said city because I was rather distracted by the open world environment that I had not truly experienced at this stage in gaming. So in what would become quite a common activity in the game for my character, I stole a horse from the stables and headed off into the world.

That was my first few hours of gameplay - exploring the world (at a pace quicker than walking) and marveling at the technology and sheer scale of what Bethesda had created. Ironically I would go on to do all missions on horseback, riding from city to city - rather than making use of the quick travel option which was available for the majority of quests. I never did finish the main quest, feeling as though I was doing it too quickly I drifted off onto the Arena and various guilds. Then other games were released, and at a later stage - my save file corrupted and I simply did not (do not) have the patience to put in the 140 odd hours I had up to that point.

So let me swing this around a bit, in more of a Skyrim direction..

Since Oblivion I have enjoyed a number of open-world and sandbox games, all of which I attack with a similar attitude - right into at the start and then inevitably a new game comes out that steals my attention and as a result I neglect the initial game... If the story is one that has grabbed me I will come back to it, or if I particularly enjoy it. GTA4 and Red Dead Redemption are examples of sandbox games that I loved so much that I hammered through the game with few interruptions. Borderlands, Fallout 3 and Fable 3 failed to grab me in the way that these others did, more often than not the menu system of Fallout frustrated the hell out of me when searching for something very straightforward in my inventory... So there's that.

From appearance some of the issues that I had with Oblivion may not be raised again in Skyrim. My style of gameplay generally revolves around stealth (where possible) and full out charging in and more often than not, rapidly becoming rather... dead. Two opposing styles of gameplay, and when magic is involved I tend towards stealth (invisibility etc), stunning (ice/electricity) and some healing/telekinisis. I have made a promise to myself that other than the dragon shouts I'm not going to use magic on my first play though. Sure that is going to make it a difficult experience, but the character I am going for is more of a hunter/ranger. Think Aragorn in Lord of the Rings. Can do both archery & close up. Based off the gameplay footage; the dual wielding combo's and the increased focus on specialist gameplay will hopefully bring a whole new level to the experience.

I have yet to decide on what race I will play as but would hazard a guess that my character creation this time round could take an hour or so.. Still leaning towards something elfish (probably dark elf again) but the viking-like characters could also be an option. Either way the character-creation will inevitably result in a a character that resembles a somewhat idealised version of myself.

That's usually how it goes anyway...

Full of the (un)Dead

Cinematic trailer for the upcoming Dead Island game was released today. It sets a tone which, if successfully translated into gameplay, will certainly develop the best zombie video game on the market. The zombie genre in video games is not over populated yet but soon will be with the success of the recent 'The Walking Dead' television series spurring developers into action. We already have our arcade-style shooters like House of the Dead and even Resident Evil to a certain extent. With these we also have more extravagant products such as the Left 4 Dead and Dead Rising series. Dead Rising is a personal favourite of mine, the crowd dynamics were mind blowing for an early release back in '06. Recently we have the add-on for Red Dead Redemption titled 'Undead Nightmare'. RDR allows players to re-enter the Wild West and this time take on hordes of undead. Dead Island represents a significant step forward; presenting a similar experience to RDR in the sense that it provides us with a sandbox in which to hunt and inevitably be hunted by hordes of the living dead.

The real seller is the 4 player co-op - if this game turns out to be FarCry/Fallout with zombies and 3 mates to play with, it will be a dream. Sandbox games are lacking in multiplayer, specifically co-op functionality. This Dead Island could rapidly become the top zombie game in recent history if it pulls of what is promised and has a decent story. Another nice touch would be if there were a finite number of occupants to this 'island paradise'. That would blow the audience's collective minds.

Fifteen*5

Yeah that's right. You saw what you saw! Space battles in Halo: Reach. I was suprised when this appeared in the Halo: Reach E3 2010 Trailer. Stands to reason that Bungie would pull out something magestic (more so than what had already been announced/released) for their 'final' Halo game. Can't wait.

I will be doing a full E3 post once it's complete.

ODST.

Earlier this week meant the arrival of yet another Halo game, Halo 3: ODST - which has grown from its humble beginnings as an expansion to a full-blown game. My interest in the Halo universe has dwindled since the release of Halo 3 and with the exception of the past few weeks i doubt that i have even touched it in roughly a year. Halo Wars came and went unnoticed, only playing my brother's copy for half an hour or so.

So i wasn't too excited about ODST. Yes i had preordered it and looked into the previews, but there was no real anticipation or excitement towards the new game. I actually played Halo 3 on Live a fair bit over the weekend which actually assisted in raising some enthusiasm for this new game. Early reviews spoke of how disappointed they were in the fact that the campaign only lasted 4 - 6 hours on average. Perhaps reviewers should actually go through and play the game on Legendary and take the time to wander around the streets of New Mombassa and explore the content as much as possible.

Personally I have found the game incredibly enjoyable. The game is actually more difficult and far closer to the original Halo as opposed to Halo 2 or 3, in which you so ridiculously overpowered that you cruised through the game without a second thought that you may actually die if you try and take on those 10 guys by pistol whipping them to death. Speaking of pistols, it is nice to see the pistol back in a capacity that makes it my go-to weapon once again. As we all know Halo 1's pistol was incredible. Ridiculously overpowered, but still fantastic. After realising how ridiculous it was Bungie dumbed it down to the point that it was not usable (except in desperation). So that was a thrill, as was Nathan Fillion, Adam Baldwin and Alan Tyduk voicing 3 members of your squad (being a Firefly/Chuck/Castle fan it is glorious). I was suprised to see that Fillion's character was actually modelled after himself, especially since Adam Baldwin did not appear as himself.


There is alot to adjust to in the game, such as Hunters finally providing the challenge that i feel they were always supposed to. No Battle Rifle, no bubble shields (etc) and the inability to take over Wraiths and Banshee's after boarding. These seemed like steps backwards, but after some thought i came to the conclusion that all these were reasons why the game was more challenging - which is something that i value. There is the bonus that you can carry soooo many more grenades which accounts for alot of these.

Despite the age of the Halo 3 engine the game looks amazing - the Art Direction was fantastic. The stark contrast between the night and day levels is magical, the music most definately adding to it all. The feeling of intense loneliness at night when playing as the Rookie is breath taking and the fact that you are actually on Earth for the whole game is always a bonus.

Overall, although I am yet to complete the game I am very satisfied with the game. Especially since the 2nd Disc includes all new multiplayer maps for Halo 3. One disappointment is the fact that apart from the Firefight Mode (which is fantastic, but not quite as good Horde in Gears of War 2) and Co-op there is no stand alone mutliplayer - i believe that free for all multiplayer would have been a fantastic alternative to Halo 3.

ODST

Halo 3: ODST at IGN.com

Conviction

Being a long time Splinter Cell fan I must say that when I saw that Ubisoft had finally released more about the 5th Splinter Cell game at E3 this year I felt a bit nervous. Splinter Cell 5 is a game that was soon to be released back in 2007 and not much has been heard about the game since then, but now after seeing the E3 footage my Splinter Cell love and anticipation levels are back and kicking.





The alterations made to the way the game is played (speeding everything up) is a glorious addition especially when combined with the new interrogation technique. I must admit the old somewhat antiquated method of interrogating in Splinter Cell got old fast and was no more exciting than holding someone still a slightly chocking them to get information. BORING. But now there’s a whole environment to play with and the gameplay footage of the interrogation in the bathroom reminded me very fondly of the opening scenes of Casino Royale. Speeding the gameplay up is that little trick that will make the game vastly different, just as the addition of the knife in Splinter Cell 3 opened up a whole new way of disposing of enemies, navigating through the levels (cutting through curtains etc) and picking locks and the introduction of daytime levels in Splinter Cell 4 forced you to think more about hiding in plain sight I imagine this new ‘upgrade’ will vastly change the way the game is played.

I just watched Starship Troopers just to see Micheal Ironside and hear his glorious voice, nothing gets you in the Splinter Cell mood like that. So very excited. XD

Little. Big.

My girlfriend’s housemate recently got a PS3 and it has made me think of getting a PS3. I have been outspoken against Sony consoles for a long time, I give the impression that I have never and will never care for the Playstation. But this is a point I would like to make; I was going to buy a PS1 way back, but more of my friends had N64’s than PS1’s so I changed my mind. A similar situation happened with the Xbox and the Gamecube – but I chose the Gamecube and bought an Xbox later. The point I am making is this; I am not an elitist as some may think when it comes to consoles, although I do not see that Sony is a ‘better’ console, but I do see its merits.

Some of the PS3 exclusive games are quite decent, although many of the Playstation games do not appeal to me. The way I am looking at it is that I could buy a ‘cheap’ $400 BluRay Player at the end of the year to go with my shiney new HDTV that I will be acquiring around that same time – or I could pay roughly $600 for a PS3 and get the added bonus of having another console.

And on that note, I may buy Little Big Planet for myself and play it at my girlfriends place – it looks awesome.

My Favourite ad for Little Big Planet.



A few other videos to show how cool the game is;