I started at 10 and when I looked at my phone next it was 2. My original plan had been to go to bed early.
How good is the Last of Us?
Author: SeeInBytes
Owen is a writer based out of Denver and currently preparing his first novel PUSH PULL for publication. In the meantime, feel free to explore his meandering thoughts, movie and videogame op-eds and situational playlists. If you know him from another life, this is a chance for exposure to his creative endeavors. www.owensader.com
Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon Review
Title: Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon
Maker: Ubisoft
System: PS3
Format: PSN
Cost: $15 DLC
Neon Snake
First, I never played Far Cry 3. Not on principle or anything, just never got around to it. So while I can’t be sure, Blood Dragon is what I imagine play-wise a mini-version would be like. And as you probably already know the premise is to ooze 80’s ridiculousness, which works more often then not. The cut-scenes nail it, while the in-game jokes are more hit or miss. The “sound” is great, period (or colon): voice acting works all around, and the soundtrack is pretty killer. As testament, I let the intro screen run for about 20 minutes while I banged out some emails, and even though it loops about every 60 seconds I never had the urge to change it.
Gameplay is for the most part enjoyable, but also switches to autopilot after a certain point. And while the premise of clearing out bases is genius, after 2 or 3 you can pretty much steam-roll the rest. There are also minor things that grate, for example, “pilfering” has a ridiculously long animation. Realistically, in terms of actual enjoyment you’ve got the story to go through, and an additional 3 hours of wandering the island before it runs out of steam. It’s not a ton, but for a stand-alone DLC it’s more then enough. It has rough edges, and the fact that it’s a DLC, and not a full game, becomes apparent. Several times I had a problem with a loaded save sending me back about 15 minutes from when the game had “autosaved” last.
In the end though, Blood Dragon succeeds at pretty much everything it sets out to do.
Review: 3 stars (out of 5)
Memory: The Dino-Riders influenced ending
Dishonored Review
Title: Dishonored
Maker: Arkane Studios
Publisher: Bethesda
System: PS3
Cost: $23 Used
Probably not the most over-rated game ever
The game tries to pitch that creativity can help you overcome any obstacle, but in reality everything derives from two choices: You can be an overpowered monster or a tip-toeing nobody. In one you steamroll every obstacle, in the other you save-game your way through each tiny part because strangling someone is touchy as hell. This leaves you with a black and white morality system where half of your possible experience becomes unbearable.
You could also make a case for character design being intentionally ugly as an art style (they do ugly things after all). But the distortion is so far removed from anything human that you feel nothing as you slide your knife from one person to the next. Even what could be considered “bosses” hardly cause pause before you choose to murder them. It’s a shame because the world aesthetic is beautiful decay, filthy and colorful. You can sense the prosperity lost.
There are also a few missions that periodically redeem the experience. The twins and the dinner party stand out. But then you’re back to swinging your sword around like a drunk mad-man, or dumping piles of unconscious guards into the same out of the way room.
When it works, it works beautifully. It just doesn’t work often enough. If you’re going to play it, then don’t hold back. But even then, so what if you can use super powers to murder everyone? There’s dozens of games that let you do that.
Review: 2 Stars (Out of 5)
Memory: Branding a face
Deus Ex: Human Revolution Review
Title: Deus Ex: Human Revolution
Maker: Eidos Montreal
Publisher: Square Enix
System: PS3
Cost: $23 Used
Visceral Yellow Polygons
Perhaps the only thing that really needs to be said is that it feels good.
It’s your play, more than your augmentations, that turn you into a killing machine by the end. Movement is fluid, and sneaking, takedowns, and firing an extension of your hand. The act of killing is visceral to the point that it remains uncomfortable. Murdering someone, even at the end (especially at the end), has a moment of tension before the brutality.
And it does this all without a black and white morality system. So it never feels like your being funneled down one play style or another (i.e. psychopath vs pacifist). You might violently clear out one area and then sneak through the next, all determined by what seems appropriate at that moment. Graphically it’s beautiful. It looks better than every new release I’ve played recently. The world is well fleshed out: augmentations, a detroit renaissance, dysutopic and enviable.
Not everything is perfect however. The voice acting is on the wrong side of distracting. The difficulty can be uneven, which leads to either frustration or disappointment. And while the story is serviceable, it’s mostly because of the journals you find laying around which expand on the original Deus Ex. And yet all that would be fine if the endings were better…
So in the end I’m not sure if having the name Deus Ex in the title makes this game better or worse than it would be otherwise. It’s hard to compare anything to original, but Human Revolution also benefits from the world it exists in. Regardless, it’s up there with the best of this generation.
Review: 4 stars (out of 5)
Memory: The yellow haze in the elevator
Little Inferno Non-Review
There’s almost no point in rating this game. The only thing that would qualify it as a “game” is the interactive nature, while it admits at the very beginning there are no scores or lives, only the glimmer of a “story”. But more importantly it’s what you take out of the short time you spent with it. Over a few hours you’ll burn hundreds of items in your virtual fireplace, knowing there’s no point, knowing the laws of consumption are horribly unsustainable, and even knowing the world you live in is a dying freezing microcosm.
Being a part of the Humble Bundle is the perfect distribution platform. I don’t think I could justify spending $10 on it, and I don’t think it wants you to. It makes an active effort to question why you are spending time with your “Little Inferno”. As you stare at the fire, the game questions what the purpose of the main character’s life is, and it’s only after awhile that you realize it’s been you whose been staring into the fire the entire time.
10 Minutes with Proteus
I play Proteus for the first time before I have to go to bed. It’s perhaps the most perfect game to play before falling asleep. Of course I have no idea what to do (which I’m sure is the point), but the colors and the sounds offer their most appealing moments when you’re already on the boarder of consciousness.
You would think Dishonored and Deus Ex would play similar
The premise is basically the same- you sneak around, kill some people, but try not to. Yet they feel as different as cutting open a box with an exacto knife vs. trying to stab an avocado without holding it. One is precise and surgical, while the other flails about. It works for each in their own way, one being set in a gorgeous futuristic setting (even when it’s supposed to be dirty), and the other looking like the scenery is decaying as you play.
Reasons why the world of Deus Ex is better than the real world
In Deus Ex:
Detroit is the world’s coolest city
You can literally hack anything
Helicopters can fly you anywhere in the world
Bionics look awesome. I would have robot arms
One thing that’s worse: It’s either night or the weather sucks, constantly (same with Blade Runner)
Am I actually excited about the new GTA?
So they’ve released videos, one for each of the new characters, in GTAV (check it out at Edge: http://www.edge-online.com/news/watch-the-new-gta-v-trailers-here/) I’m not usually a huge fan but I’ve been following GTAV more than any of the previous releases, if only because it seems like that last colossus swan-song for this generation of systems. It almost boggles my mind how much money is being spent on this game while all the indications from the industry continue to nose dive. I actually truly hope it succeeds if only to staunch some of the bleeding from the console industry.
Plus Michael and Franklin could be brilliant characters. Especially Franklin.
Punch Quest Review
Title: Punch Quest
Maker: RocketCat Games
System: iOS
Cost: Free (and $3 for a must have upgrade if you like it)
The best five minutes of your lunch break
It’s been popular to rip on jet pack joyride for awhile now. But pound for pound, it’s 99 cents provided my more fun than any other iPad game I’ve played. It was arcade action, for someone who doesn’t typically like arcade games. But this isn’t about Jetpack, this is about Punch Quest.
I mention Jetpack, because a first instinct is that it plays very similar (if not unabashedly ripping it off). And it’s true, on a base level of fast twitch reactions, there is a lot in common. Yet for better or worse, Punch Quest is a deeper game with room left over for multiple play-styles.
Because it is free to play, the in-game currency holds much greater sway, as the in-game purchases actually have a tremendous effect on how the game plays. This adds depth while sacrificing accessibility. And while it generally follows that the more expensive moves (there’s no going back once you get thunder punch) outmatch the earlier ones, this isn’t always the case. In addition there are two distinct play styles that can be used: one of run and gun (punch), and another of tactically moving forward with the use of block.
As great as the game is, it’s not without it’s problems. Because of the way block is setup, it’s basically impossible to have a play style that combines fast gameplay with strategic blocking. Either you choose a control scheme that makes it difficult to use (but preventing it’s accidental use), or one that is easy but will frustrate you by activating when you don’t want it. Additionally, the art style is great, but it leaves you wanting more: more enemy types, more bonus levels, more variety of path types.
And finally the game currency is distorted. Not fubar, but it does detract. It’s a free game and need to make money, but even after buying the paid upgrade “punchos doubler” (a must if you like the game), it still takes a massive amount of time to buy even one “ultra” item, or unlock the Spartan Mode.
Punch Quest is the best iOS game I’ve played in the last six months. It will undoubtedly (and unfairly) always remain in the shadow of Jet Pack Joyride, even though it’s a genuinely great game in it’s own right.
Review: 4 stars (our of 5)
Memory: The first time you get to the laser raptor level.