Thrik

Ah man, what? I absolutely loved how completely immersed that game made me feel. The crawling through the jungle with nothing except the thick, enveloping sound of nature is a massive part of the magic! I can't actually think of a better stealth experience than what that game delivered. MGS4 improved the mechanics (automatic camouflage oh god thank you) but the overall experience of MGS3 was just... shit man, I'm getting urges to play it right now. It's kind of odd that you ran around the final base too, though. That whole area was totally MGS1 type gameplay, albeit without radar. No need for crawling everywhere there.

Agreed. Well, it's not my favourite, but I do love MGS2. The first time I played it I was literally going "wat" and I actually didn't get it for years, probably because I was like 13 when I played it or something. When I replayed it years later I totally understood what Kojima was trying to say, and also had a greater appreciation for the misdirection and attempts to disorientate. It really was a very clever game, and as crazy as it was the message has only become more meaningful as information control continues to increase and we become increasingly reliant on what we see through screens and websites to know what's going on with the world.

Yeah I think games are still exploring getting the balance right in that respect. Some games have had absolutely ludicrous situations where the enemy would obviously see you in real life, but because your stealth meter is on 'full' he can't figure out you're there despite virtually being in his face. But on the opposite side of that, without the meter you sometimes think you're totally hidden (and likely would be in real life) yet the enemy spots you. Metal Gear Solid, once again, did this about as well as any game that I can think of. In MGS3 and MGS4 you have a little meter in the corner which shows a percentage of how obscured you are regardless of proximity to enemies, which factors in things such as your posture, how much your camouflage matches the surface you're on/against, and how fast you're moving. So you have that nice, measured aspect of the stealth, and then on top of that enemy proximity and cones of vision remain unmeasured (ie: you have to use intuition and experience to know how far an enemy can see, and how that relates to your current stealth level). Basically it just feels very robust, reliable, and challenging without seeming unfair.

I think you've hit what I was trying (and failing) to say on the head. When I play games like Dishonored, Deus Ex, and Metal Gear Solid I impose limits on myself that make the game much more challenging. I don't need or expect developers to essentially create a series of room puzzles I have to navigate; in all of these games you can whiz through each area relatively unscathed, never so much as brushing past an enemy. But if you want to do things like: Neutralise every enemy in the game Never raise an alarm Never kill anyone Collect every ebook/letter/ipod Play on a higher difficulty (somewhat uniquely to stealth games, this causes enemies to see/hear better and/or there be more of them) ... suddenly things get very challenging indeed. It's no coincidence that most newer stealth games include proper mechanics for these things. You're meant to craft your own experience to an extent, which I guess isn't necessarily for anyone but I much prefer it to those same games having brutally uncompromising stealth gameplay.

I really should get round to playing that Monkey Island 2: Special Edition. At least I bought it when it came out and cannot be blamed for LucasArts' demise.

There's some kind of weird snobbery or arrogance pervading your posts here. So I'm now shit at Dishonored because I enjoyed it? We can't call games true stealth games unless they exclude any other kind of gameplay? Part of what makes games like Deus Ex and Dishonored so enjoyable for me is the fact that you have absolute choice over how you play them. I love being able to switch between stealth and aggression depending on the circumstances, indeed I see it as a fantastic gaming evolution. Even Metal Gear Solid has gone from virtually forcing stealth to allowing you to take a more combat-orientated approach as you retreat. Perhaps Dishonored made players a bit too powerful at times, but self-control and higher difficulty levels keep things spicy. This kind of genre blending is clearly something you vehemently disapprove of, and you seemingly played Dishonored in a very different way to me (skipping most enemies and ghosting through levels rather than intentionally taking them all down silently). There's no point in deliberating over the issue because you're looking for different things out of your games.

It's kind of bizarre that you consider Dishonored to be a bad stealth game, that's one aspect it's pretty much universally acclaimed for (amongst many other things). It's one of the best stealth experiences I've had in years, and its mechanics are frighteningly close to perfect. Sure you can go around blowing shit up, that's entirely a player choice and completely unnecessary. Stealth games are a very personal thing, though. My ideal stealth game is one where I don't have to kill a single dude, but I can thoroughly cleanse an area of conscious enemies and have a great time doing so. I am what you might call a non-lethal completionist or something. If you're more of a 'sneak through and nobody even knows' kind of stealth player I guess Dishonored isn't so much for you, as you can't really avoid having to at least take enemies out. Similar to Metal Gear Solid in that respect, also a favourite of mine.

Yeah, watching it after completing the game is great. It so perfectly sums up everything the experience is all about. I thought similar things about the Deus Ex: Human Revolution trailer, lots of details you're only likely to spot after playing it through: Good god, what a pair of games Dishonored and Deus Ex: HR are.

If companies are going to insist on churning out these pre-rendered trailers then they're going to have to make do with us developing feelings about the games based on them. The only vibe I get from that trailer is "I look a lot like Dishonored". There's not really much more than can be said about such a short trailer, so I'm guessing that same sentiment has been expressed far and wide.

That is one amazing cake.

While I'm not that bothered by this kind of thing, this does seem to fall into the 'shameless' category. That big, red 'NISSAN' text is so outrageously obvious that they're clearly anticipating it showing up in numerous SimCity screenshots as it probably shows up at all zoom levels. In the real world it's like saying you can have a free module that makes your car go significantly faster and feel more comfortable — so long as you don't mind a big-ass hologram projecting above your car with massive, red text advertising something to the world no matter which direction they look at your car from. It's easy to make the 'you don't have to take it' argument, but it's still a very sleazy and cynical approach.

I don't think anything sums up my feelings about the better than this image: Much better Dishonored trailer.

Haha. :~

If you mean the ones I posted, much of the album is vocals. It's all here:

Of course it's a bloody April Fools. No game announcements can be trusted on this day! It is nonetheless awesome. Love the 90s-style website.

A convincing Photoshop is pretty much all it'd take.

Oh god that is hilariously bad.

I have to say, this art is incredible. I had no idea they were hitting this level with the real-time art, which I assume it is, having not been watching any of the backer-accessible stuff out of a desire to experience this game unspoilt (then watch the documentary afterwards of course). Definitely looks like it's going to usurp Monkey Island 2: SE as the most gorgeous 2D adventure.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=BWM4R5JsakE Love the melancholic atmosphere.

LOL

Wot, you have no PS3? Good news, it's out on 360 and PC too!

Agreed. It's going to be PURE PSYCHO MANTIS, MON.

Under the Hood of SimCity's Traffic - Official SimCity Blog In a nutshell, good: Bad:

After all that moaning earlier on, it looks like the woman in Infinite is more modestly dressed in most of the release screenshots I'm seeing?