Roderick

Phaedrus' Street Crew
 View Profile  See their activity

  • Content count

    9454

  • Joined

  • Last visited

Posts posted by Roderick

  1. Posted

    It was really Lionhead's own fault, since they actively strained the hype to its limits, with the designer diaries from Steve Jackson that ran for years, and Molyneux himself triumphantly claiming "Black & White will be the best fucking game ever!". It's true that that made me essentially buy a game in a genre that I cared little for, but in my eyes the game was just too flawed. Not only very buggy, it also suffered from the horrible localisation and the fact the gameplay just didn't seem fleshed out enough.

    But let's concentrate on Fable. I'm not saying I hate the game already (;)), but I'm remaining calm and expectant of it, in a realistic way. That way I can accept the game for what it is.

  5. Posted

    May I remind you that the game that raised the bar in hypes about six times was Lionhead's own Black & White? How many times did I hear that that game would absolutely deliver according to hype? But apart from the somewhat original idea, the game was a poor disappointment. So I'm not as easily buying in on yet another 'can't possibly stink' Lionhead hype.

    (though I know it's not actually the Lionhead crew making the game)

  6. Posted

    OK, here comes my big Doom 3-post, since I've finally played it yesterday for a couple of hours.

    doom3.jpg

    I consider myself an a scared gamer. I''m really not much of a horror-fan, and usually shy away from games and movies that feature things that I know I'll be afraid of later on (it was a huge mistake for me to see the Japanese Ringu, trust me). And yet, there has always been something about horror that still attracts me. Maybe it's exactly the fact that it has such a visceral effect on me, but whatever the reason: Doom 3 fascinated me. And movies such as with the girly-screamy-man only exacerbated that feeling.

    So when I finally got a chance to play it at a friend's house yesterday evening, I was ready to go in and scream like no Kim Basinger* had screamed before. My buddy put out the lights and blinded the window. I took place in front of the keyboard, and he was there behind me, watching my every move. I felt a little nervous.

    (*Kim Basinger being the ultimate in helpless screaming, as seen in Tim Burton's Batman)

    It began. I worked my way through the introductary level, marvelled at the graphic splendour and chuckled at the way they still can't seem to do convincing lipsynching right. Then Hell broke loose, as predicted. After walking for a while, I encountered my first zombie, and shot him with a dedicated aim and cold accurateness. Was that my first zombie? Well, maybe the stuff later on would be scarier.

    I'll save you a tiring depiction of my adventures further on. Yes, I did startle a few times. One of them was when I walked into a corpse that suddenly moved. Another was when an Imp leaped at my throat for the first time. The third moment was when I walked around a corner and a sitting zombie began to talk to me. Before he could get to his second word, I had pulled the trigger in an instinctive manner and killed the wounded marine. My friend burst out in laughter.

    There was exactly one moment that I experienced the absolute terror that I had expected to feel throughout. It was when I was standing in a large, unlit hall and stood in the only beam of light around. Then, when zombies slowly came crawling out of the absolute darkness and into the hazed light, I panicked, clenched my teeth and went into a shooting spree. But that was the only moment I really felt the anxiety that was promised to be all-around! But though the horror was kept to a minimum, I did love the atmosphere, which was tense throughout. Combined with the sturdy graphics and programming, Doom 3 made an absolutely polished and consistently brooding impression.

    Now on to the bitter ranting.

    Doom 3 was doing so good in so many directions. Gone were the crates and hovering pieces of armor and life. Although health and carapace were in grand supply (at least in the earlier levels I played through), it all seemed to make sense, with armor scattered on the floor like it had fallen out of a cabinet, health tucked away in accessible consoles and goodies stored in safeguarded lockers. Someone had actually given it some thought.

    But then why, WHY, couldn't they have thought of something a trifle more believable than freaking walls opening behind you?! Now I know Doom 3 is not be taken as serious science fiction. But why go through all the trouble of making a believable world if you're gonna screw the suspense of disbelief by making solid walls unsheathe to unleash a zombie at the player? It doesn't even do any service to the atmosphere; instead of creating more horror, it detracts from it by breaking the tension and making for something you and I can laugh at. Because it's just so friggin' Doom 2.

    Closer to home: while playing the game it became, even if I hadn't have read the excellent Idle Thumbs-rant, extremely obvious that the whole flashlight-switcheroo was a strong gameplay mechanic. It made the whole experience that much scarier. While playing it, I even thought about it and decided I didn't want to be able to have the flashlight on at all times. And you know what? Graphics and moving walls aside; it's the flashlight-thing that will be the most memorable aspect of Doom 3. It's original feature that we'll remember it by. I certainly will.

    So, that was my Doom 3 experience! On the overall I had a rollicking good time, and found out I have more of a backbone than I'd have accounted myself for! :innocent:

  18. Posted

    And even Family Guy was your basic Simpsons-ripoff (come on, get off it, there's really no use denying it). Now I liked Family Guy, and I'm sure I'll like American Dad. But why do the same thing twice? From an artists perspective, that's the same as doing nothing at all. You're standing still, not growing or expanding. And that seems a waste for, assumingly, a skilled writer. I know I'd rather explore uncharted territory, even if it meant not knowing whether it'd be as good as the last success.

  19. Posted

    "classic quotes"? Oh, they're classics yeah, excellent quotes from that excellent movie Army of Darkness that Duke Nukem excellently stole. That's OK of course, as long as everyone knows where the real source lies.

    ,,Hail to the king, baby!"

    --Ash