Ben X

brkl and miffy love Liero.

Someone needs to re-brand all the boards and threads!

Thanks!

Okay, I gave up on AvP. I might come back to it at some time, but I've got to the point where I'm stuck on all three campaigns, and I can't be bothered to keep checking playthrough vids. Great atmosphere but too much looking for keys and hidden switches and hidden doors etc. I ended up enjoying the Predator section a fair amount - interesting energy-level/weapons/cloaking/view-mode mechanics, balancing all of them together. It was also pretty cool to go to Fury 161. One thing that I've had in other FPSes and was particularly bad here - not knowing which side a lift is going to let you out from. It's always very embarrassing, and in this game quite irritating too because you only get a couple of seconds before the lift goes down again. I'd love to see a modern sequel to this where Crytek make the Predator section, id Software make the Marine one and, hmmm, EA Dice make the Alien one for that parkour/quick takedown feel maybe? Although perhaps I should nominate Creative Assembly for the Human campaign, because I've actually always thought it would be cool to play a colonist in a fully established colony and have to survive the initial alien attack, which starts with a single facehugger, using cattle-prods, flame-throwers and running away. As more show up and they cut the power, all the swanky shopping malls and luxury apartments turn to hell. Then the marines come in and you get to learn how to use their weapons, Ripley-style. (Or you're a Company man, initially trying to capture an alien but swiftly getting your arse kicked when it escapes on Earth, and you turn and decide to destroy the nest it sets up. Or something.) I guess in an AvP game, you would survive all that, only to get hunted by a Predator, and have to abandon your weapons to go primal again. Aaanyway, I've moved onto Serious Sam now, and it's hella fun. It's just a really sweet arcade shooter in 3D, with the waves and combinations of enemies. I love the enemy designs and animations, and it's really nice to have great big arenas where you can see things running at you from a mile off and adjust your tactics accordingly. There's a lot of vertical space, it's cool to see trees getting blown apart and chunks of stone go flying when you shoot a wall, and I think this is the first time I've seen (yes, illogical) lens flare. Also, the bomb dudes are as hilarious as their reputation. It's got a light sprinkling of switches and keys but nothing too egregious. I get the impression that the whole thing is in this Egyptian setting, though, which I might tire of as soon as the new enemy types run out, especially as Sam himself is a watered-down Duke Nukem and there's not really anything else going on. Also, it may prove too tough for me! But I'm having a blast so far.

Thanks Jut. That video has potential to bring up some interesting points but I cannot stand the presenting style - I'm choking on the arch ironic distance. However, I had heard of the game Jericho from my reading around Dying, and it sounds like it blends Barker and FPS more effectively by chucking a load of space marines into a body-sex-horror dimension.

Predator is a little more fun now - I'm staying invisible and shoulder-cannoning soldiers from afar, it's like a very basic Crysis. Marine - I've just entered a new level where I can't tell where the fuck I'm supposed to go. It is doing some cool crossover with the Predator storyline, though. Alien, I've gained access to the labs and killed everyone but I can't figure out what I'm supposed to do next. I don't really want to stop every five minutes to scrub through playthrough vids to work out which hidden button I'm supposed to press. This is the main issue I've had with any of the FPSes so far, I think - not knowing what I'm supposed to be doing.

Gah, I'm really enjoying AvP except for getting lost constantly. The Marine campaign continues to be fun, nervously legging it through cooling systems and getting freaked out by flickering lights and screeching doors. But I came to a full stop after trudging round a level looking for the way forward for about 20 minutes before finally succumbing to the waves of aliens. I've had a quick go at playing as the Alien and the Predator. Being an Alien is really cool, racing up walls and across ceilings in this weird Alien-worship temple, cutting power and killing marines, watching these weird spacecraft floating around outside your windows. However, the objectives are pretty vague and I didn't get far into the first level before I reached some human lab setting and couldn't find the way forward. Predator seems less fun - I seem to just be a tank rolling through corridors, and I got lost within about a minute of the start. I'm going to RTFM, see if that gives me any clues. If not, I might check some walkthroughs to help me out, as I don't want to quit just yet. The annoying thing is, a map or similar would make sense for all of these campaigns - the Marine should have a blueprint of Hadley's Hope, as per the film; it would fit with the aliens' weird super-senses and hive-mind to be able to sense where it needs to go next; the Predator is all high-tech and surely could at least have little pointers on his helmet display. EDIT: okay, the solutions were: Marine - there's a door in a wall across a stairwell from you, shoot at the ceiling to make a platform fall down providing access to it ¬¬ ... Alien - just destroy more shit (fair enough) ... Predator - blow some unrelated crate things up then press a switch that looks like a light ¬¬

The problem with most of those is that this jam doesn't have a different theme, it's episode titles again. So I would go for 3 (although there is the option of leaving the earlier Winter Wizard Jam out of the numbering and calling this one 3, as I mentioned above).

I'm in!

Okay, finished Black Mirror season 3. The first three eps were brilliant, 4 was nice, 5 was pretty good. The final, 90 minute one was pretty bad, like a particularly cheesy episode of Castle (and indeed that show did have an episode with a similar premise). A rather bland and cliche procedural thriller with some clunky lines that give away plot points (eg ) and some action scenes that rival The Happening for silliness. Black Mirror's first real misstep. Apart from that, though, the level of quality and variety they've maintained over the 12 episodes is incredibly impressive.

Oh, I forgot to post this Let's Play Deus Ex with Warren Spector, Sheldon Pacotti and Chris Norden video back when I gave up on it. I'm 15mins in and it's not hugely insightful, but a few points of interest:

Big Trouble In Little China - the re-imagining with Johnny Depp as Jack Burton. (Yeah, Big Eyes was okay. Not the return to Ed Wood magnificence I was hoping for.)

Ahhh, you have to do it from the menu (unless you use the console to bind an autosave key, apparently). Thanks! As they added this only a few months after release, I won't feel too bad for using it. I'll try not to, though! I think it's an interesting tension-building choice not to have saves, though it may prove too frustrating. The limited number of saves is a nice compromise (though 8/9 is too many, even on easy mode - I think one would do). Well, it was only £1 at the charity shop which was cheap enough to add back onto my list. I'm trying to reduce my backlog here, not spend a ton more money!

Yeah, I was talking about this on Slack just now and I suggested asking the Thumbs to choose the off-season theme as a way to keep it IT. However, I managed to convince 051 (at time of typing) that even if we stick with episode titles from now, it would be better to number the jams while keeping the one and only Winter Jam outside of the numbering system as a 'spin-off'.

I think the problem with "Winter" as a theme was that it tied people down a bit too tightly regarding theme/aesthetics, whereas episode titles could be interpreted in any way. Something like, off the top of my head, "Love" as the theme would give people a starting point but not necessarily end up with 40 games based around the colour pink.

Not looking at your post until I've watched them all! Saw the new Tim Burton film today, Miss Peregrine's School For Peculiar Children or something like that. Really bad. So slow and full of confused, turgid lore. It doesn't even look that nice and Burton is lost here with the CGI - most of the monster designs are run-of-the-mill and the climactic fight scene is just terribly directed. How did he go from Beetlejuice to this? At least Chocolate Factory and Wonderland had some interesting visuals/moments. The only good thing about it is Samuel L Jackson - he works his relatively restrained monster make-up magnificently for a perfectly pitched performance - scary yet funny.

Yeahhhh but we've now had one with a Winter theme so it feels a little messy. NOT A BIG DEAL THOUGH, obv.

Should this maybe not be called a Winter Wizard Jam, then? Isn't it really "Wizard Jam November 2016"? Perhaps they should only get a prefix if there is a main theme different to 'cast titles (e.g. the Summer Wizard Jam or Robot Apocalypse Wizard Jam)? Not that it really matters, of course, but it might help future-proof the nomenclature...

This looks really nice, and the title being displayed for the next unread topic makes a big difference! Is there anything you can do your end to keep me signed in on all my devices, though? As with the Double Fine forums upgrade, I feel like I'm now signing in a lot more (and thus getting asked to allow notifications a lot more - is there a way to permanently say no to this?).

Alright, got it working very quickly and got to the second level. I'm playing it on baby mode because it's notoriously difficult iirc. It doesn't have any saves! If you get 95% through a level then die, that's it, back to the start you go. It certainly creates a high level of tension. Thankfully the combat is well-balanced so it's not too frustrating. Unfortunately, I got lost towards the end of the level and then got killed by a lift ¬¬ The atmosphere is spot-on, you really do feel like one of Cameron's space marines, checking your motion tracker, flipping to night vision and back. "Short, sharp bursts." I just hope it's not always going to be unclear where I should be going - the grim identikit colony setting doesn't lend itself to notable landmarks and routes. (Mainly for my own interest, I've given a thumb rating to all the games played so far, in my original post. It's mainly about my final enjoyment level rather than a broad review of the game as a piece of art.)

I wanted to have fun at the beginning of the game. Unfortunately, that didn't happen due to clunkiness, frustrating combat and, to be charitable, inconsistent tone. Clive Barker's Uninstalled. Now, back in time to AvP, hopefully!

DOUBLEPOST because I need to tell everyone that Person Of Interest is amazing. Under the Michael Mann sheen of cool and slick action, and the slowly expanding web of characters and plot threads, lies quiet humour and touching character development. It's overtly post-9/11 as well, in a way that reminds me of Magnum pi's post-'Nam themes.

I am not enjoying Undying that much. The atmosphere is pretty creepy (albeit in a cliched way - old mansion, creaky noises, things moving mysteriously, eerie laughter etc) but the UI is really clunky and the combat is incredibly irritating - weapons and powers that are under-powered and take ages to reload, enemies that are in your face the entire time and spawn far too often. Also, walking round and round a mansion, getting lost and banging your head against locked or fake doors is not particularly satisfying. A few cool moments, though, so I'll push through for a while and see how it goes.

Yay! I'll just quote myself from a previous jam: Also, I guess it would be a good idea to archive all the Wizjam'16 threads and create new pinned ones (team building, asset sharing etc)..? I'm hoping to learn a bit of either Unity or AGS and team up with at least one other person for this jam...

Some other good things about NOLF (still all presentation): the cartoonish body animation was great - it reminded me of those flappy-limbed Garry's Mod machinima videos you used to get. I'm not sure if it was mo-capped or not. The enemies flinging themselves down stairs or off balconies like over-enthusiastic stuntmen, and cars blowing up with a single bullet, were always good fun. And the first-person tumble you take when you die, as Cate puts her arms out and you roll to the floor, gave a Mirror's Edge-like immediacy to it, especially if you happened to be the one rolling down some stairs. In other news, I found a copy of AvP gold edition in a charity shop this morning! Hopefully that fan patch will work on it; if so, I'll turn back time after Undying and give it a whirl.