twmac

You can complete that level in about 10 seconds and get silent assassin at the same time. Walk up the stairs at the beginning and take a left, unlock the first door leading to the balconies either side of the admirer. If you time it right the security won't see you. Shoot the admirer and then the guy onstage and leave in the ensuing carnage, no one will know it was you. Job done. I really loved that game, because scenes like that make perfect sense to me. Just because you don't pursue their prescribed requirement doesn't mean you can't do it. That level is particularly fun because you can kill the actor using a prop from above and shoot the admirer at the same time and still get Silent Assasin.

Personally I'd like to see a Speedball 2 movie written by the guy who did the 'Blade Runner' and 'Salute of the Jugger' scripts. A 3 hour epic sports film with a hint of 'Any Given Sunday' where it isn't just important what is happening on the pitch (although those scenes would have to be brutal) but the dealings between the owners, the coaches, the advertising companies and the bodies that govern the rules. Maybe something less generic would be fun too (I shudder at the thought of Jason Statham getting cast in it).

That comment sounds like it could apply to both Bioshock and Condemned. I'm still on Level 2 or something in Bioshock so I have a ways to go before the terrible last 10 minutes, that is unless you are actually talking about Condemned. It was great, creepy and brutal in its depiction of violence but the last level, oh dear.

So not being happy with the preservation of their culture the extreme Francophone portion of the Quebec government have decided to ban all games that do not offer a french dub or subtitle option. Well f**king done you t****rs.

I know I don't have to. Sorry I make it sound like I hate these games but for me it is more like the kid in the sweet shop who, instead of eating what he has, just wants to keep filling his pockets. Something that is only going to end in either financial ruin or game/sugar overload. I'd like to pick uo Ninja Blade and Chronicles of Riddick, but I can't justify the purchase to myself until I shift some of the back catalogue that grew over the Christmas perod (I haven't even completed Bioshock from over a year ago).

Is that aimed at me? I'm in Montreal (should update my profile, I haven't been in England for the last 6 months) for the next 8 months or so and it is really going to screw up my gaming. The legislation says that it only affects games that will eventually provide French versions which sounds even more arse-backwards. That companies that aim to provide a French version eventually are going to be punished seems a almost as dumb as the original intent. I don't even want to think about how this will affect Sony and Nintendo titles (both have region specific submissions to the Hardware manufacturers unlike Microsoft where you can do one, global submission)

As posted in another thread I just finished Eternal Sonata after owning it for a year and aa\ half. I tried to finish Condemened: Criminal Origins today. I had to go round to a friend's house to play it because the game freaks me out too much when I play on my own. I went from chapter 4 to the very end of chapter 10 (the final chapter) and stopped short at the 'boss'. They mentioned in a podcast how sometimes you hit the wall and don't come back to a game, ever. I think that might have happened for me there. Time to get cracking with Operation Darkness *groan*.

I know it came out ages ago, but I had a weekend long hangover and didn't want to play anything challenging so I dug out my copy of this and started going through the first few levels. My only real feeling is that, at the time of release, reviewers were a lot more forgiving than they should have been. Certainly it looks nice and the combat system is a little different and even the story has made me stop and watch some of the cutscenes but it does seem to fall into generic JRPG land very quickly. You can see all the creatures on the map but the pathways are pretty tight in most places so you have to fight them. The 'real time' combat has lost a lot of its appeal and has become a slog through using the same attack patterns, over and over. The story looks really interesting at first and it does have an interesting sub-protagonist in Chopin but how many more times do I have to see a reluctant hero join a resistance to fight some devious conspiracy/corporation? There weren't many of its ilk out at the time (I think it was a choice of this or Enchanted arms which I think I like more) so how does it compare to the crop of title out now?

Okay I'm resurrecting this thread because I finally sat down and finished this game. Thanks to Spaff this was made easier because my Housemate jumped in and played as one of the characters so I didn't go through it alone. I really did stop a little too early last time, the battle system really starts coming into its own when your party gets to level 4 and they introduce Harmony attacks and also on level 5 they introduce counterattacks. The battles flow more, the choice of characters becomes more important (you'll want one heavy hitter, a ranged healer and some one who can string together long combos both with normal attacks and specials). The story slipped away into the background as it is practically non-sensical but the backgrounds and monster designs in the later levels really start to shine. I'm glad I finished it and as I've seen it going quite cheap I would give it a to anyone who likes a sedate pace in their games once in a while. Also, after finishing the last boss battle I'm going to stick by the theory that the designers did mean for the documentary sections to be so jarring and grim.

The 88 - “Sons and Daughters” Authority Zero - “No Regrets” Between the Buried and Me - “Prequel To The Sequel” The Cab - “Bounce” The Chevelles - “Get It On” The Cocktail Slippers - “Give It To Me” Dealership - “Database Corrupted” Endeverafter - “I Wanna Be Your Man” The Ghost Hounds - “Ashes To Fire” Hollywood Undead - “Young” Kutless - “The Feeling” The Len Price 3 - “If I Ain’t Got You” Lesley Roy - “I’m Gone, I’m Going” Opiate for the Masses - “Burn You Down” Semi-Precious Weapons - “Magnetic Baby” Shaimus - “Like a Fool” Thenewno2″ - Crazy Tuesday” Tickle Me Pink - “The Time Is Wrong” Underoath - “Desperate Times, Desperate Measures” X Japan - “I.V.” Okay, that IS pretty cool. What game is that for? I know about 10 of those bands (but of those I've only listened to about 6). If any of my friends have the game I'll tell them to download that stuff now. Between the Buried and me are ace.

For all of you who like itemising stuff create a profile here: http://backloggery.com/ I've been using it for a while and it helps me force myself to complete stuff.

Chris, thanks for responding. You're right though trying to pinpoint why I don't like rock band or Guitar Hero is a bit silly. I just don't like it. To try and argue why I don't like it is a bit like trying to argue why I don't like a particular band with some one who does. The exact same things I don't like about it is probably what they do like about it. The 'no soul' comment was my attempt at humour and instead it came off as a little faecitious. Anyways I've had my vent and I'm going to shut up as this thread isn't called 'I hate Rock band'

Wait, because I don't see the point rhythm games all of a sudden I'm not supposed to like music? That's taking it a little far. I can appreciate what you are trying to say that rhythm games may help some of us listen to music differently but I think you aren't really getting what my problem is. The guitar side of Rock Band and its ilk fails to inspire me as I really have problems 'hearing' the music and I find it outright annoying that I'm forced into this rigid structure that feels as much like data entry as a QTE(as I stated before) something that I loathe. There are other games that I find more rewarding in terms of encouraging structure and timing (beat em ups in particular) but that do not enforce the same gruelling repetition of Simon says (it is funny that was mentioned as I'm reading a book called Extra Life which mentions a real life electronic game based on that). The singing for me is my least favourite section, I'm sorry, I don't have friends like Tommy who can belt out versions of songs that sound better than their originals (RE: that video of her covering The Darkness). Instead, the game is broken down to what it requires from whoever I play with, a chore of hitting the right pitch. My friend got 100% on one song by making incoherent noises at the right pitch and when I've done the same songs I tend to do the same thing as it really is irritating. The drums are a perfect fit for this kind of game, I will definitely concede on that one. The rigid structure is exactly what you need to learn the drums. Having been a drummer in the past though it doesn't make me listen to the song differently as I have this weird thing that I only ever take notice of the percussion any way. As for the diversity of the song listing, most of it is extremely main stream, again that is exactly what you want if you are a game like this but none of it is stuff I've not already heard so I fail to expand my horizons from that perspective. I have played these games and I've tried to like them (everyone else I know plays them religiously) but apart from the good exercise the drums can give me during the brutally cold Montreal winters I don't see their merit. I guess I have no soul.

I was merely trying to bow out of the discussion as gracefully as possible. If you are going to be like that though. Guitar Hero and Rock Band for me are the casualist of casual games, a couple of rungs above a collection of mini-games in my view of what I enjoy. The only appeal I saw in them was that on higher levels of difficulty it's actually hard, and you had to be really good at both memorising patterns and making tactical choices when to use star power or whatever it is called. Clearly people don't just play the game for that, they play it for some reason that really is beyond my fathoming. If there is no challenge, no plot (unless you call repeating the same song over and over until your band is in a stadium a plot) nothing but the buttons going up the screen while a song plays... What is the point? For me these rythm games have long been the nadir of video game interaction. The whole thing is purely binary, you get it right or you get it wrong with no variation. It breaks down gaming to pure data entry (or worse a very lengthy Quick Time Event)and nothing more. For me you might as well be playing an excel spreadsheet. At least when you check a box it would be at the rythm of your deciding rather than to a Blink 182 song. So now we have a Beatles version where you essentially strip the game of the one thing I could appreciate about the game, the fact that you had to be able to go 101010010101101 really, really fast. So what do you have left? Something that on paper looks like making the most casual game on the planet even more casual. Great. Clearly this is what the people on this thread wanted and really I should have kept my fingers away from the keyboard as I was only going to invoke people's ire but I couldn't believe that anyone in their right mind couldn't be cynical about this new introduction.

I guess Harmonix know their market then.

You are right, I suppose. Not being a fan of the game the only way I can appreciate it is the fact that the game can bust your balls with crazy Dragon Force solos and Machinehead drumming. If it doesn't have that then I don't get it. I just remember when 'Rock the 80s' or whatever, came out and people went apeshit in excitement. Then they all finished the whole thing in a day and never played it again. I can understand that not everyone will be able to bang out Raining Blood so the fantasy of kicking it onstage and nailing, for example, a Kirk Hammet wail is understandable. But even I could plod methodically through most Beatles songs on drums, guitar or bass.

I'm sorry but what the fuck? People are getting excited about a game that compiles a bunch of songs from a band that could never, even if you like the band, have challenging moments in a Rock Band/GH evironment? 'I think I'll do Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds on expert... oh that was a disappointment' Just go and listen to a Beatles album and rejoice at their songs, don't spend the money to get a sub-par, unchallenging gaming experience.

Well I played Far Cry 2 on the 360 recently and it had me gripped within minutes. There is something about the setting and the mood that instantly appealed to me, moreso than when I played Bioshock (which I still haven't gotten past level 2 even though I really liked it). I sent in a letter the podcast, but I'll say it now. I'm glad that they banged on about this game until I caved and bought it.

What's steam? Is it like, Netflix for games?

Noby Noby is very much like one of those toys you muck about with when you have nothing else to do and like a child at Christmas I think I always had more fun with the boxes they came in. Noby Noby Boy is download only? Bugger.

Just watcehd Coraline in 3-D, it hurt my eyes. It is actually quite a nice adaptation of Neil Gaiman's original piece I walked away sort of liking it. They changeed a lot of things in it and I can't help but feel that they changed too much to make it a kiddie film. Maybe I'm not outraged by this because I'm not too attached to the book... Anyways, the visuals are nice and if wearing 3-D glasses doesn't fuck you up too much the 3-D is really well handled.

That whole section made me feel so very, very old, and alone.

That sounds like a pretty sweet plan. Portugal is pretty awesome and Spain is nice too. Sadly I'm back in the arctic climes of Montreal or else I would gladly offer you a sofa or two.

Speaking purely from a QA side of things. When a developer tries some, clever, dynamic way of handling gamer profile changes they usually fuck up their game in a million different ways. I should know because I get to the find them all. I used to hate the conventions that demanded that all the different menu items had to be called specific things (player match, ranked match for example) and then my embarassment when I played Halo 3 and was completely flumoxed by their system that happened use different names. Microsoft is programming us and we don't even know it.

Just finished an 8 hour session of Flat-out Ultimate carnage. To my surprise, it isn't shit.