Scratch

I just finished it. Hmm, the opening chapters were good and I was beginning to like it. Then something happened and I just couldn't wait to finally get it over with. This game is my first disappointment of 2009. Firstly, the game was short compared to the original. I finished it in under 10 hours. Secondly, the story is just way too "simple"? About halfway through the game, I could see right through the plot. I won't spoil the ending here, but suffice it to say, it wasn't nearly as satisfying as the first game. Not to mention I strongly feel that the ending is flawed in some respect.:shifty:I liked the plot in the first game and it was one of the reasons I liked that game. Nevertheless, atleast Monolith managed to answer any unexplained queries from the first game. Finally, there is something about the difficulty level that baffles me. Just to clarify, I am playing this on PC. I began playing it on the normal difficulty, but soon found this to be too easy. As Chris mentioned in the podcast, the plentiful amounts of med-kits, armor vests and health-injectors, not to mention the ability to slow down time, makes the need for taking cover pointless. You can always slow time, go up to the NPC and blast him in the face. No need to worry about health, there's always some lying around. And in the rare case, that you do die...there's the nearby checkpoint save (of which there are plenty as well). I did bump up the difficulty to hard (maximum possible) about three chapters into the game. Here, health drains out much faster and you can die occasionally. This is what should be happening in normal mode; you kill a bunch of dudes, sometimes "hit the wall" in a tough spot, die a bunch of times and try again. I did not die even once while playing in normal mode. Makes me wonder, what the hell is easy then? I haven't personally tried to play in easy yet, but I might give it go. FEAR 2: Project Origin In that order, I can't make up my mind.

I downloaded it, but it's not a simple exe file. I've to install some other "Z machine interpreter" or something. Well anyway after that, I have no idea how the game works. I die everytime in the first few seconds. None of the commands make any sense.

Well they did address this "environment" issue in Project Origin. Sort of. In FEAR 2, the levels aren't just endless hallways or corridors in offices/warehouses. They are now much more varied and to an extent open. If you played the demo, the part where they introduce the mech-suit is one example where the level design is more open than you were used to in the first game. That said, I am not saying that it is completely void of the "hallway shooter" vibe. There are times when all you're doing is going down hallways, waiting for the hallucinations to roll by and then walking into an ambush. In fact to some it might seem like an endless cycle of one scary/weird moment then immediately followed up with shooting dudes in slowmo and then repeat. In any case, overall I still like what I've played so far. More detailed impressions when I finish it.

As you might know, Warner Bros. bought Monolith but were not able to gain rights to the FEAR name, which remained with Sierra (owned by Vivendi). That is why, the "name your FEAR" competition was arranged and eventually "Project Origin" was announced. But then in 2008, Vivendi merged with Activision and most games in Sierra's lineup were dropped. At this point, Warner Bros. and Monolith, successfully bought the rights to the name. They decided to keep the subtitle Project Origin, as they had already chosen through the contest. EDIT: Ugh, DanJW you're too fast.

So I just got this on steam and played into the first chapter or thereabouts. So far it's been alright, nothing spectacular. But if you compare it to the original game, it's looks and plays much better. The strongpoint in FEAR 1 was the AI and it seems to have improved even further, though the "normal" difficulty mode still seems too easy at least in my case. I hate the fact that there is no lean option, to peek around corners. This was present in the first game and I for one miss it. I also don't like the film-grain effect. There isn't an option to turn it off either and I do hope they patch it in or something. One more thing, there are achievements...but not "steam" achievements?!? I got one for completing the first chapter and it only shows up through the "awards" option menu ingame. You can't see it in your profile like in other games that support achievements through steam. I mean, what's point of having achievements that only I can stare at, nobody else knows I even got them. I personally thought that since FEAR 2 is "steampowered" it would fully support steam features like achievements, guess I was wrong.The only other upcoming third party game that I know of is steampowered is Empire Total War. Here's hoping atleast that one supports proper achievements. Oh and UT3 just got added to the steam support list, apparently there is a big patch coming that will add steam achievements. Alright, that's all about achievements.

Ok, this one is completely real. I found it on back of the EBgames/GameStop Ad booklet thing. Resistance Retribution. Pre-order your copy today. "...damn is it awesome." -IGN.com I would've scanned the image, but my scanner is on the fritz. But I found the preview article from which it was taken. It's in the subtitle.

Yes. After failing a race, the option changes to "Restart last event". And you can restart any event.

You can restart/cancel a race by accessing the ingame menu called "EasyDrive". On the PC, when using a gamepad just hit right on the d-pad or when using the keyboard using the right on the numpad. The F1 and F2 keys are only for navigating the menu options when you pause the game. It's the keyboard alternative to using the shoulder buttons on the gamepad.

I am always up for some L4D. Either versus or suvival. My steam thing is this: http://steamcommunity.com/id/skratche/

I am waiting for the demo that was supposed to come out sometime last week. But still hasn't been released yet. According to the people on the official Total War forums it'll be released through steam first. Although I don't really care for the demo (since I already preordered it), it would still be nice to play some of it now. I want to see how the naval battles work.

So true. There was a time when I was absolutely hauling every little piece of junk around, with the thought "You never know, this is a wasteland after all. Everything is valuable." Example: It's one of the things I get frustrated about in Fallout. I hate inventory management, especially when I am forced to drop some of my weapons. I remember having a similar problem in Oblivion.

:tup: I played some of it. It's alright, could use some variety though.

Looks sweet. So when can we get a public beta or something?

Now that it is pretty much confirmed it won't appear on the PC... Well lets see, there's a couple of hours of gameplay and some extra skins. The skins were already unlockable on the PC, so no loss there. And as long as the story is not dramatically altered within the couple extra hours, I am fine with it.

Well as far as I know, it would be consoles only. Seeing as they would release it on PSN and Live. I do hope they do an eventual PC release though. Here's the IGN interview with the details.

Tried out the beta and I like what I see. Though it was kinda hard to navigate around first, you get used it. The lack of players is disappointing. Most of the time I jumped around with only two or three others at most. In those circumstances it seems to me that the player with the most kills always remains at the top. The bottom players are never able to kill the top player and thus end up leaving the game. Or maybe that was just my initial impression. Still great to play anyway.

So who's looking forward to the upcoming DLC? Apparently its called Epilogue. Judging by the name I hope it provides a satisfying ending this time.

Mirror's Edge PC. The first and only game I finished in one sitting.

The bit about Afro-Samurai. I remember watching it on TV when it aired a while back and from what I can still recollect, it was totally gratuitous with the naked ladies/blood/gore etc. I am sure there are youtube videos out there to confirm this, but I am too lazy right now to look it up myself. Not to mention, Samuel Jackson's constant swearing. Way I see it, the presence of Jackson somehow makes the content all the more bearable.

:tup: I absolutely love that series. People who like it should also check out his more "serious" machinima called "Civil Protection". I only wish he would release episodes more frequently. Check out his blog here:http://civil-protection.blogspot.com/

After ghosting the forums for a while, finally registered. I originally came over from GiantBomb, after Brad linked to the podcast he was a guest in. And I'm glad I found another podcast to listen to. I usually tend to stray away from podcasts but after giving the GiantBombcast a try and then eventually checking out Idle Thumbs, has definately changed my opinion of them. The laughs I get from these podcasts always help on the way to and from work. Now all I need is three more great weekly podcasts and the work-days of the week will be all covered.