mikemariano

spindrift is so so right. I hate picking on Kotaku, but for the past few months, there has never not been a Bayonetta article on their front page; big budget games devour most of their oxygen. Idle Thumbs reminds me that video game history is much deeper and broader than it gets credit for.

Most of that is the fault of us readers, syntheticgerbil. Chris, Video Games Jake, and Hot Scoops Steve rarely bring up the inside jokes unless they build upon the prior absurd situations. "Horse bag" isn't funny anymore; a young child excited for Idle Thumbs because of the Horse Bag is a whole new concept. The bird noise is absolutely feeble as an inside "joke". However, when Jake provides audio evidence of its secret origins it becomes monumental. Chris even segues out of ridiculous in-jokes by playing something that contains nothing but them. I've heard the below in multiple casts: I guess they have to re-record this with Steve saying the Far Cry 2 line.

In the first Mass Effect, when the Council screwed me over for like the third time, my Commander Jane Shepard retreated to the ship, slowly slumped to the ground against a wall, and sighed. Some "don't give up" dialogue followed from Kaiden, but Shepard's defeated body language did more to add weight to the scene than anything else. I...don't see that happening this time around.

Oh, thank you thank you thank you! I was shaking with laughter during the "horse bag" reader mail, so much so that I almost fell off the subway platform. I would have died happy. And Oliver Twist would actually make an awesome game (just not as Gun Head). You would play as Fagin and send your urchins throughout London to pick a pocket or two. It would essentially be a 19th Century version of Syndicate.

Based on the guitar stylings, I'd say the more appropriate question is: ¿Qué es game?

I loathed BioShock's combat; splicers did nothing[\i] but run in a straight line towards you shooting and/or mauling you. Combat was as tedious as jamming on the A button in Final Fantasy. Ultimately I ended up doing what you did. I upgraded to Natural Camouflage and my wrench to Frozen Field. Sneaking around, bopping guys on the head and rendering them motionless was preferable to a routine exchange of damage. I actually think it's a good thing for Bioshock 2 to focus on the combat, and it's great that you don't have to pause the action to switch from a gun to a plasmid. But combat is still nothing but splicers! I can't approve of that. I wonder if I'd like these games better if there was a mod that removed the splicers and turned Rapture into nothing but Big Daddies and Little Sisters...?

Reviews of Bioshock 2 are out! Any cold curiosity I had about the game has now dissolved, thanks to these helpful words from Alec Meer of Rock, Paper, Shotgun: and Hey, that describes me! Have fun with this game, everybody else!

A search on MobyGames suggests it's Blazing Dragons. Gamespot said the game's "good-natured humor keeps the experience rollicking right along."

I think the most obvious "so bad, they're good" games are those heavily influenced by better games. You think to yourself, "Man, I had more fun playing that other game, but this is close enough where I'll keep going, even though I see all the flaws that the other game avoided." Like these games! Shadow Warrior: Shadow Warrior had the same Build Engine and crude humor that Duke Nukem featured, but it was too noisy and busy. Duke Nukem's inventive weapons (like the Pipe Bomb, Trip Bomb, and Shrink Ray) were genuinely fun to play with. Shadow Warrior's attempts to do the same thing just felt like gimmicks. Arx Fatalis: I really got into this game, though it has a lame story, weak voice acting, uninspired combat, and bugs galore! I really dug the setting though, which the developers were quick to note was inspired by Ultima Underworld. Ultima! That explains the bugs.

Absolutely. That's why I'm glad the Action Button review got as detailed as it did---combining that knowledge with footage of the game and with my knowledge of past Final Fantasy games gives me a good idea of what I'd be getting into. The Dragon Age comparison is only half-applicable here. Both it and Mass Effect 2 had loathsome marketing, but the ads never indicated how the games would play. The only thing to worry about was having to listen to Marilyn Manson and/or Subject Zero the whole way though. Side note: I am semi-close to the end of Final Fantasy V Advance. The fun of the Job system is starting to sour; almost no end-game enemies are vulnerable to a regular attack. I now require a walkthrough to hold my hand through each cave. It's slowed me down quite a bit!

ActionButton.net's Tim Rogers posted an absolutely vital overview of the game's combat system yesterday. Like his other reviews, this article is insanely long. Unlike his other reviews, he actually describes the game. The combat system seems interesting, sort of a Super Smash Bros. approach of "First make them vulnerable, then go in for the kill!" But it doesn't sound like they put it to its best use. In fact, for a good chunk of the game, they don't let you use it at all. Sorry I keep ragging on this game, but it's quite exasperating to watch the developers smother to death everything I find interesting about Final Fantasy.

SPOILER ALERT: In the first hour of the game, Shepard does not punch any women in the face.

It's the lesser of two evils; observe my reactions: MASS EFFECT COVER SYSTEM: "Oh, this isn't very good. I'll have to learn to live with it." MASS EFFECT 2 COVER SYSTEM: "Oh, this isn't very good. I'll have to babysit it forever and ever..."

I just started playing this evening. Man, they changed every single interface design for the worse. The huge cards that fill the lower left corner of the screen after every interaction ("+2 Renegade!" "New Codex Entry!") are distracting. They are actually harder to read than the smaller updates we got in the first game. And combat seems far worse than it did in the first game. Did we really need a manual cover system? When cover was automatic, I could use the A button to "dash and duck" to new cover. In this game, I have to make sure I'm not facing anything that could be used as cover before I decide to run.

Sombre is right; Microsoft added that ability a few months ago, I think. Good for them; I find it easier to type in the code for my Xbox points gift card on my laptop through Xbox.com rather than on the console with my Xbox controller. Back on topic, I made my pre-order for Mass Effect 2 with Best Buy. Unlike a prior pre-order I placed with Gamestop, I didn't give them my phone number. Best Buy just gave me a receipt---with no release date on it. I guess they figure if I'm savvy enough to pre-order, I'm savvy enough to know when the game comes out. Unless, of course, Best Buy doesn't plan to have copies tomorrow...

Pinnacle Station is discounted to only three dollars in the Xbox Live Marketplace this week! I was tempted.... But then I remembered Patters's advice and decided to follow up with Metacritic. Ouch! Especially troubling is this part of Gamespot's review: Um, that describes me.

Hmmm, I just saw an interview from two days ago with Bioware's Christina Norman where she kinda sorta not really addresses the concern I have: But "Lift" is the right power for every situation!

I completed Mass Effect this week. Overall it was good. It actually got better towards the end, which a lot of games forget about. The combat doesn't really become fun until you get to use all of your biotic and tech powers. Many articles I read about Mass Effect 2 mention that they have improved the combat, but they don't mention biotic powers at all. I hope they haven't screwed it up. The Bring Down The Sky mission was very good and had the second most gorgeous landscape in the game (after the Earth's moon). Has anyone played Pinnacle Station? Its description makes it seem like nothing more than "VR Missions."

This rant actually isn't as good as it could be. He didn't use any derogatory nicknames for Microsoft or its products. But, honestly, what can top CrapBox?

I had forgotten about them! Like zombies and haunts, they weren't overused in Thief II, if you want to skip right to the second game. Face your fear!

Castlevania Soundtrack Whips In At 19 Discs More Kotaku. I actually have no problem with this trend, but that headline doesn't even make sense.

Ah, miffy495, I think you've judged both me and the series more or less accurately. VI was the most recent Final Fantasy I played more than half of (still trying to beat it!). I played two different demos and a friend's game of VII, the demo for VIII, and the beginning of X, but haven't played IX or XII (or XI, if that counts). And I realize that the non-linearity of VIII amounted to "you can stumble around your dorm room if you don't want to go fight monsters yet", but at least it was a change of scenery. XIII seems to think even that is too much freedom.

Also, Sinkwater makes a good point: Final Fantasy has had some good battle systems in the past. V and VI especially had inventive, fun battle options based on your job or your party members. VII and VIII ruined this for me, though, and made me frustrated to do anything other than A-button my way through the game. Especially VIII, which turned Summons into a bloated cutscene nightmare. That being said, the Final Fantasy XIII battle footage that I've seen so far looks like nothing but A-buttoning. I hope not!

Linear isn't a dirty word, of course, but it limits what kind of role you can play in a game. That doesn't make it the best attribute for a role-playing game. Linearity is often used for carefully managed game moments designed to give a specific experience. But what kind of experience are we getting? So far, Final Fantasy XIII has not shown anything but the gameplay below. You will watch a cut-scene. You will press up on the controller and run down an abandoned highway until bad guys rush towards you. The screen will dissolve. You will choose items on a menu. (NOTE: This is the part that is reportedly interesting.) You will win and be given a star rating on your fight. Repeat for six hours. The highway setting alone makes this seem like some cruel parody of Penn and Teller's Desert Bus game. Compare this to the very linear opening of Final Fantasy VI: You will watch Terra and her soldiers march through the snow. You will press up on the controller and march through town in your Magitek Armor. You will be attacked. You will win. Repeat for five minutes. You will find what you're looking for and be knocked out. Soldiers will come looking for you. You will escape with Moogles, and the game as a whole will open up for you. This will take...45 minutes, maybe? The beginnings of both games are quite linear, but VI changes the gameplay in three different instances and does it in one-sixth of the time. XIII has so far only shown one mode of gameplay in one endless corridor. Where's the excitement? I want to love these games, but the series seems to be snowballing all of its most terrible ideas into something that doesn't even pretend to be playable.

My save game history tells me it took 2 hours, 15 minutes to get out of Vault 101. Though maybe I completed it too quickly. Everyone got eaten by radroaches.