If there's one thing I love. It's smashin' some aliens. To be clear that's not some comment about immigration or my red neck coming out. I literally mean creatures not of this earth. Dead Space alright! This franchise captured my imagination from day one.
Not your typical hero, Isac Clark is trapped on a ship... in SPAAAAAACE! Being an engineer he's not the brawniest of guys, but he is rather clever... and has a very powerful stomp! The first game pretty much mastered the sci-fi horror game. It was fluid, fun and scary as all reason. Lighting is scarse as are resources, while enemies are plentiful and terrifying. The necromorphs are undead... thingeys that spawn from the dead crew and people you meet along the way. They're fangs, spikes and all business. This game introduced to me the concept that shooting the undead in the head, has become useless... yes that's right, in space you have to cut off some legs... arms and then maybe a head if you've got some time. As with most games loot comes from the dead... but they require... a bit of a shove... with your foot... to their face. They drop their moist innards and you're on your way. The game is the game but what really sells this is the environment and the sounds. It's a work of art.
A little while later Dead Space 2. In this game they introduced a new concept to the series a plot. There's a bit more to this game than 1. You're looking for your girlfriend... and SPACE ZOMBIES! More of the same which isn't terrible but isn't that much of a show stopper. This time you're ready for the bad guys popping out of the lockers and all you have to defend yourself is your trusty plasma cutter (well along with all the other weapons, but the plasma cutter is man's weapon). The most brutal part remains the lack of resources. You have to aim, and aim well... oh and RUN! You're not a coward if you leave a room with baddies unkilled... because eventually they throw at you the nemesis. An unkillable, terrible monster that seems to really dislike you what seems like personal reasons. Maybe you insulted his mother. I hate this guy... I say that a lot when I play these games... I HATE THIS GUY. Or THIS IS IMPOSSIBLE! Good times. Our friend Isac slowly goes a bit crazy, the end of the world is oh the horizon, and there's a bad guy who wants to see it happen.
Queue part 3, this game opens up. Gone are the corridors that make you want to vomit with fear, enter a few open spaces and another friend to join in your adventures. The game wasn't the same as the first two so naturally everyone said it was crap. However, I really enjoyed the change of pace and the new crafting system for items. Once the game got rolling a bit I crafted "Lil' Meg". The gun that destroys everything at a reasonable price with some fun explosions if you get into a pinch... unfortunately the explosions also affect you... until later that is. The game clips along at a good pace. The environments are beautiful and much more diverse there's an aspect of a cold desolate ice planet that really puts the chill into your bones. Over all it's a great series that I hope keeps going.
Tuesday, February 19, 2013
Monday, January 21, 2013
The Good, the Bad and the Stabby.
Assassin's Creed. A series of games created by the French Canadians (etc) about stabbing famous people and helping high school students do better in history class. The formula is pretty much the same for most of the games, lost of stealth coupled with socio political intrigue < thesaurus >. You take on the role of a recently inducted member of the Assassins' guild, an organization who's motives are unclear in the beginning of the series, however as you progress they let you know that stabbing people for money is good for the histories. The games take you to major cities all over the globe, simulated in a machine from memories of a guy I didn't care about at all.
Desmond is a vessel for the story, he's defended from long line of bad asses, and a la Dune all these memories are sleeping in him. Well the sleeper has awakened, indeed! I think fondly back on the first few iterations of game, like someone thinks back on their first car. It broke down a lot, it wasn't perfect, but it did the job nicely. The first Assassin's Creed game teaches us that parkour is not only an ancient form of travel, but is down right necessary to get where you're going in a hurry. Completing missions leads to jumps forward in time and story events so that you're not living our your ancestors lives as they buy groceries and go to the bathroom, getting us to the real point of the game. The stabbings. The hidden blade always dominated the weapon selection for me. There's nothing like dropping from the top of a church onto an unsuspecting foe forcing the blade bound to your wrist into his fleshy bits and watching him crumple like a poorly constructed IKEA hamper... there's something Freudian about that I'm sure...
The second Assassin's Creed game drops Altair Ibn-La'Ahad and picks up with Ezio Auditore de Firenze, a frisky young Italian man who develops a friendship with Leonardo da Vinci, has much coitous, and wants to stab the pope. A man's man. This game is very much the same as the first, new weapons and abilities are added to your arsenal, such as two... count em TWO hidden blades for twice the stabbing fun. The game and the 2 that follow it in Ezio's story line start to get a bit our there with the stuff going on in the "real" world... but hey, it's damn cool!
Assassin's Creed 3 is the most recent entry in the series and boy is it different. Where as the last few games introduced the ability to recruit new Assassins to your group, train them up and send them to do your dirty work, this one introduces naval battles! Yes that's right, you, your tall ship and it's many guns can roam the high seas obliterating pirates and the British alike. The game is set around the time of the American civil war... or something like that... you play as native American... *long breath in* Ratonhnhae:ton... or Connor for short. His into into the guild come as he stumbles upon a mentor after sleeping in his horse barn. Oh the stories. They went off the reservation with this one... and added a surprisingly fun game mechanic. Running over building has always been a fun and free part of Assassins' Creed, but this time... you're in the forest bro! Leaping from tree to tree in a way that would make George of the Jungle ashamed of himself. You hunt, you trade, you kill the English and eventually wind up making a giant cup of tea out of the Boston harbour. Good fun. Good game. Once again the combat is pretty predictable, guy 1 attacks and waits until it's his turn again before doing anything else. It's predictable but enjoyable as open combat is never the focus of these games. You get some distinctly native weapons, bows and arrows, tomahawks and snares. Connor is nowhere near as likeable as Ezio, but common... who is?
This game wraps up the series well without making it impossible to bring it back in the future. Long story short, good times though time.
Desmond is a vessel for the story, he's defended from long line of bad asses, and a la Dune all these memories are sleeping in him. Well the sleeper has awakened, indeed! I think fondly back on the first few iterations of game, like someone thinks back on their first car. It broke down a lot, it wasn't perfect, but it did the job nicely. The first Assassin's Creed game teaches us that parkour is not only an ancient form of travel, but is down right necessary to get where you're going in a hurry. Completing missions leads to jumps forward in time and story events so that you're not living our your ancestors lives as they buy groceries and go to the bathroom, getting us to the real point of the game. The stabbings. The hidden blade always dominated the weapon selection for me. There's nothing like dropping from the top of a church onto an unsuspecting foe forcing the blade bound to your wrist into his fleshy bits and watching him crumple like a poorly constructed IKEA hamper... there's something Freudian about that I'm sure...
The second Assassin's Creed game drops Altair Ibn-La'Ahad and picks up with Ezio Auditore de Firenze, a frisky young Italian man who develops a friendship with Leonardo da Vinci, has much coitous, and wants to stab the pope. A man's man. This game is very much the same as the first, new weapons and abilities are added to your arsenal, such as two... count em TWO hidden blades for twice the stabbing fun. The game and the 2 that follow it in Ezio's story line start to get a bit our there with the stuff going on in the "real" world... but hey, it's damn cool!
Assassin's Creed 3 is the most recent entry in the series and boy is it different. Where as the last few games introduced the ability to recruit new Assassins to your group, train them up and send them to do your dirty work, this one introduces naval battles! Yes that's right, you, your tall ship and it's many guns can roam the high seas obliterating pirates and the British alike. The game is set around the time of the American civil war... or something like that... you play as native American... *long breath in* Ratonhnhae:ton... or Connor for short. His into into the guild come as he stumbles upon a mentor after sleeping in his horse barn. Oh the stories. They went off the reservation with this one... and added a surprisingly fun game mechanic. Running over building has always been a fun and free part of Assassins' Creed, but this time... you're in the forest bro! Leaping from tree to tree in a way that would make George of the Jungle ashamed of himself. You hunt, you trade, you kill the English and eventually wind up making a giant cup of tea out of the Boston harbour. Good fun. Good game. Once again the combat is pretty predictable, guy 1 attacks and waits until it's his turn again before doing anything else. It's predictable but enjoyable as open combat is never the focus of these games. You get some distinctly native weapons, bows and arrows, tomahawks and snares. Connor is nowhere near as likeable as Ezio, but common... who is?
This game wraps up the series well without making it impossible to bring it back in the future. Long story short, good times though time.
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