Dark Souls
Make no mistake about it. If you play Dark Souls, you will die. Not just one time, or five times, or even twenty times. You will probably die so many times you will lose count. Even the game’s website is www.PrepareToDie.com. Despite being a very punishing game, it is equally rewarding and offers an amazing experience to those with a decent dose of patience.
Catherine
“Where all is but dream, reasoning and arguments are of no use, truth and knowledge nothing.”–John Locke
The best way to describe Atlus’s latest puzzle game, Catherine, is to say it is not your typical game. It’s certainly different than the standard game players will find on store shelves, but it’s different in a good way. On the outside, this game may seem simple, but brave through the nightmare and you will find an interesting and unique experience awaiting you in Catherine.
What Dreams May Come
In Catherine, we follow the story of Vincent, a regular guy who’s happy with the status quo of his life and would love nothing else to leave it that way. However, his long time girlfriend, Katherine upsets that quo by beginning to pressure Vincent into marriage. Vincent grapples over the notion of marriage, commitment, and eternal bondage later that night by himself over a drink at his favorite bar. Then along comes Catherine. No, you’re not crazy and that’s not a spelling mistake. The game has two “Catherine”s. One spelled with a “K” and the other with a “C”. Despite a close association by name, similarities stop there. Where his girlfriend Katherine with a “K” is grounded, disciplined and focused on the future, Catherine with a “C” is care-free, spirited and vicarious. With Catherine’s good looks, youthful charm, and a little bit of forward flirting, it’s barely a fair fight for slightly drunk Vincent. The next morning, Vincent awakes to find Catherine still with him in his bed thus starting a long nightmare of a love triangle that carries over into Vincent’s dreams.
It is in these dreams you tackle the majority of game play that makes up Catherine. Vincent finds himself in a nightmare world similar to Dante’s inferno where he must climb blocks to get to the top. To climb, you must pull and push blocks to create steps up to the next level and must do so quickly since the floor is rapidly falling beneath you. This adds a great level of suspense and gives a well balanced tension to the game causing you to climb as high and fast as possible. The towers become progressively more challenging and cause you to find a solution from a “top-down” perspective. While at first it may be difficult to think of different strategies, the game does a good job of presenting new techniques and ideas on how to climb throughout the game. There are quite a few techniques demonstrated for you, but you don’t need to worry about memorizing all of them. Majority of the puzzles can be figured out using the basic block techniques figured out early on in the game.
While the controls feel smooth for the most part, there are a few problems that can be frustrating. The controls are a bit “twitchy” at times and it is all too easy to push a block away when instead you wanted to pull it. Luckily, it’s a forgiving game which allows you to undo a move on the lower difficulty settings. The game’s camera angle can also be troublesome and limiting. This is especially made apparent when you go behind a set of blocks and there is no way to see yourself or no where you are making moving around difficult. It’s a minor complaint though and won’t greatly interfere with your game play.
This puzzle climbing makes up the majority of the game play and while it seems like this would become repetitious and boring, the game finds ways of making each level interesting by increasing the complexity and the variety of blocks. New blocks are constantly added to levels which cause you to change strategies and rethink the rules on climbing which adds refreshing and changing game play. For instance, you have blocks that will crumble and fall apart after stepping on them so many times, or blocks that are made of ice causing you to slide until hitting a non-ice block. Boss levels also add a change of pace and variety. Still, there were times where I did feel the climbing segments did become monotonous and repetitious but these moments were usually short lived and broken up by the games cinematic presentations and interactive intermissions.
Little Lost Sheep
The second half of the game consists of these interactive intermissions with Vincent at the bar which serves as a nice break from the puzzle climbing. The best way to describe this part of the game is it’s an interactive RPG-ish socializer. You get text messages from your two Catherines and can choose to reply to these messages in a variety of ways. You also can chat with your friends as well as fellow bar members giving more character depth to both Vincent and those around him. Not only do these interactions provide more story, but how you choose to respond to people will affect the outcome of the game. There are also quite a few treasures one can find while spending time at the bar for those willing to get up and explore the quaint little pub.
And once you beat the game there are still plenty of reasons to come back to Catherine. Not only are there 8 potential endings to the game but there is a multiplayer feature that is unlocked during your initial play through of the single player. The multiplayer is local based only but gives you two modes: co-op and competitive. Also unlocked as you go through the game are additional puzzle challenges with online leader boards showing best times and highest scores.
The presentation style is unique and gives an interesting and different atmosphere to the game. Much of the game’s story is presented through a blend of 2D anime sequences as well as 3D cell shading. If you’re a fan of anime then this style of story telling will feel like a natural fit. One possible downside is the length of these sequences in between game play. They can range anywhere between 2 minutes to almost 10. While they can get long, I definitely recommend sticking through them. The voice acting is fantastic and the scenes are well written and provide plenty comical and suspenseful moments.
Overall atmosphere is spectacular as well. The use of neon lights and shadows creates a bright but edgy atmosphere in the bar. Nightmare levels are filled with torturous machines, cries of fellow trapped souls falling to their doom, and moody and creepy music creating a dark and twisted atmosphere definitely leaving the feel of living in a night terror.
Something More Than Just Sex
Despite it’s strong sexual theme, the game isn’t about sex! Make no mistake, this is a mature level game that you do not want to play in front of your kids! However, while the game is very sexually themed and there are some scenes which demonstrate this, nothing graphic is ever shown (with maybe the exception of some of the bosses) and nothing seems out of line or overly done as some games tend to do. The story goes deeper than that and becomes more about relationships, maturity, and self discovery. Combined with it’s unique presentation and game play, Catherine offers an enjoyable and different experience than most games being released.
Final Verdict
For me Catherine is one of those games that you’ll either love it or hate it. It is a game that will take you by surprise if you let her. Surprisingly deep at times with fun and challenging puzzles with interesting atypical characters. The fact that the game is not centered around saving the world or rescuing damsel’s in another tower, but rather about an average guy with personal relationship issues trying to fight his own nightmares makes for a refreshing change as is the puzzle mechanic of the game. As mentioned before, it is a game that breaks away from standard norm and takes a risk…take a chance with Catherine and you might find plenty of reward waiting for you.
Video Game Apocalypse: Day 2
News time children! It’s Day 2 of our apocalyptic journey.
Fallout 3
(Xbox 360, Ps3, PC)
Where would our apocalyptic week be without stepping out into the Wasteland? Fallout 3, the popular open world RPG from Bethesda Studios, places players in a post-nuclear apocalyptic Washington D.C. area. The Earth has been badly scarred by the nuclear world war that occurred several years before. Human life has been reduced to handfuls of survivors. Everything seems, contaminated by radiation and if the radiation doesn’t kill you, the mutated animals, landmines, scavengers, raiders, feral ghouls, and super mutants certainly will! While mankind struggles to survive, all isn’t as bleak as it seems. Pockets of civilization appear to be emerging again and begin building themselves up around the wreckage of the past to survive into the future. In the game, you go from Wasteland straggle to Wasteland master…but how you there is your choice.
One of the great things about this game is it lets you play as you see fit. From the moment your character leaves the “safety” of Vault 101, you are given the freedom to go wherever, whenever you want. You never know who you’ll encounter in either direction you travel. Wherever you go there always seems to be new surprises and people looking for help. The game also gives players several choices throughout missions. While these choices are your generic chocolate or vanilla flavors (aka: apparent good vs. evil), the consequences are great between choices and creates a unique experience individual to the player. Whole cities can be saved or leveled based on the simple choice of helping someone you just met.
The combat also does a wonderful job blending a mix of first person shooter and RPG shooting using the V.A.T.S. (Vault-tech Assisted Targeting System). Activating V.A.T.S. stops the action and zooms in an enemy and allows you to pick a specific region to attack along with a probability of hitting that region. Once all V.A.T.S. selections are made, the game goes into a satisfying slow-mo showing your character shooting at the enemy. While it sounds like it may slow the pacing of the game it doesn’t.
It felt good to step back into the dusty world of the Wasteland and travel down the blown apart trail. The game is huge and is made even bigger with all its expansion packs. Hopefully I can bring my 360 and game with me to the other side on Saturday so I can finish it. It might just take me close to eternity to complete it all the way.
Day 3 Preview: These guys really aren’t interested in your body.
Dragon Age 2
Introduction
Bioware’s Dragon Age: Origins was released in 09 and was said to be the spiritual successor to Baldur’s Gate. Origins gained the respect of many RPG fans due to it’s dark sided and mature nature. Dragon Age 2 has finally arrived with many new tricks up it’s sleeve. Does it hold up to the hype? Or is it a letdown? Read on!
You are Hawke, a Fereldan who is fleeing with his Family from a Dark Spawn invasion during the events of the first game. The story is told through a Dwarf named Varric who is being questioned by an unknown party. Spanning over the course of decade, Hawke’s rise to the Champion of Kirkwall is brutal, surprising and harsh.
The Gameplay
Dragon Age 2′s gameplay has been retooled somewhat. You now have the ability to manually attack enemies, and I don’t mean by using talents, you can now actually be the one who swings your weapon. This gives you the feeling of having more control, it doesn’t feel tacked on and is implemented nicely into the game’s combat. Don’t worry the game is nowhere near being a hack n slash. For some SUPER strategic players this could be distracting, but most should find it fair.
You may be one of three classes. The Warrior may use two handed weapons or a sword and shield to tank through enemies. A Mage can attack from a distance using their staff and wide array of magic. Or finally the Rogue, who can quickly attack using daggers or fight at a distance using a bow and arrow. The ability to choose other races is gone, as this game’s story is more focused on the actual tale of a hero. The work you put into Dragon Age: Origins hasn’t gone to waste though, your choices in the first game may be imported to the second and may change the lore of the world.
Now to get into the meat of the game. Dragon Age 2 takes you to the city of Kirkwall where you’ll find all sorts of shady characters. Throughout the game you’ll find party members, they actually have depth and staying friendly with some can be hard if you’re a real moralist. Quests can be found all over in Kirkwall or from members in your group. The game keeps you engaged, there’s usually always a place to go, a person to talk to, a group of baddies to fight, and a new threat on the rise.
Most of the game’s quests and main story do indeed take place in the city, there are plenty of moments however when you most go out of Kirkwall to surrounding areas in order to deal with certain issues. The game’s enemies are varied. In the first game the Darkspawn were the main foe, they’re still hanging around in this one but hardly. Now you’ll fight thugs, demons, even bigger demons, mages, corrupt templars, things from all over the spectrum which helps keep the surprise element there and makes you think of new strategies to fight these new baddies. The game has also gotten a bit more “violent”, allowing you to slice through a group of enemies turning them into puddles of gore.
Talking with and getting to know your companions more is important. The dialogue is interesting and gives the characters background, becoming friends or rivals with party members grants them bonus passive abilities. It may also effect the story in unforeseen ways. Leveling up the characters is strategic within itself, knowing what they’re best in and what attributes to boost up are key to winning tough battles. You may switch the weapons and items that your allies carry, but you cannot change their armor like in the first. Instead you will find items throughout the game that will automatically upgrade your party member’s armor. You can even craft certain items if you have the materials, which may be used to enchant your weapons giving them upgrades like fire or ice damage.
The game has certainly become more cinematic as well. Dragon Age 2 can get a fair amount of AI on-screen fighting while keeping a stable framerate, helping those epic moments feel epic. Key events that happen in the game can be approached differently and have alternate outcomes. Some can only be reached if you’re good enough, really. When you feel like you’re going to encounter a boss fight be prepared the battles can be long, endurance is what can pull you through and when you achieve victory you feel rewarded.
The Atmosphere
Dragon Age 2′s scenery, art style, characters and story truly shine in this game. The scenery and art style are fresh, giving the game a unique look. The characters are some of the most well thought out I’ve seen in a while, each have their own personality, history, and have something to contribute to the overall scheme of things. The Story is……. AWESOME. The choices made and people you associate with all matter, the game will throw curve balls at you and how you adapt to the situations will effect the outcome. You feel like Hawke really does rise up in the world.
The Verdict
Dragon Age 2 is, to me of course, an almost perfect role playing adventure. When you triumph over baddies you feel like a badass, especially when you’ve used one of my favorite strategies “hit and run.” Really though even if you’re not into more story driven RPGs like this, give this one a chance. It took me 31 hours to complete this game, and I didn’t do everything that I could. The people saying it’s too short should stop skipping dialogue or just stop tanking through the main quests. There’s been complaints about the graphics but I’ll tell you they’re fine, I think it’s more of the new art style that people aren’t liking.
CHECK IT OUT! The game is addicting, I beat it and wanted more. The story is compelling and the combat is fun. I really could not recommend this game to you anymore.
30 Reviews in 30 Days, Day 29: Mass Effect
In the review for Chrono Trigger, I mentioned it was once my favorite game of all time. After I had spent some time with StarCraft and Shenmue, I had to revise that a bit, dropping it to the position of best RPG I had ever played.
After playing Mass Effect, I had to revise that once again, this time saying it was among the best I had ever played. Bioware had finally done what I thought was not possible: make a game on par with Square’s masterpiece.
A pedrigree of great RPGs
To say people were anticipating the release of Mass Effect is a bit of an understatement. Not only did the game itself look amazing, but it was being made by one of the most well known producers of role playing games, Bioware.
Bioware has made some of the most well known RPGs on the market. Baldur’s Gate is the game that brought the company into the forefront, establishing it as a serious contender in PC RPGs. It followed this up with the critically acclaimed sequel and then the popular and acclaimed Neverwinter Nights. These games borrowed heavily from the tried and true RPG formulas of the day, though Bioware definitely put its own twist in each of them. The company had proven it was here to stay, at least in the PC market. The company’s biggest surprise was yet to come, however.
In 2003, Bioware released its first console RPG, Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic. People were stunned at just how good a game it was, if for no other reason than it was the company’s first foray into the consoles. The game was very well received by both critics and players, and for lack of a better way to put it, Bioware had arrived. The company’s next offering, Jade Empire, did not do quite as well, but at this point it could afford to have a game that just fell a little short.
So like I said, there was a lot of aniticipation surrounding Mass Effect. People could not wait to see what Bioware, who had revolutionized the way you interacted with NPCs in its earlier RPGs, was going to do with its first game on a next gen console. With such high expectations, it would have been easy for the game to fall short.
It doesn’t.
Amazing back story
To craft a game like Mass Effect, one of the first things you need is a credible back story. Bioware went out of its way to create one. The year is 2183, and humanity has made its way to the stars, only to find out it is not alone. They are now in what is known as Citadel Space, which is ruled by the Council. For the last several years, the humans have been pushing for inclusion in this council, but to no avail.
Mass Effect combines story, graphics and RPG elements to make one great game.
The Council has a group of hand picked agents referred to as Spectres. They operate above the law that normally governs most police forces, which leads to others treating them with both reverence and more than a little suspicion. Saren, one of the most respected Spectres, has turned rogue, aligning himself with a murderous group synthetic lifeforms called the Geth. It is up to you as Commander Shepard, the first human Spectre, to stop him. You will assemble a team that of several different characters, including both humans and aliens who all have their own reasons for wanting to see Saren stopped. At stake is the fate of the universe, though the true threat is much more than just the Geth.
As you begin to get the full picture of just what is going on within the game universe. you see how much time and attention Bioware paid to make Mass Effect so much more than just a game. It truly becomes an epic, culminating in one of the most amazing final hours of gameplay I have ever experienced.
Want to know what is even more amazing about the back story of the game? There is more than one. When you are designing your character, you get the normal customization you have come to expect from a company like Bioware: sex, facial features, build, hair and eye color, character class, etc. You also choose two part to your character’s back story. One is where you were born: space, a colony or Earth. The other is your character’s reputation, where you are given the choice of war hero, lone survivor of an alien attack or a ruthless soldier. Though these choices may seem rather minor, they will affect how others relate to you in the game and can influence certain side quests. It is a really nice touch.
The conversations are the key
When people talk about Mass Effect, they generally do not start talking about the combat. It’s not that the combat is horrible, though people who did not understand the game is an RPG at heart and expected it to play like a first person shooter were disappointed when they were not getting head shots with sniper rifles. The reason it is not the first thing that comes to mind is the combat is not what stands out about the game; it is the conversations.
Bioware took its conversation system from Knights of the Old Republic and overhauled it, adding to what was already considered one of the best in the industry. What makes the system in Mass Effect so impressive is it is so dynamic.
Whenever you enter a conversation, you are given options to choose just like in any RPG. One of these is usually considered a positive response, one more neutral and one negative. That is where this game breaks company with those that come before it, however, because you are not actually choosing what your character is going to say; you are choosing the attitude with which you are going to say it.
The intricate converstaion system really sets this game apart.
It’s really hard to describe this without giving an example. One of the earliest conversations you have in the game is with your pilot, who expresses concern that, for your first mission in this new ship, you are being accompanied by a Spectre (Shepard has not been elevated to Spectre status at this point). One of your choices on the conversation wheel is “You worry too much ,” which is a valid response and the one I chose. What Shepard actually said, however, was “You always look for the worst in any situation.”
So why is this important? It makes the conversations feel more fluid, more lifelike. You become much more interested in them because your character will not just parrot back the response you choose. What is even more impressive is that you are rarely taken out of this mechanic. Even in the games “cut scenes,” you are still choosing what Shepard is saying. When I took over the Normandy after being made a Spectre, I sat back for what was undoubtedly going to be the “motivational speech” from the captain. I had to pick the controller back up because, instead of just giving a wrote speech, I was given the ability to choose the overall theme and attitude with which it was presented. Bioware does not take you out of the game by going to cut scenes that play out some pre-programmed way; if Shepard is involved in the scene, it is a safe bet that you will have input.
BTW, you gain experience in the game based on how you handle the conversations.
The game is not perfect
Though Mass Effect is one of the best games I have ever played, it is not without its faults. Three stand out:
1) Technical Issues: Bioware was really pushing what the 360 could do for this game, and that lead to a few technical issues. One is texture popping, where the overall amazing graphics will take a little time to full load in an area, with finer textures “popping” into existence. This can be annoying, but it is nothing compared to the elevator load times. You will spend a lot of time in this game waiting in elevators, and though you will at least get a little bit of story while within the ones in the Citadel, their is nothing to help deal with the tedium of the one in the Normandy. In fact, Penny Arcade took a rather humorous stab at this in its Nitpicking: Mass Effect comic (warning, language is not safe for work, which is why I am not posting the comic in the article).
2) Combat Issues: As I mentioned earlier, the combat in Mass Effect is in no way broken. It can be a little unwieldy, however. It is a hybrid between third person shooter and RPG, with much more of an emphasis on the RPG side, something many gamers did not understand. You can pause time to choose your attacks and biotic powers (sort of akin to The Force in Star Wars) and to assign targets for your team members, which is a good thing. The biggest problem, however, is you cannot really direct your team mates to where you want them to go, at least on the 360 version. You can issue commands like stay or go to a certain location via the D-pad, but it is imprecise at best, and it can lead to your comrades getting in the way of your shots or just standing out in the open to be shot. From what I understand, the PC version corrected some of this.
3) Recycled Areas: Each of the major, story driven planets and areas of the game are unique and impressive. The side mission planets, however, pretty much all fall into a certain formula: barren land, a couple of outposts that look exactly alike on the inside, and maybe a cave. While the side missions themselves are often interesting, the areas themselves are not.
Even with these issues, Mass Effect still excels as a gaming experience. By the time you get to the end, you will not really care about the issues; you will be so engaged in the storyline they just will not matter. This game will make you laugh out loud, scream in fury and possible even choke up a bit, especially after having to deal with the consequences of one rather difficult decision.
I never thought I would find myself playing an RPG where I wanted to get past the combat to get to the conversations, but this game made me want to do just that. For forever changing the way I will think of storytelling in an RPG, Mass Effect gets a 5 out of 5.
One more to go. Funny thing is I would not really consider myself a serious RPG player, and yet 3 of my top 5, including the one I will review tomorrow, are RPGs.
Fallout 3
At long last Fallout 3 is finally upon us. From the studio that brought us the incredible Elder Scrolls games, comes the long anticipated sequel to the post apocalyptic series originally created by Black Isle Studios. Does Fallout 3 live up to the hype? Will series vets be pleased with this outing from Bethesda? Is Fallout 3 more than Oblivion with guns? Thankfully the answer to all these questions is a resounding yes.
Fallout 3 starts with you witnessing your birth in the confines of Vault 101. In the opening hour of gameplay you are introduced to the mechanics and story of the Fallout world, and while this serves it’s purpose it also creates for a slow start. Don’t be fooled by the beginning of the game’s snail pace though, because you quickly find out that life inside of 101 is not as friendly as it may appear. As something strangely prompts your father to make a run for it, you are left to make an escape or meet your own demise. It’s from here that your wonderfully, wild adventure to find your father begins.
As I finally made my way out of Vault 101 and into the sunlight of the nuked DC wasteland the overall vastness of Fallout was immediately apparent. Exploration is one of the key elements of an open world RPG of this nature and there is no lack of it here. My travels during the game had me venturing into makeshift towns pieced together from scrap airplane parts, subway stations teeming with ghosts, and many other unique locations.
One of the many questions I had coming into my time with Fallout 3 was how would Bethesda handle the dungeons in this game? After a short amount of time in Fallout you’ll notice that many of the games dungeons are simply cut and paste affairs. That’s not to say that this aspect of the game is flawed by any means, but the problem that I noticed after several hours of game play is that most of the game’s dungeons had that “been there done that” feeling. Dungeon crawling still presents fun game play, but you’ll want to spend most of your time sucking in the radiated outside air.
Combat in Fallout 3 is somewhat of a mixed bag. Battles can be approached from a variety of angles; there’s third person (throw this mode out the window), first person, and the distinctive V.A.T.S. (pause time, target a body part, attack) system. While no one approach is right or wrong, this isn’t a game that you’ll want to play through solely as an FPS nor is it a game that you’ll want to play through as a standard RPG. While Bethesda claimed in early interviews that you could play the entire game as a first person shooter, doing so will only result in frustration and looking at the “Game Over” screen many, many times. From my experience the best way to handle a fight is by combining quick attacks via first person mode with deadly blows through the V.A.T.S system. It’s an experience that takes patience and some getting used to, but with practice you’ll find yourself tearing through baddies in no time.
What’s a good RPG without a solid leveling and character progression system? Fortunately that question is not answered here, as Fallout’s character progression approach is top notch. You’ll find plenty of options when it comes time for your character to level up. The best approach to leveling is to focus in on only a few areas where you would like to progress and then throw all of your attribute points at those areas. What’s unique about this game is the Perks that you can also select for your character when you level up. Perks allow you to advance in specific areas quicker based on which Perk you choose.
The story line and character’s in Fallout are as top notch as every other aspect of this game. While you could plow through the main quest in 20 some hours, doing so would only do an injustice to the amount of work that Bethesda put into fleshing out the living, breathing world of Fallout 3. Everything from the voice acting to script screams blockbuster production. I came across characters that I grew to love and some that I loved to hate. Take your time with this game – stories like this don’t come along often in the video game world.
So is there anything negative about Fallout 3? Well, yes. Playing a game of this magnitude can become overwhelming at times and Fallout doesn’t do the best job at pointing you in the right direction. Sometimes exploration is the best route, but it would be nice if at times there was a little more hand holding. It’s a small hindrance, but one non-the-less. I also would have preferred for Bethesda just to do away with the third person option – yes you don’t need to use it, but why is it even there? I also felt like the gore was a little over the top. How many times do you need to see an enemies head explode off their shoulders? Other than these few, small setbacks the game is otherwise an incredible masterpiece.
Fallout 3 is an encounter with greatness that every gamer should take the time to experience. If you are a fan of Bethesda’s other outings then you should already have this game. Even if you never were able to play any of the Elder Scrolls games you still owe it to yourself to check this one out. An experience like this comes around only a few times in a consoles life, so what are you waiting for?