Curmudgeon Gamer
26 March 2008
Down the memory hole
So there are reportedly leaked maps of GTA4's Liberty City. Neat.
I guess it should have been obvious to me, but I'd just assumed they'd build detail into the "existing" Liberty City that we all knew from GTA3 and GTA:LCS. So much for all that.
I know Liberty City about as well as any fictional world I've played, and I am a little disappointed that I won't have that leg-up when GTA4 hits next month. It would have been neat to have some of that memory helping me get out of tight spots on the run...
I'm guessing that this is essentially what happened to Liberty City from the original GTA when GTA3 came out...
I guess it should have been obvious to me, but I'd just assumed they'd build detail into the "existing" Liberty City that we all knew from GTA3 and GTA:LCS. So much for all that.
I know Liberty City about as well as any fictional world I've played, and I am a little disappointed that I won't have that leg-up when GTA4 hits next month. It would have been neat to have some of that memory helping me get out of tight spots on the run...
I'm guessing that this is essentially what happened to Liberty City from the original GTA when GTA3 came out...
--jvm at 16:25
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[ 3 ]
11 March 2008
Review: God of War: Chains of Olympus (PSP)
In about the last year I've played God of War and its sequel God of War 2 to completion. The former is better with plot and the latter with combat, but both are well above average in both departments. With blood and nudity and a mythological soap opera, the God of War series strikes me as the modern male escapist fantasy equivalent of Burroughs's A Princess of Mars.
Last week the PSP received its own God of War game and I'm pleased to say that it recreates everything I loved about the PS2 games, including a decent story. Frankly, with external developer Ready at Dawn creating this prequel, I was concerned the plot would be second-rate. However, its proficiency at storytelling lags the original slightly while outdoing the sequel. This time we follow the adventures of Kratos, the superhuman servant of Ares, just prior to the events in the first God of War.
While Chains of Olympus succeeds at many things, I was most impressed by the pacing:
Interestingly, my favorite moment in the game didn't involve combat or a puzzle. As you may know, heavy doors and objects are lifted in God of War by pounding the circle button repeatedly. Near the end of Chains of Olympus, Kratos has to commit a difficult act of personal sacrifice which is acted out through circle-button mashing. It's a simple variation on a common mechanic, yet I thought it was effective in conveying the emotional weight of the moment.
All around, I enjoyed God of War: Chains of Olympus a great deal -- both for its gameplay and its furthering the story of Kratos -- and I recommend it.
Last week the PSP received its own God of War game and I'm pleased to say that it recreates everything I loved about the PS2 games, including a decent story. Frankly, with external developer Ready at Dawn creating this prequel, I was concerned the plot would be second-rate. However, its proficiency at storytelling lags the original slightly while outdoing the sequel. This time we follow the adventures of Kratos, the superhuman servant of Ares, just prior to the events in the first God of War.
While Chains of Olympus succeeds at many things, I was most impressed by the pacing:
- The opening level presents the game's biggest boss (but not the toughest one).
- The third is full of puzzles.
- The fourth provides you with the truly enjoyable hit-reflection ability.
- The sixth takes you to a whole new setting, with several new enemies.
- The seventh introduces a new and immensely rewarding weapon.
- The eighth is a series of strenuous battles, a plot twist, a final battle, and a clever little conclusion that leads directly into the story of the original God of War.
Interestingly, my favorite moment in the game didn't involve combat or a puzzle. As you may know, heavy doors and objects are lifted in God of War by pounding the circle button repeatedly. Near the end of Chains of Olympus, Kratos has to commit a difficult act of personal sacrifice which is acted out through circle-button mashing. It's a simple variation on a common mechanic, yet I thought it was effective in conveying the emotional weight of the moment.
All around, I enjoyed God of War: Chains of Olympus a great deal -- both for its gameplay and its furthering the story of Kratos -- and I recommend it.
--jvm at 20:41
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[ 2 ]
Patapon
Patapon is an exquisite little offering that can be snapped up for as little as twelve pounds fifty. It would be a crime not to.
The PSP always gets a rough time of things, mainly because it isn't quite the license to print money that the DS is. But how many great games have come out on the DS lately? Think about it. Not that many. I can only think of Apollo Justice and the new Advance Wars, and whilst I love the both of them they're basically sequels. Patapon feels like a fresh, vibrant excursion in a land of opportunity and bleeds a kind of effervescent vivacity all over the large, dead pixel prone screen of my chunky, fat PSP. This joy is contagious, and soon works its way into my eyes and brain, eroding away my cynicism and rendering my joyless nature inert and redundant. When Patapon is spinning happily away in the UMD drive, the PSP becomes the drab young girl in glasses who gets a makeover by the captain of the football team and everybody wants to sleep with by the end of the movie. It's like falling in love with your high school sweetheart, and then finding out she's also a millionaire.
It's got everything a crusty old relic (read: me) needs to enjoy a game. An intuitive and non-standard control system, flash art direction, army building and rhythm based gameplay. Also, it's practically doomed to an existence of never being truly appreciated in its time and becoming a cult classic. Those are the very best kind of games, because the few of us that play them can sit around and reflect on just how better we are than your average muppet.
Downsides? It's quite short and farming rare items can be pretty bothersome. Although, if you're one of the gazillions of WoW players, you'd think I was needlessly complaining.
The PSP always gets a rough time of things, mainly because it isn't quite the license to print money that the DS is. But how many great games have come out on the DS lately? Think about it. Not that many. I can only think of Apollo Justice and the new Advance Wars, and whilst I love the both of them they're basically sequels. Patapon feels like a fresh, vibrant excursion in a land of opportunity and bleeds a kind of effervescent vivacity all over the large, dead pixel prone screen of my chunky, fat PSP. This joy is contagious, and soon works its way into my eyes and brain, eroding away my cynicism and rendering my joyless nature inert and redundant. When Patapon is spinning happily away in the UMD drive, the PSP becomes the drab young girl in glasses who gets a makeover by the captain of the football team and everybody wants to sleep with by the end of the movie. It's like falling in love with your high school sweetheart, and then finding out she's also a millionaire.
It's got everything a crusty old relic (read: me) needs to enjoy a game. An intuitive and non-standard control system, flash art direction, army building and rhythm based gameplay. Also, it's practically doomed to an existence of never being truly appreciated in its time and becoming a cult classic. Those are the very best kind of games, because the few of us that play them can sit around and reflect on just how better we are than your average muppet.
Downsides? It's quite short and farming rare items can be pretty bothersome. Although, if you're one of the gazillions of WoW players, you'd think I was needlessly complaining.
--Martin at 07:32
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[ 0 ]
10 March 2008
Super Smash Bros. Bawl
I went down to the local ConHugeCo GameStopPlaceStoreThing yesterday and picked up my copy of Super Smash Bros. Brawl, the latest alternative the game industry has presented us for boring, painful life. All the way back, my mind was swirling with the possibilities: how would the workings of fate conspire this time to dash my hopes? Would the disc turn out to be broken neatly in two halves when I open the case? Would there be a wacky mix-up, and the game inside would be Sonic Riders? Would my car get sideswiped on the way back, leaving my organs strewn across the pavement, and as consciousness surrenders to death, would my copy of Smash Bros. Brawl lay sprawled mere inches from my rapidly stiffening arms? Would the game suck? Turns out none of this happened. Instead, the damn thing just doesn't work!
But it's just my Wii the game fails to work in. It works in my cousin's son's perfectly well, and at his place I was at least able to play the game for a couple of hours (under the disapproving glare of one of the visiting obnoxious local kids with which our street is cursed, they roam the road in packs). But whenever I tried to play it in my own Wii, the system would continually pop up one of those hateful "Disc is unreadable" errors, which Wiis present whether the disc's data is entirely opaque to the drive, or if even one byte of data is unreadable, drawing the whimsical ire of the Lockout Fairies.
Nintendo, at least, knows of the problem, and has a mechanism in place to handle repairs, and to their credit they provide free shipping and repair for affected systems. What they say is that, since the game is on a dual layer DVD, some systems whose lenses have gotten a bit dirty will fail to recognize the disc. This seems a little suspicious to me, since never before has a game disk failed to read in my Wii. In fact, it strikes me as more likely the result of a manufacturing flaw, whether one that directly makes dual layer discs unreadable, or maybe one that allows grime to get on the lens in the first place. Anyway, either way, the game still don't work.
And they considered the possibility that I might somehow enjoy the game on my cousin's son's Wii while mine is being fixed, because they want me to send my copy of Smash Bros. Brawl along with the system too.
But it's just my Wii the game fails to work in. It works in my cousin's son's perfectly well, and at his place I was at least able to play the game for a couple of hours (under the disapproving glare of one of the visiting obnoxious local kids with which our street is cursed, they roam the road in packs). But whenever I tried to play it in my own Wii, the system would continually pop up one of those hateful "Disc is unreadable" errors, which Wiis present whether the disc's data is entirely opaque to the drive, or if even one byte of data is unreadable, drawing the whimsical ire of the Lockout Fairies.
Nintendo, at least, knows of the problem, and has a mechanism in place to handle repairs, and to their credit they provide free shipping and repair for affected systems. What they say is that, since the game is on a dual layer DVD, some systems whose lenses have gotten a bit dirty will fail to recognize the disc. This seems a little suspicious to me, since never before has a game disk failed to read in my Wii. In fact, it strikes me as more likely the result of a manufacturing flaw, whether one that directly makes dual layer discs unreadable, or maybe one that allows grime to get on the lens in the first place. Anyway, either way, the game still don't work.
And they considered the possibility that I might somehow enjoy the game on my cousin's son's Wii while mine is being fixed, because they want me to send my copy of Smash Bros. Brawl along with the system too.
Labels: nintendo, repair, smashbrosbrawl, wii
--JohnH at 07:45
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[ 1 ]
07 March 2008
Time for a break
I'm due for a much needed holiday next week. I just grabbed a copy of God of War for the PSP and I have to say that it looks a lot better than I remember. I'll have to dig out my demo and see if there are noticeable improvements.
I also downloaded the PSP version of flOw, the relaxing game that previously had been a Flash game and later a downloadable PS3 game. Despite all the kvetching by the press about graphical slowdowns, this is really a very clean port. I recommend it for PSP owners, especially if you haven't played the PS3 version.
Meanwhile, I've not been blogging because my writing agreement with Next-Gen was extended from a monthly NPD column to include a weekly column. So, since late January I've been pouring my weekend free time into that work. For the curious:
Anyway, I've got next week's column in the bag and I'm hoping for a day or two of just pure gaming while I'm on holiday. Between my real job, time with family, caring for sick kids, being sick myself, and writing on the side I've had practically no time for games, much less writing about playing games.
I also downloaded the PSP version of flOw, the relaxing game that previously had been a Flash game and later a downloadable PS3 game. Despite all the kvetching by the press about graphical slowdowns, this is really a very clean port. I recommend it for PSP owners, especially if you haven't played the PS3 version.
Meanwhile, I've not been blogging because my writing agreement with Next-Gen was extended from a monthly NPD column to include a weekly column. So, since late January I've been pouring my weekend free time into that work. For the curious:
Anyway, I've got next week's column in the bag and I'm hoping for a day or two of just pure gaming while I'm on holiday. Between my real job, time with family, caring for sick kids, being sick myself, and writing on the side I've had practically no time for games, much less writing about playing games.
--jvm at 15:14
Comment
[ 1 ]
03 March 2008
Two steps forward, two steps back
I'm as big a fan of Moore's Law as the next guy, but I'm not sure why it needs to apply to the latest engine rebuild in Ultima Online.
Here's an Ultima Online: Kingdom Reborn client Ultima preview from Ten Ton Hammer via the Wayback machine set to Jan 28, 2007:
No, it doesn't do a thing to my videocard, but it grabs over three-quarters gig of my memory all by itself. That's not cool, and I've had it crash once already in less than three hours of play. The claim a five or six year-old computer would run KR "no problem" is absolutely bogus. My poor, poor spinning hard drive.
I hate to continue the downer thread I started and amended slightly over in the Game Journal, but seriously, the biggest shock to me playing last night was just how daggum similar the Kingdom Reborn client experience was to playing my Second Age client from 1999 (Exhibit A). I don't see that the UO team has found any distinct advantage of using 3D. The game is as it's always been. The problem's not the video, but the bloat of the code's inefficient foundation, I suppose.
Honestly, I'm happy to see Ultima Online's still alive. It's a great monument to the birth of the commercially viable MMORPG. I'll readily stipulate the user interface improvements are a huge change and somehow worthy of all the time that was required to recreate every freakin' tile of art for the new client, but for the life of me, I just can't yet see it. Third Dawn, UO's first shot at a 3D client, was a starker, more noticeable change than this. Love it or hate it, at least there was a discernible difference, noticeable within seconds of launch, that accompanied the sluggish performance. Then, you could at least put your finger on what you were waiting on Moore to speed up.
And as I pointed out in my Game Journal entry, what is the appeal for old-timers to return if they haven't purchased expansions since, say, the Second Age? I download gigs on gigs of new client, receive the same -- make that more sluggish -- play experience as 1999, and can't even see one new land or one new dungeon from when I played nearly a decade back unless I shell out the equivalent three months' virtual rent (ie, $30). Without the now long-delayed Stygian Abyss expansion, Kingdom Reborn is nothing more than an extended beta test accessible to those still willing to give UO a shot for old times' sake. I've finally begun to believe Lord British's leaving did shoot the game in the creative feet.
Ultima Online: Kingdom Reborn feels like we're treading water, and I'm surprised that's enough to keep the game afloat.
EDIT: I found a quote from RPG Vault attributed to J.P. "Grimm" Harrod whose titles at UO range from "2004 to present as Character Artist, Senior Artist, Art Lead, Lead Character Artist, Associate Art Director, and now, Associate CG Supervisor". That's a pretty good list. In any event, the quote makes me hope there's a future for UO:KR. Here tis, slightly truncated.
Obviously KR is more about opening up the client for modification than any sort of graphics improvement. Heck, KR even has a 2D compatibility preference, where you get to use ports of the old art in the new client. There's a reason the memory management is so poor; it's the innards have been rewritten like mad, opening it up to the XML, lua, etc toolbox that not so coincidentally matches World of Warcraft's.
KR now becomes an impressive, extremely long-term gamble that people will continue to appreciate what remains for all practical purposes a two-dimensional game, but at the same time will, for the first time, intentionally open the game up for the same sort of freely given, end user labor that's made World of Warcraft so popular. Take a look at the items at thottbot.com, for heaven's sake. This stuff, from prices at auction to stats, I think, are all the results of having good, standardized hooks for people to write add-ons into seemingly every facet of the game. Where is UO's thottbot equivalent, presenting easily searchable, extremely detailed information culled from the game and players on every item that's been in the game? Where is the "Auctioneer" mod that makes creating wealth in WoW a breeze? Without KR, such mods would never happen. Now, the technologies are there.
But will the players stay?
Here's an Ultima Online: Kingdom Reborn client Ultima preview from Ten Ton Hammer via the Wayback machine set to Jan 28, 2007:
Like the legacy client, 'Kingdom Reborn' is targetted [sic] toward a very low system spec. [UO producer Aaron] Cohen joked that the new client 'would not melt your videocard at all,' estimating that any computer bought within the last five or six years would run the new client, no problem.
No, it doesn't do a thing to my videocard, but it grabs over three-quarters gig of my memory all by itself. That's not cool, and I've had it crash once already in less than three hours of play. The claim a five or six year-old computer would run KR "no problem" is absolutely bogus. My poor, poor spinning hard drive.
I hate to continue the downer thread I started and amended slightly over in the Game Journal, but seriously, the biggest shock to me playing last night was just how daggum similar the Kingdom Reborn client experience was to playing my Second Age client from 1999 (Exhibit A). I don't see that the UO team has found any distinct advantage of using 3D. The game is as it's always been. The problem's not the video, but the bloat of the code's inefficient foundation, I suppose.
Honestly, I'm happy to see Ultima Online's still alive. It's a great monument to the birth of the commercially viable MMORPG. I'll readily stipulate the user interface improvements are a huge change and somehow worthy of all the time that was required to recreate every freakin' tile of art for the new client, but for the life of me, I just can't yet see it. Third Dawn, UO's first shot at a 3D client, was a starker, more noticeable change than this. Love it or hate it, at least there was a discernible difference, noticeable within seconds of launch, that accompanied the sluggish performance. Then, you could at least put your finger on what you were waiting on Moore to speed up.
And as I pointed out in my Game Journal entry, what is the appeal for old-timers to return if they haven't purchased expansions since, say, the Second Age? I download gigs on gigs of new client, receive the same -- make that more sluggish -- play experience as 1999, and can't even see one new land or one new dungeon from when I played nearly a decade back unless I shell out the equivalent three months' virtual rent (ie, $30). Without the now long-delayed Stygian Abyss expansion, Kingdom Reborn is nothing more than an extended beta test accessible to those still willing to give UO a shot for old times' sake. I've finally begun to believe Lord British's leaving did shoot the game in the creative feet.
Ultima Online: Kingdom Reborn feels like we're treading water, and I'm surprised that's enough to keep the game afloat.
EDIT: I found a quote from RPG Vault attributed to J.P. "Grimm" Harrod whose titles at UO range from "2004 to present as Character Artist, Senior Artist, Art Lead, Lead Character Artist, Associate Art Director, and now, Associate CG Supervisor". That's a pretty good list. In any event, the quote makes me hope there's a future for UO:KR. Here tis, slightly truncated.
I was hired on during the development of Samurai Empire... This was one of the first expansions, so we found ourselves having to reverse engineer a pipeline in order to get new assets in - and with no tools and no blueprint to follow.
...
The second thing was the development for Kingdom Reborn. As far as art goes, this was the renaissance for UO. We had an established pipeline and evolving tools, we had migrated to the latest versions of 3D Studio Max, and we finally had the opportunity to break the limitations of the 2D client that we had been confined to (nine year-old limitations, mind you).
Obviously KR is more about opening up the client for modification than any sort of graphics improvement. Heck, KR even has a 2D compatibility preference, where you get to use ports of the old art in the new client. There's a reason the memory management is so poor; it's the innards have been rewritten like mad, opening it up to the XML, lua, etc toolbox that not so coincidentally matches World of Warcraft's.
KR now becomes an impressive, extremely long-term gamble that people will continue to appreciate what remains for all practical purposes a two-dimensional game, but at the same time will, for the first time, intentionally open the game up for the same sort of freely given, end user labor that's made World of Warcraft so popular. Take a look at the items at thottbot.com, for heaven's sake. This stuff, from prices at auction to stats, I think, are all the results of having good, standardized hooks for people to write add-ons into seemingly every facet of the game. Where is UO's thottbot equivalent, presenting easily searchable, extremely detailed information culled from the game and players on every item that's been in the game? Where is the "Auctioneer" mod that makes creating wealth in WoW a breeze? Without KR, such mods would never happen. Now, the technologies are there.
But will the players stay?
Labels: UO
--ruffin at 12:42
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