posted by Chris on April 30, 2008 8:03 AM in Games
Like most socially under-developed geeks, my mood is directly affected by the weather outside. While I don't like to go outside (I hear there are bears?) when the sun shines brightly through my apartment windows it lifts my spirits immensely and gets me motivated. Besides other activities such as painting and website stuff, I've been playing...
Call of Duty 4 - Still slowly progressing through the single player campaign and still being blown away by the production value. I've avoided online multiplayer like the plague, but a friend of mine suggested just shutting off voice chat, which seems to work like a charm!
Rez - Nothing like sitting down early in the morning to play through Rez in beyond mode. I like the fact that they give me a bunch of bonus modes and options to tweak things like my starting form and beam type. I've been messing with the sound and visual filters too, just for a little variety
Grand Theft Auto IV - Like everyone else in the world. It came early Tuesday morning and I played it into the night. I'm essentially a GTA virgin, though I did play a ton of the old top-down GTA 2 back in the day. I'm really enjoying GTAIV, way more than any of the previous titles. It has its flaws - visuals are often hit and miss, voice acting is dubious in parts (why does everyone sound like Triumph the Insult Comic Dog?) and your character controls like some sort of tank. Other than that, the story is fed to you in even enough intervals where you don't get overwhelmed by the amount of stuff you can do in the game, and the cell phone menu system is clever and very well integrated. I'm noticing little moments where Niko rests one foot on the curb while the other is on the street while chatting on the phone, or small details about the city that make it feel alive such as pedestrians getting phone calls themselves and having full conversations. I imagine I'll be discussing it more as I progress.
Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to try and make my in-game girlfriend not hate me anymore.
Read More:
Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare
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Game Diary
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Grand Theft Auto
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Rez
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posted by Chris on February 13, 2008 10:48 AM in Video Game Review
Tetsuya Mizuguchi's creations are transcendent. No other game developer has shown such an awareness of what makes games engaging on a base level. He creates whole experiences, such as Lumines, Every Extend Extreme and Rez that tap into a very primal part of our brains. Playing these games gets you into a trance as the sights, sounds and motions (the vibration of the controller and the pressing of the buttons) synchronize. I never had a chance to check out Rez when it was first released for the Dreamcast, and then I only recently picked up the PS2 version. I had heard people talk about the game for quite some time, most notably Gabe from Penny Arcade who used to obsess over the game in various news posts. Rez HD was my first time experiencing this particular world, and I have to say it's pretty crazy amazing.
There are only a few games that I have played in my lifetime that I can say are perfect gaming experiences. It's remarkable to me that out of those few games, most are created by Q? Entertainment. The feeling you get when you experience Rez HD is that of a futuristic Star Fox, but perfected. The gameplay is fairly simple, you move your reticule over enemies and it targets them. Release the button to fire. Stack targets for combo points. What is amazing is the translation of this simple on-rails shooter to complete sensory experience. Your shots fired sync in time to the music, which is synced in time to the vibration of your controller which is synced in time to the vibration of the other controllers surrounding you. That's right, you can use your additional 360 controllers to act as the "Trance vibrator". I found placing controllers behind my back and neck were ideal, helping me focus deeper on the game play experience.
The music is incredible. I could imagine a party being deejayed by someone playing Rez HD on a big projection screen, the music pumping loudly in time. In fact, out of everyone I have shown the game, no one has balked at watching me play. It's a fascinating game to sit and watch and contemplate. There's so much beauty going on all at once, it's difficult to keep track of what is going on at any given time. After about an hour of silence and watching me play, Qais said softly "I love video games". Any game that gets you to reaffirm your love of the medium is completely worthwhile. I am excited to see how else Mizuguchi is going to enrich our gaming experiences in the future.
Score: 5/5 An essential game that will reaffirm your love of the medium. A true work of art.
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Rez
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Xbox Live Arcade
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posted by Chris on January 28, 2008 5:55 PM in Podcast
Alright, who ordered the podcast with the large side of hateful banter and ridicule? Nobody? Well here's one on the house. On this week's podcast, Chris, Qais, Colette, and Mack wrap up the Mass Effect controversy with a discussion about griefing and revenge on the Internet. Are some types of griefing ok where others are not? We play a little Burnout Paradise and talk open-world games, destroy a little more of your faith in humanity, and discuss the record industry finally coming to the shocking realization that people enjoy convenience, especially when it's free. A wide variety of things! Things for you to listen to!
Download the show here, and subscribe to our feed!
Update: Apparently the Qtrax thing isn't real. The company seems to have lied about their record deals. Read more here.
continue reading "Podcast for 01-28-08 | Hating on the Griefers"
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Burnout
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douchebaggery
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griefing
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Rez
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posted by Chris on October 19, 2007 12:12 PM in Games, Video Game Review
There is no way in hell I can come even close to describing Every Extend Extra Extreme (or E4) as well as Tycho did today, but I will try my best. When I first tried Mizuguchi's Every Extend Extra for the PSP, I was a bit confused. Turned on to the game by its curious cover art (which features a minimalist style with the contours of a woman's face being traced by dripping rainbow strands) and pedigree (Q? Entertainment being the house behind Rez) I was eager to understand its strange, abstract concept. It was presented as a sort of top down space shooter would, like Asteroids or even Geometry Wars. I didn't seem to grasp the idea that there was a sort of rhythm game component, and its lack of a tutorial mode made things even worse. Instead of shooting at enemies, you destroy yourself, your explosive death cascading into passing baddies (I guess they aren't evil per sé, more neutral. Neuties?) which in turn explode and affect things around them. The goal is to get bonuses which extend the ever-counting down timer, and rack up a high chain score.
The Xbox Live Arcade version features the same style of game play, remixed, honed and perfected in gorgeous HD and eargasm inducing 5.1 surround. Remember the first time you played Geometry Wars? Yeah, it feels like that. The experience of the visuals matched with the thumping bass and rumbling controller, with the beat-based combo multipliers and trippy concept is so immersive it feels like a drug trip. One of the good ones. It feels like a game that a scientist would have subjects play while he was dosing a new form of MDMA, with tubes and nodules stick to their faces, their never-blinking eyes watering.
I still don't ultimately understand it. The game play relies on feelings and interpretation more than anything. I am beginning to understand why they avoided a tutorial, because so much of the experience feels like a learning process. It's intensely abstract but not boringly so. There is a classic arcade-style game beneath the artistic flair, one that I know is going to get a lot of play from me. E4 is available on XBLA now, and I highly recommend it. I was really looking forward to being able to play Rez for the first time when it comes out for XBLA, but now I can't wait.
Score: 5/5 Buy it!
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Every Extend Extra Extreme
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Q? Entertainment
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Rez
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Xbox 360
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Xbox Live Arcade
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