Commentary on E3 - Part 1: Handhelds

Before I begin, it's worth noting that I don't currently own a handheld as I don't have a lot of use for one. I use my commute to and from work to listen to podcasts and catch up on RSS feeds and Twitter, so the only time I play games is when I'm at home, where the more attractive options of PS3 and PC gaming are available. That said, I used to own a DS and I occasionally miss lounging around in bed/on the sofa and being able to pick up and play a few levels of a 2D platformer, complete a mission of a strategy RPG or level some Pokemon. With two new handheld systems entering the fray, I'm keeping an eye out for anything that'll convince me to get back into portable gaming.

We're entering a familiar phase in handheld gaming that mirrors the rivalry between the original DS and PSP, with the recent release of the 3DS and the upcoming PS Vita. Both got a lot of attention in their respective press conferences at this year's E3, and it's clear that they're both still shooting for completely different audiences.

PS Vita - HD Gaming, But Smaller

In the months leading up to E3, there was a lot of news and speculation floating around the web about Sony's new handheld, previously code-named NGP. Officially announced in Sony's press conference as the PS Vita, this looks a lot like a modern version of the original PSP. Remember the PSP? It didn't do quite as well as Sony was perhaps hoping it would and was heavily overshadowed by the widely successful Nintendo DS. Its successor is going to need some changes in its approach to competing in the handheld market.

So, what is the Vita doing differently? Looking at the types of games announced, not a lot. Some of the games shown at E3 do look pretty good, but not at all suited to portable gaming. Uncharted is a fantastic franchise, but one of things that made Uncharted 2 so brilliant was how cinematic and epic it was. Picture in your mind some of those helicopter chases or the scene where Drake is leaping from jeep to jeep, and imagine it shrunk down to the small screen of the Vita. Something tells me it'll lose some of that cinematic quality.

It's the same deal with Wipeout, which will also be getting a release on the Vita. Wipeout is best played on a decently sized screen in 1080p, with a good sub-woofer blasting out its bass heavy soundtrack.

And how about Bioshock, characterised by its captivating atmosphere? Playing it in a public place is going to ruin everything that makes Bioshock immersive. I can hardly see Rapture being quite as creepy when you're sat on a bus behind two old ladies complaining about the price of tinned fruit. On the other hand, the crazy guy that shiftily looks around the bus and randomly yells at other passengers may add to Rapture experience, if you look at him as a potential splicer. Of course, that's a very situational occurrence.

These are the wrong types of games for a portable system. They're the games you want to play on a big HD screen for a couple of hours at a time and become completely immersed in, not when you want something more 'pick up and play' that you can dive into for as little or as much time as you have free.

It's not all bad though, as a few titles did pique my interest. Specifically, Little Big Planet looks very promising. Not only does it have that low-commitment, short burst style gameplay that's well suited to a handheld, but the Vita version brings something new in the form of touch controls. There's already so much the community has been able to do with the tools in Little Big Planet 2 on the PS3. Touch controls are going to add a whole new level to the game, and I can't wait to see what the creative minds of the LBP community can do with them.

As a final note, it looks like we're already heading into social networking integration, as the Vita's "Near" functionality will apparently allow gamers to comment on games that friends and other Vita users in your area are playing, as well as connect with each other to unlock extra items. That, at least, is something that you may find interesting if you're roaming around a lot with your Vita in your pocket, but again, that's very situational.

Nintendo 3DS - Déjà Vu, But In 3D

Nintendo is sticking to its usual strategy; more of the same. That's not always necessarily a bad thing, as some of the games shown off in Nintendo's press conference looked invitingly fresh, despite being part of extremely long running franchises. The Super Mario title for the 3DS looks like an excellent mix of the 2D and 3D elements of the best Mario games, and Luigi's Mansion 2 was a nice surprise as I really enjoyed the original game.

Unlike Sony, Nintendo is still focusing on games that rely less on production values and more on solid gameplay. They're going with what made the original DS sell so well; games that every member of the family can enjoy, as opposed to Sony who are still shooting purely for core gamers. You're not going to find epics such as Uncharted or God of War on the 3DS (the exception being Snake Eater, which seems a little out of place), but as I said, these aren't the sort of games you want to play when you're in a situation that warrants you reaching for your portable system.

Unfortunately, I personally haven't seen enough to be swayed. So far I haven't seen the 3D graphics as anything but a cool novelty that'll quickly wear thin. The new games in the usual Nintendo franchises are always fun, but are they enough to justify the purchase of yet another system?

With titles such as Resident Evil, Snake Eater and Tekken popping up, it seems Nintendo is going for more third-party support this time round, so perhaps we will get something other than just more Zelda and more Mario.

So with Sony slightly missing the point of a portable system and Nintendo playing it safe with what they've known to sell in the past, one can probably assume that handheld gaming isn't going to be making any giant leaps forward in the next few years. The handheld war quietly continues...

Review: Sonic the Hedgehog 4: Episode 1

Release Date: October 7, 2010
Developed By: Dimps, Sonic Team
Genre: 2D Platformer
Platforms: PSN, Xbox Live Arcade, WiiWare, iOS
Platform Reviewed: PSN

Leading up to the announcement of Sonic the Hedgehog 4, instead of raising hype by announcing which characters would be in the game, Sega gradually eliminated potential characters, eventually revealing that Sonic would be the sole hero of his latest adventure. Are Sega so out of touch with fans that they've only just come to the realisation that no-one wants monstrosities such as Rouge the Bat and Silver the Hedgehog tainting what was once a respectable series of games? Or were they aware all along, ignoring the collective sighs of gamers as they indulged in designing another redundant humanoid-animal to add to Sonic's crew? Neither is a particularly appealing reality.

Whatever the case, Sonic 4 is dubbed as the game that fans have been wanting for the past 15 years. The obvious question is “why did we get the 2006 Sonic the Hedgehog game instead?” The fact that they decided to name it as a direct sequel to fan-favourite Sonic 3 & Knuckles almost seems to imply that Sega wants to brush the troubled releases of the last decade under the Big the Cat skin rug.

Titled “Episode 1”, this is the first in a series of releases that will make up Sonic the Hedgehog 4. In this first episode you get 4 zones, each consisting of 3 acts and a boss, as well as 7 special stages in which you find the chaos emeralds.

There's Something Wrong With The Gravity!

Immediately after the nostalgic zone intro overlay disappeared, I noticed that the soles of Sonic's shoes were apparently coated in glue. Sonic's acceleration rate is severely sluggish. The protagonist who is characterised by speed is now having trouble getting started at all. There's also something seriously wrong with basic physics such as gravity and momentum, as Sonic will frequently come to a sudden stop in the air and fall down in a perfect vertical line. It means that getting used to the controls takes time; something that never happened in the original Sonic games that boasted fluid controls that allowed Sonic to spring into action quickly. Even when you do learn to make up for the engine's shortcomings, controlling Sonic just never feels quite right. This, being one of the great strengths of the earlier games, grants the game quite a significant handicap from the get-go.

Sonic is equipped with his staple moves, such as the spin dash, as well as the more modern homing attack, which comes as a double-edged sword. When you do eventually get Sonic running at the speed he's supposed to, using the homing attack can destroy a succession of enemies while keeping him moving. However, this also removes the challenge of the precision Badnik bouncing of the past, replacing it with a pinch of the much berated 'on rails' style of the newer Sonic games.

Deja Vu

The zones on offer are influenced by Green Hill, Casino Night, Labyrinth and Metropolis, though to say that the zones are inspired by classic Sonic zones is putting it lightly. At times it feels like you're just playing remixed versions of the aforementioned zones. The occasional new mechanic will pop up, such as using a flaming torch to light the way or casino style poker cards that can be flipped for bonuses, but this doesn't make up for the moments where you're faced with a section that has been ripped straight out of Sonic 1 or 2 and awkwardly shoehorned into the level. It's a shame, because the level of design that makes up the majority of Sonic 4's zones is what made the original games great. If it had been put to use in creating zones with new themes and mechanics, Sonic 4 would have felt much fresher.

Another complaint about the level design is that the dreaded bottomless pits often have no warning. There were many times I found myself falling to an unexpected death purely because I didn't see the pit coming. That's not challenging. That's just cheap.

The bosses are copied and pasted from the old zones of reference, with a slight twist revealing itself once the original version is defeated. The main audience of this game, Sonic fans, will naturally get through the first phase of the boss battles with very little thought. It's interesting to see a new mechanic added to each of the bosses, but most of the time, it's an awkward one that's more irritating than enjoyable. For instance, the Labyrinth boss now ends with a room of moving columns that must be used to reach Dr Robotnik/Eggman, before quickly finding and moving to the small safe spot in which you won't be crushed by them. This is mostly a case of dying several times to find out which are the wrong ways to reach that safe spot. Even when you do get it down, the sluggish movement of Sonic can still cause a frustrating instant death.

Speaking of bosses, Sonic 4 includes one of the deepest of gaming sins. Before fighting the final boss, each of the previous bosses must be fought in succession. Just as in every game that this boss gauntlet has appeared in, rather than actually adding anything to the game, it's nothing more than a lazy way of padding out the final level.

You'll find nothing new in the special stages, as Sonic Team have decided to recycle the most annoying of them all; the rotating mazes from the first game. There is a slight difference in that you now rotate the stage, rather than directly controlling Sonic, but there's still every chance for the smallest wrong movement to cause Sonic to fall straight into a "goal" pit, instantly throwing him out of the special stage empty handed. If they insisted on bringing back a classic special stage rather than designing a new one, it's a wonder they didn't bring back the infinitely more enjoyable blue sphere stage from Sonic 3 & Knuckles, or even the often remixed tunnel of rings that first appeared in Sonic 2.

Mega Drive Drums

Sonic 4: Episode 1 certainly looks like a 2D Sonic game. It's bright and colourful with a style heavily influenced by the Mega Drive games. The character models are decent enough, but are less detailed than the environment and thus look detached. Also paying homage to the classics is the return of the instantly recognisable 16-bit Sonic drums included in the game's soundtrack. In fact, every part of the music seems to be trying to recreate the style of the old 16-bit tunes, but unfortunately, it doesn't quite work and leaves the music feeling a little too primitive sounding. It doesn't help that most of the tracks are barely memorable or catchy, and loop far too quickly.

I did appreciate hearing all the old sound effects, such as when collecting rings, passing a starpost or bouncing off a spring, as they at least still sound like they mingle well with the overall style of the game.

So Close, Yet So Far

There is a half decent platformer in there somewhere, with some 2D Sonic-esque level design that the series has needed for a long time. But poor controls, unoriginality and lazy presentation mean that this is just another disappointment in the troubled last decade of the blue blur.

Calling it Sonic 4 was a big risk, and this first episode doesn't come close to living up to the name. Rather than feeling like a sequel to Sonic 3 & Knuckles, the step back to the style of Sonic 1 and 2, and the poor execution of basic Sonic gameplay result in something that resembles a bad fan game. In fact, you can still have a much better Sonic experience by playing the original games, which are easily accessible in the many compilations and digital downloads that have been released over the past few years. Why would you want to play a below average rehash of the brilliant 16-bit Sonic games when you can just as easily play the real thing?

There was potential here, and I just hope they use it to create something new and refreshing for episode 2.

Rating: 4/10

This Week, I 'Ave Been Mostly Playing... (05/06/2011)

...not a lot. As I tweeted, I've been ill all week, so I've mostly been feeling too drained to do anything, even video games. That's not to say I haven't played anything at all, though, so I'll briefly summarise what I have been playing when I haven't been having coughing/sneezing/having feverish dreams about vikings.

Sonic the Hedgehog 4: Episode 1

I finally got round to playing this and finished it in a couple of sessions. I suppose it's in the nature of episodic content, but £9.99 actually seems quite steep for a game that takes so little time to complete. There are a few things to do after completion, such as getting all the chaos emeralds and trying to get yourself on the online scoreboards, but I'm not entirely sure I want to. You'll find out why in my upcoming review.

Katamari Forever

I managed to pick this up fairly cheaply on Ebay. As far as I know, the original game was never released over here in the UK, but the hype surrounding it was enough to make me grab We Love Katamari (which was released here, thank King of All Cosmos) on release day. After so many enjoyable hours with it, I could hardly pass up on a 1080p Katamari adventure.

At first I found myself struggling to get back into the control scheme, but after about half an hour with it, muscle memory took over and I was fully back into Katamari rolling mode.

It's still just as comically weird as ever, and I love the robotic doppelganger of the King of All Cosmos. In fact, the King himself is probably one of our -- I mean, my favourite video game characters of all time. Royal Rainbow!

Team Fortress 2

This time we were joined by two more of our old WoW guild-mates and proved that more is indeed merrier. This time I was mostly focused on the heavy weapons guy, as he's the class I've been able to get the most kills on thus far, mostly due to the fact that less precision aiming is involved. Pointing in the general direction of the enemy and spraying bullets at them seems to work just fine for the time being, especially with the support of a friendly medic.

What I enjoyed most was when we were all able to get on the same team and work together on the map specific objectives. A small band of four players is just about enough to get the payload moving in Badwater.

World of Warcraft

I've just logged off from a WoW session where my druid finally hit level 58. I made sure to take the traditional "standing outside the portal" screenshot before stepping through into the twisted world of Outland. I've missed it. It looks like they've fixed the bug that made the floor of Shattrath city slightly wet. I appreciate that.

Review: Infamous

Release Date: NA: May 26, 2009, EU: May 29, 2009, AUS: June 4, 2009, JP: November 5, 2009
Developed By: Sucker Punch Productions
Genre: Third-person Action-adventure
Platforms: Playstation 3

It's hard to believe that I had shaky first impressions of Infamous. The shallow characters, dodgy animation and mediocre beginnings of the story were almost enough to put me off the game. I'm glad I stuck with it, though, as it turns out it has a lot more to offer than it first appears to.

Infamous literally starts with a bang, as the main protagonist, Cole MacGrath, unwittingly activates a mysterious object known as the ray sphere, creating a blast that devastates the surrounding city. Cole wakes from the explosion with electricity surging through his body, giving him superpowers. The city becomes a war-zone, with gangs of 'reapers' roaming the city causing as much chaos and destruction as possible. With his new powers, Cole is put to the task of retrieving the ray sphere by Moya, a government agent, while restoring order to the city along the way.

Characters are a strong component of a good story, so it's a shame that the characters in Infamous are so bland. Cole has little personality other than being a hardened badass with a gruff voice, and his comrades are no better. His best friend, Zeke, is your typical cocky (read: annoying) sidekick and the sort-of-ex-girlfriend Trish has almost nothing to contribute to the story other than being the mandatory love interest for Cole. The plot was making some effort at trying to draw me in with a few intriguing questions, but the one-dimensional characters and otherwise predictable storytelling held it back from becoming involving.

In fact, it's not until the latter parts of the game that the story picks up pace, and it wasn't until the very end that I was actually surprised by a plot twist. It was definitely becoming a good story, but sadly, it was too late. Similarly, the villains of the game were far more interesting than the good guys, and it would have been nice to see them have more screen time, especially in the early parts of the game.

Visually, it's a good looking game with a rich setting of apocalyptic urban blight. You get a good sense of the magnitude of the devastation as the citizens display feelings of despair and hopelessness, and the cityscape is littered with ruined buildings, broken roads and general rubble. The cut scenes are played out in a striking, moving comic-book style that fits in well with the game's superhero theme. Unfortunately, the presentation is marred somewhat by often inconsistent framerate and awkward animation. The characters move stiffly, especially when speaking. In a game that looks so great, the sub-par character animation sticks out like a sore thumb.

Don't Judge a Book By It's Cliched Gravelly Voice

Despite my qualms in the early stages of Infamous, by the time I finished the game, I was surprised at how much my opinion had heightened. What it may lack in story and presentation, it more than makes up for in gameplay.

The game resembles a third person shooter, only with electrical powers in place of guns. Many of the elements of a shooter are present, such as cover, grenades and sniping. Mixed in are a few extra powers that allow you to blast away in style, such as a shockwave that sends enemies flying and a ground slam that knocks down all enemies within a certain radius. Some of the later abilities are a real treat and it would be wrong of me to spoil the surprise. Powers can be upgraded with experience, gained from defeating enemies and completing both story and side missions.

The combat is the meat of the game and never really lets up from being challenging. As you progress and gain more of your powers, several variations of enemies enter the fray. When you move on to a new segment of the city, you face more powerful, tougher to kill versions of the enemies you've been fighting so far. Enemies will also use turrets and armoured vehicles to try and shred you into tiny pieces. The steady stream of new powers and enemies ensure that the combat never gets repetitive and remains enjoyable right to the very end.

If there's one niggle, it's that you sometimes find yourself in seemingly impossible situations that cause temporary spikes in difficulty. To then later acquire a power that's designed to combat the obstacle in question makes one wonder if the difficulty curve could have been somewhat smoothed by introducing these powers earlier. Sure, it's a lot more satisfying to develop a hatred for certain enemies before being handed the tools to fight back, but at the same time, if you've already learned to deal with them without the new power, it becomes relegated to a mere convenience.

The combat is aided by tight, responsive controls, which also shine while you're moving around the city and scaling buildings. One of the perks Cole gains from the ray sphere blast is the ability to climb buildings as effortlessly as some sort of arachnid-based superhero. Control-wise, it's as simple as tapping X and directing Cole to the next grab-able object on the side of the building. Along with the absence of fall damage, this makes traveling around the city a breeze.

Welcome to the Desolate Sandbox

The game follows a similar structure to that of the Grand Theft Auto series. You can roam around the city at will and progress the story by picking up missions in specific locations. At any time there can be one, two or three story missions on offer, along with a plethora of side missions. The main missions put you in various combat situations that get crazier, and as a result, more challenging, as you progress through the game.

It's during the main missions that the bulk of the "karma" decisions come into play. Infamous has a good/evil system, allowing access to specific powers based on your actions. Story-wise, these moral dilemmas aren't particularly deep or thought provoking. When a decision comes up, the action stops while Cole's inner monologue explicitly, and almost patronisingly, considers which option is good and which is bad, resulting in a moral system that's very black and white. With little effect on the overall story, it seems that the karma system is mostly a function of the gameplay. Since the most advanced upgrades to certain powers can only be obtained by becoming fully good or evil, the intended way to play is to choose your path at the beginning and stick to it. It does give the game some replay value, however, as there were a few choices I would have been interested in seeing the opposite outcome to.

The side missions are connected to small sections of the overall map and completion of each one removes enemy influence, in a similar vein to the gang warfare missions in San Andreas (though capturing territory in Infamous is permanent). While the types of side missions do repeat, there's enough variation to keep them from becoming stale, and the fact that they're short and simple means you can knock out a fair amount of them without straying from the main story path for too long. And with an obvious reward for completing them, seeing a side quest icon pop up on your mini-map is far too tempting to ignore.

Overall

Despite it's flaws and a mostly uninteresting story, Infamous is a game with a lot of potential for enjoyment. Though it starts out slow, stick with it and the precise controls and collection of awesome powers turn this game into 15-20 hours of entertaining, electrically charged mayhem. It's proof that sometimes, solid gameplay is all you need for a game to radiate greatness.

I'm happy to say that I'll gladly be going back for a second play-through in the near future, to explore the evil side of Cole.

Rating: 8/10

If you like the sound of it, Infamous will be on offer for free when the PSN Store returns!

This Week, I 'Ave Been Mostly Playing... (29/05/2011)

Infamous

I finished it! I'll be posting a review within the next couple of days, so I won't say any more about it here.

World of Warcraft

I take back what I said about Un'goro Crater last week, as we ended up rage quitting the zone due to some truly terrible quests. One such quest involves taking an NPC knight around the most densely mob-populated area to complete various tasks. Of course, he loves to aggro everything in sight, so you spend most of your time wading through unnecessary combat to reach your next goal. You can dismiss him, but for some reason you have to run back to the random place he's standing in to have him follow you again. Other than that, there just seems to be a lot of needless running back and forth. What a shame that one of my favourite zones is now one of the most annoying.

We decided to go all the way to the other side of the world to the Swamp of Sorrows next and plowed through all of the quests there this evening. It's good to see that there's actually something there these days. It makes me wonder if any of the other previously 'empty' zones have been updated with more quest-lines.

We're now level 54 and just starting on the Blasted Lands. The Dark Portal looms...

Lego Pirates of the Caribbean
 
I've played this a couple of times this week and I'm almost at the end of the second film. I don't really have any more to say about this other than that I'm still enjoying it.

Team Fortress 2

Even more shocking than the fact that I dabbled in an FPS game is that I actually went back for seconds! I've been mostly sticking to the soldier class because it seems to be a general all round killing machine. Now that I've got into the habit of shooting the rocket launcher at the feet of my enemies rather than over their heads, I'm actually getting some kills in.

While it's great to play on maps that involve a lot of teamwork, it was fun to jump into a small map with around 32 people playing, where the team objectives were mostly being ignored in favor of a massacre. Picking the heavy almost felt like cheating. Fun, though.

What's Next?

Before starting on my next main game, I'm finally going to play Sonic 4. I have no idea what to expect as I made a point of not reading any reviews before playing it, so as to not go into it with any preconceptions.

After that, I think I'll finally, FINALLY, play Dragon Age: Origins. I've had it for over a year, and whenever I've tried to play it, something has always got in the way. Mostly it was the fault of my last PC, which broke down on a regular basis. Lesson learned; never buy a pre-built PC; always build. I don't know what possessed me to do so in the first place.

Happy Places

To stop us all from going completely insane from the stresses of life, we human beings seem to have developed a defense mechanism known as the 'happy place'. This is a place we can picture in our mind and is usually our own personalised space in which we can be in complete tranquility. Sometimes, this place can be inspired by locations in books, films or video games. One bonus that comes with video game happy places is that you can actually walk around in them, developing very strong memories that can later be invoked by a number of stimuli, such as colour or music. Video games are a form of escapism which isn't necessarily confined to when you're actually playing the game. Find that perfect happy place in a game and you may find yourself returning there in daydreams.

Below are some of the happy places I've become attached to in the games I've played.

The Moonflow - Final Fantasy X

The Moonflow is a rather beautiful place. A massive river that sparkles with the light of pyreflies is quite obviously a spectacle. But it's the paths on either side of the Moonflow that I find the most serene. You travel through this area in the early hours of the morning while the sun is rising, creating a brilliant orange sky. The trees on either side of the trail hang overhead and allow small specs of warm amber light onto the otherwise shaded path. This, coupled with a perfectly atmospheric arrangement of the game's main theme, means you can almost taste the fresh morning air.

In fact, this is a case where the music really makes it for me. Like many of the pieces from the Final Fantasy series, I can listen to them and instantly visualise specific moments or locations in my mind. Listening to this particular track creates a relaxing image of early morning sunlight trickling through tree branches and leaves.

Nagrand - World of Warcraft

Gameplay wise, Nagrand is mostly terrible. The quests are long and repetitive, partly due to the presence of the hunter Hemet Nesingwary, who gets his thrills by sending out the heroes-in-training of Azeroth to mindlessly slaughter ridiculous amounts of the local fauna. Dull isn't the word.

It's odd, then, that Nagrand is actually one of my favourite zones. Taking a step back from the quests and looking at the landscape of the zone reveals a hauntingly solitary place. Nagrand is one of the only areas in Outland that isn't a hellish wasteland and sits, tucked away, in the corner of an otherwise devastated world. The luscious green hills give it the feeling of a preserved paradise, but the wondrous floating islands and curious native wildlife add an extra layer of an alien place, far away from home. And because Outland is two expansions old, Nagrand is mostly bereft of other players, meaning it's a place in the massive World of Warcraft in which you can be mostly alone. Sometimes you just need to get away from the bustling streets of Orgrimmar/Stormwind.

Typewriter Rooms - Resident Evil Series

Up until the fifth main game, typewriters were the only means of saving your game in the Resident Evil series. Typewriter rooms were a safe place; a stark contrast to the typical survival horror setting outside, where you were always one step away from something leaping out of the shadows and ripping your head off. It's the nature of games such as these to be as far from relaxing as possible in order to imbue feelings of dread and terror, so Resident Evil might seem a little out of place in this list of 'happy' places. But the reason I chose to include this is that I'll never forget that massive feeling of relief every time I managed to reach a typewriter room and save my game, knowing that there were now a few less horrors to face before finally escaping this nightmare.

The Normandy - Mass Effect 2

This really applies to both games, but the redesigned Normandy in the second game is just so much better. The Normandy is an example of something I love to see included in any exploration-based game; a place to call home. Bioware really went the extra mile to give the Normandy that "home sweet home" feeling. Commander Shepard has his own private quarters, complete with a variety of chill-out music, a place to display his collection of model ships and of course, that lovable companion, the space hamster. Outside of Shepard's quarters you have all the facilities you need, such as a laboratory to conduct research and a computer to check your emails.

Each member of your crew has their own space that they like to hang out in. Encouraging you to frequently wander about the ship is the fact that quite a lot of character development comes from on-ship conversations. It's nice that it's not all business with them and that you can actually develop friendships with your fellow squad members, to the point where they almost seem like family. Home sweet home, indeed.

The Outer Continent - Final Fantasy IX

Similar to Nagrand, I find myself drawn to this area due to how far away from the more populated parts of the world it is. That's not to say I don't enjoy places of bustling civilization, as they actually enhance the contrast between the more populated and unpopulated locations of the game. After spending the first third of the game traveling around the various towns and cities of the Mist Continent, having war and strife follow you at every turn, it's a breath of fresh air to find yourself so far away from it all. The Outer Continent is mostly deserted, and the few small settlements you do come across know only peace.

There's also a nice amount of culture shock to further distance yourself from the war-torn continent you've come from. You've got the dwarves of Conde Petie, with their charming mannerisms and language, and the denizens of Black Mage Village, who almost appear childlike in their innocent curiosity. It's definitely one of the more peaceful sections of the game (for a while).

Do you have a 'happy place' inspired by a video game location? Do share!

This Week, I 'Ave Been Mostly Playing... (22/05/2011)

Infamous

It's been a busy week, so I've only played this a couple of times. I still haven't finished it, but I get the feeling I'm about three quarters of the way through. I've come to accept that the characters are never going to be particularly interesting, so I'm just going with it and enjoying the gameplay, which gets better and better as more powers are acquired. It does seem like some of the powers I've gained would have been massively useful in some of the previous sections, but I suppose that only adds to the satisfaction of finally having the tools to fight back against the more annoying enemies.

I'm glad to see that, in such a combat heavy game, the enemies have become increasingly difficult to overpower. There's a modest amount of variety in types of enemies that attack you, and even though the later enemies are just tougher versions of the existing ones, they still ensure that the challenge curve is maintained enough to remain engaging.

Perhaps I'll actually get Infamous finished this week. For such a short game, I seem to be taking my sweet time with it. I suppose the distracting side quests are partly to blame.

World of Warcraft

Level 50! I noticed a new ability popping up that boosts your stats if you're wearing the armour type (leather, mail etc.) that your class is supposed to be wearing. That's a rather sneaky way of stopping restoration druids wearing cloth and fury warriors wearing leather/mail. That is, if that was still happening at all, but I can't think of any other reason why this new ability has been implemented.

My little band of levelers has reached what has always been one of my favourite zones; Un'goro Crater. I love how much it strays from the traditional Warcraft areas of the RTS games while still, somehow, fitting in just fine with the rest of Kalimdor. I'm happy to see that it remains mostly unchanged by Cataclysm. We've only made a small start on the quests, but they seem to have been somewhat updated, and there's always the possibility of some new quest lines later on. The landscape, however, is still very familiar to me, and for that I'm thankful. I was worried that Cataclysm was going to change Azeroth so much that I'd actually miss the older versions of some of the zones, but Blizzard have done a good job of giving major overhauls to the zones that needed it, while only making subtle changes to others.

Lego Pirates of the Caribbean

I've played a few of the Lego games and, despite their simplicity and lack of real challenge, I've always enjoyed them. It's probably a mix of nostalgia at being able to play with Lego again (sort of) and being a fan of the source material. I love the Pirates of the Caribbean films (yes, all of them), so I was very happy that this was the next series to be given the Lego treatment.

I started playing today and got through the first three levels. So far, it's pretty much the same gameplay I've come to expect from a Lego game. That's not necessarily a bad thing, however, and I have already noticed a few smaller improvements, such as some of the puzzle elements being a little more obvious. One of the problems with past Lego games was that you'd occasionally find yourself completely stuck, simply because one or two of the puzzle elements weren't clear enough. You knew what you had to do, but how to do it could sometimes be a little too confounding. Lego Pirates includes some handy on screen prompts, showing which parts of the environment you can interact with using the item you're currently holding. Sure, it makes the game a little easier, but challenge never was the point of the Lego games.

What's Next?

Hopefully the end of Infamous is what's next. Other than that, I'll continue playing Lego Pirates, power on towards the ever-closer Dark Portal in WoW, carry on wondering if I'm ever going to reach the end of the first chapter in The Sims Medieval and maybe even finish that Napoleon game in Civilization V.