Why twitter is the greatest thing ever…
…because now we can see things like this.
Oh, and twitter has shown today how it can be both a tool for news and for real, human, almost terrifying drama. Check out @Change_for_iran.
Shiny.
Still being worked on… but shiny, isn’t it?
Posted 2 weeks, 6 days ago at 9:42 pm. Add a comment
Unreal Cover Engine 3
I realised the other day that a lot of games using Unreal Engine 3 use some sort of cover mechanic. It’s like some sort of epiphany.
Gears of War 1 & 2, Rainbow Six: Vegas 1 & 2, Mass Effect, Army of Two, Brothers in Arms: Hell’s Highway, The Bourne Conspiracy, 50 Cent: Blood On The Sand are the prominent ones. On second thought… looking at the list of games using UE3, there are so many more games than I expected to use UE3. The cover-shooter games are kinda dwarfed. I thought it was a overwhelming thing.
Oh well. But looking at the Cover-Shooter to Non-Cover-Shooter Ratio, Unreal Engine 3 has the most. And it has the largest Grimy-Dark-Brown-Games to Non-Grimy-Dark-Brown-Games ratio.
On another note, Uncharted 2 looks absolutely awesome.
Posted 1 month, 2 weeks ago at 6:43 pm. Add a comment
Mass Effect 2
The “Mass Effect noise” at the end (is there anything else it can be called?) sends shivers down my spine. Mass Effect was one of the best 16 hours of gaming I’ve ever had, and that one noise manages to evoke it all in my mind. Cool.
As for the actual trailer… cool. Not much to it apart from hype, but Shephard as a Geth? Possibly the next villain? I guess it’s one way of keeping the continuity across everyone’s game, considering every Shephard is different. If he’s a geth (IE completely changed his appearance) then it keeps it all on the level. But I was looking forward to transferring my Shepherd over from my ME1 saves, if that was going to happen.
On another note, I finished The Lost and Damned (the GTAIV expansion) today. An excellent 9 hours or so of gameplay, if I manage to I’ll write up a full blog post about it.
Posted 4 months, 1 week ago at 5:02 am. Add a comment
Mirror’s Edge Thoughts
I finally got to sit down and play through about half of Mirror’s Edge. What went wrong, DICE?
Ever since the first footage of the game was shown, I was in awe. What a beautiful, amazing game. From the stunning visuals to the unique gameplay, to the lovely soundtrack… it looks stunning. And I’m sure you’ll agree. And nothing has changed drastically in either the gameplay or the visuals department. So what went wrong?
The pitfalls of Mirror’s Edge have been talked about by pretty much everyone. Having played it myself, I can agree wholeheartedly – the combat, and level design. Oh, and the story. After the first mission, you’re forced into this story you don’t really care for. You’re confined into a building almost immediately after having only a taste of the freedom of the outside. Sure, you get some of that later, but it’s all underground tunnels and sewers elsewhere.
The game sometimes knows it’s good. Sometimes, you catch moments of brilliance and a truly classic game inside. But somewhere, somehow, someone thought that saying you should “always avoid enemies” and then forcing you to fight your way through groups of them was a good idea. And the first time it did this, it didn’t even make it clear – I was sprinting around in this small area trying to run my way out while being shot to bits. It was disastrous.
I could go on for a bit longer about this. I can only hope that Mirror’s Edge 2 (Subtitle: At the Edge Again) will be greatly improved. DICE, I know you can make a good game. The battlefield series are good. (I can forget about 2142, it’s ok.) So please, make Mirror’s Edge 2, if there is one, better. You have the vision to do so.
And now, I point you towards what other people have written about the game. Tom Francis (Of PCG) has written loads about it. From the police, to the combat, to art and motion, to simply taking in how stunning the game looks. And RockPaperShotgun’s take on the game is a good read too.
