Since all of the dictionaries have added their new words for this year, I would like to propose one for next year. So please, help me get it in there by using it every chance that you get.
Chris-christie - verb- To cause traffic chaos, either intentionally or unintentionally, by closing off all off ramps to a roadway, while leaving open all of the on ramps; the accidental or deliberate act of a road crew or government agency that causes unnecessary traffic back up due to bad planning.
I know that this doesn't sound remotely gaming related, but last week I was stuck in traffic so bad that it took me 45 minutes just to move three miles. Once I was finally able to get to an exit, I had another half an hour or so added to my commute. This takes away serious game time. Especially since I was too pissed to play anything once I finally made it home.
Then yesterday, I lost close to another hour, while trying to take Harlem Avenue over I-55 (not entering the expressway, just taking a bridge over it), because there was un-posted roadwork on the bridge, and the State Police decided to let people get off 55 for five minutes at a time, while people that were forced onto the expressway only had 30 seconds to move per turn.
The stupidest part? Maybe 90% of the people getting off the expressway just went straight back on, since there was no other way to head north in the area. Just closing the exits on 55 would have solved most of the traffic issues.
So now I am suggesting a new word for the world, because some idiot at IDOT did a chris-christie at the off ramp from 90/94 to I-290, as well as the chris-christie on Harlem, without posting warning signs.
50 Year Old Gamer
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Thursday, May 28, 2015
Wednesday, May 20, 2015
Why Financial Conservatives Can't See The Big Picture
As I stated in a previous blog, Illinois Governor Bruce Rauner removed all social safety net spending from the State budget. He wanted to get rid of the State's deficit by removing all "unnecessary" funding. Let's ignore the fact that he inadvertently said that all people on welfare, have a disability, or are on unemployment are basically worthless to society. Let's also not talk about the fact that he is about to raise property taxes (he said they'd go down with his new system), and give more tax breaks to the upper 1%. Instead, let's focus on the financial drain that Rauner is creating.
Hundreds of social agencies are either letting people go, drastically cutting employee hours, or both. This means that thousands of people are now going to be earning less. As such, we will also be paying less in taxes that are supposed to go to Rauner's business owner friends. You know, the ones that get subsidies for shipping jobs overseas.
Besides the direct loss of tax revenue, those of us affected by Rauner's new budget will be spending less on everything. That means no small item purchases, like clothing, computers, or household items. No big ticket items like housing, cars, or furniture. Forget about investing through stocks or bonds for Illinois businesses. Forget about being able to save for your children's college.
And as we stop spending money on these items, we also stop generating sales tax. A tax that is estimated when planning the State budget. Which means it will not be truly balanced in the long run, resulting in a deficit again next year. That means next year, working class people will have to cut their spending even more, resulting in fewer sales for businesses, fewer education funds for children, and less sales tax for the next budget.
When I was a kid, I grew up on the far south side of Chicago. We had several steel mills, Ford, Dodge and GM had thriving factories in the area. We also had farms scattered around, a small airport in Lansing, and of course, shopping. I visited a friend that still lives there the other day (Hi, Shawn). I knew the plants and factories had long since died out, thanks in part to the Regan presidency and his fiscal stupidity (remember "trickle down economics?").
The farms also started to get paved over, during the Farm Aid area of fiscal idiocy. Not that Farm Aid was idiotic. It helped out farmers that truly needed aid. It was the whole idea that land taxes were more important than the food produced, unless you were part of a national farm system, the kind of commercial farms that McDonald's or Kraft has.
The Lansing Municipal Airport is still listed in search engines. I didn't have the heart to see if the parachute club was still there. The one that used to bring in spectators like my grandfather and myself, who'd go there on Saturday mornings, watch the beautiful parachute designs, then get a hair cut, shop, or do whatever we had to do.
Besides the factories, mills, and farms, the major thing that is now missing in the area is the revenue that they provided. Sales from fresh produce sold right on the farmer's property. American made steel formed and cut here in Illinois. The American made cars that we so proudly owned and showed off when we bought them. Bought with the jobs that these farms, mills, and factories provided.
I know the first thing that fiscal conservatives say is that it's the unions' fault that all of this went away. They want people to believe that greedy, working class people that insisted on a wage that would feed their families, clothe their families, house their families, and if the kids wanted to go, would provide a college education for their families.
The fiscals are wrong. The wages helped to buy the items that were made or grown at these places. Living wages produced sales that helped to keep the companies in business profitable. It also provided sales taxes from both the industries and the workers that helped to build the State into a once great place to live.
I still remember what it was like before the first expressway came into my family's life. I-90/94 made it possible not just for my family to commute faster and easier to relatives many miles away. It also allowed children in the far south suburbs a faster, more economical way to get to Chicago museums like the Adler Planetarium, The Museum of Science and Industry, or the Natural History Museum. And of course, the roads provided industries in the area a fast, cheap, easy way to get their products shipped around the area, and into other states as well.
Industries did not create the highways and express way systems, taxpayers did. Despite what the people who watch FOX News want you to believe, it was not fiscal conservatism that created our public roads, it was us, the tax payer. Rich and poor alike. All because we paid our fair share of taxes, and were actually proud to do so.
Our national pride is eroding rapidly. Our school system is no longer the best in the world. Our dollar is no longer the strongest in the world. We are not the healthiest, smartest, or the most ambitious nation in the world. Slowly, we are becoming a Third World Country. All because of fiscal conservatives that think the Victorian Era was the right way to live. Bring back the debtor prisons, arrest the poor, and force them to work in sweat shops for pennies a day.
As long as we, the voters, allow our politicians, Democrats and Republicans alike, to keep opening new tax loopholes for the richest of us, and keep forcing the hardest working among us to pay all of the taxes, the fiscals will keep making life harder for us. They can't see the big picture, because they won't admit that it's there. It really is that simple.
As long as they see Atlas Shrugged as a blue print for a better society, a society where the rich don't have to be taxed, and workers shut up and stay in their place, we will keep loosing more and more equality in a country that claims "all men are created equal."
So good bye social safety net. People with mental disabilities are already starting to take up jail space, because we don't have the funds to care for them. To provide them the extra help in terms of housing or job training that they need to be profitable in the eyes of the fiscally conservative. Politicians like Bruce Rauner will never see them as respectable members of society. All because fiscally conservatives can't see what the big picture is.
We are a society. Society means all people, not just the rich. Not just the beautiful. Not just the smartest. Society is all people. Rich and poor, physically able and those that aren't for any reason. That's the big picture. And politicians like Rauner just refuse to admit that it exists.
Hundreds of social agencies are either letting people go, drastically cutting employee hours, or both. This means that thousands of people are now going to be earning less. As such, we will also be paying less in taxes that are supposed to go to Rauner's business owner friends. You know, the ones that get subsidies for shipping jobs overseas.
Besides the direct loss of tax revenue, those of us affected by Rauner's new budget will be spending less on everything. That means no small item purchases, like clothing, computers, or household items. No big ticket items like housing, cars, or furniture. Forget about investing through stocks or bonds for Illinois businesses. Forget about being able to save for your children's college.
And as we stop spending money on these items, we also stop generating sales tax. A tax that is estimated when planning the State budget. Which means it will not be truly balanced in the long run, resulting in a deficit again next year. That means next year, working class people will have to cut their spending even more, resulting in fewer sales for businesses, fewer education funds for children, and less sales tax for the next budget.
When I was a kid, I grew up on the far south side of Chicago. We had several steel mills, Ford, Dodge and GM had thriving factories in the area. We also had farms scattered around, a small airport in Lansing, and of course, shopping. I visited a friend that still lives there the other day (Hi, Shawn). I knew the plants and factories had long since died out, thanks in part to the Regan presidency and his fiscal stupidity (remember "trickle down economics?").
The farms also started to get paved over, during the Farm Aid area of fiscal idiocy. Not that Farm Aid was idiotic. It helped out farmers that truly needed aid. It was the whole idea that land taxes were more important than the food produced, unless you were part of a national farm system, the kind of commercial farms that McDonald's or Kraft has.
The Lansing Municipal Airport is still listed in search engines. I didn't have the heart to see if the parachute club was still there. The one that used to bring in spectators like my grandfather and myself, who'd go there on Saturday mornings, watch the beautiful parachute designs, then get a hair cut, shop, or do whatever we had to do.
Besides the factories, mills, and farms, the major thing that is now missing in the area is the revenue that they provided. Sales from fresh produce sold right on the farmer's property. American made steel formed and cut here in Illinois. The American made cars that we so proudly owned and showed off when we bought them. Bought with the jobs that these farms, mills, and factories provided.
I know the first thing that fiscal conservatives say is that it's the unions' fault that all of this went away. They want people to believe that greedy, working class people that insisted on a wage that would feed their families, clothe their families, house their families, and if the kids wanted to go, would provide a college education for their families.
The fiscals are wrong. The wages helped to buy the items that were made or grown at these places. Living wages produced sales that helped to keep the companies in business profitable. It also provided sales taxes from both the industries and the workers that helped to build the State into a once great place to live.
I still remember what it was like before the first expressway came into my family's life. I-90/94 made it possible not just for my family to commute faster and easier to relatives many miles away. It also allowed children in the far south suburbs a faster, more economical way to get to Chicago museums like the Adler Planetarium, The Museum of Science and Industry, or the Natural History Museum. And of course, the roads provided industries in the area a fast, cheap, easy way to get their products shipped around the area, and into other states as well.
Industries did not create the highways and express way systems, taxpayers did. Despite what the people who watch FOX News want you to believe, it was not fiscal conservatism that created our public roads, it was us, the tax payer. Rich and poor alike. All because we paid our fair share of taxes, and were actually proud to do so.
Our national pride is eroding rapidly. Our school system is no longer the best in the world. Our dollar is no longer the strongest in the world. We are not the healthiest, smartest, or the most ambitious nation in the world. Slowly, we are becoming a Third World Country. All because of fiscal conservatives that think the Victorian Era was the right way to live. Bring back the debtor prisons, arrest the poor, and force them to work in sweat shops for pennies a day.
As long as we, the voters, allow our politicians, Democrats and Republicans alike, to keep opening new tax loopholes for the richest of us, and keep forcing the hardest working among us to pay all of the taxes, the fiscals will keep making life harder for us. They can't see the big picture, because they won't admit that it's there. It really is that simple.
As long as they see Atlas Shrugged as a blue print for a better society, a society where the rich don't have to be taxed, and workers shut up and stay in their place, we will keep loosing more and more equality in a country that claims "all men are created equal."
So good bye social safety net. People with mental disabilities are already starting to take up jail space, because we don't have the funds to care for them. To provide them the extra help in terms of housing or job training that they need to be profitable in the eyes of the fiscally conservative. Politicians like Bruce Rauner will never see them as respectable members of society. All because fiscally conservatives can't see what the big picture is.
We are a society. Society means all people, not just the rich. Not just the beautiful. Not just the smartest. Society is all people. Rich and poor, physically able and those that aren't for any reason. That's the big picture. And politicians like Rauner just refuse to admit that it exists.
Wednesday, May 13, 2015
Thief (2014) Review
Your name is Garrett. You live in a dismal world. The clerics control your world, the Baron controls the clerics, and the General controls the Baron. You didn't ask to be altered, to be able to see into a psychic world controlled, possible created, by your friend and protege, Erin. But here you are.
A year has gone by while you lay in some sort of a coma. Asleep, oblivious to the changes in your world. Political chaos has broken loose. There's a strange disease called the gloom affecting the population of your town, and it doesn't have a cure. Most likely, because the governing forces don't want a cure. Control the citizens by disease and hunger. An effective way to keep the people in line.
Few are willing to help the people. Those that do must work in the shadows. Betrayal of the law means a fast "trial," followed by an even faster hanging. The underground movement needs someone with a special skill set. Someone that can control his fear, his emotions, and do what must be done. Someone that knows the shadows, embraces the safety of the darkness. The people need you. Garrett. Thief.
If you've read any part of my walk through for the game, you know that I am not a big fan of Thief. Granted, it is more playable than the many sequels to Assassin's Creed (the first game), but doesn't quite measure up to it. I know, it doesn't seem fair to judge this game based on a different franchise. The trouble is, this game is so obviously a "spiritual successor," that you have to.
This game feels very much like AC 1. The only things missing are the Leap of Faith, and the Templar Knights. And the pick pocketing. But I'll go into that one later. All of the other important elements are here, but changed just enough to legally call it a different game. You climb walls, jump around on rooftops, try to avoid being seen, and when possible, use stealth attacks.
I really did want to love this game. Not just like it, but love it. It truly had some potential. Unfortunately, the way the city is mapped out makes it too damn annoying to get from point A to point B fluidly. For instance, there is one place where you have to enter an area through a building's back window, deal with a load screen, and enter out the front. In order to progress to the building just across the street (too far to jump to the next ledge), you need to leave the area, deal with another cut scene, and enter through the back of the building.
Some of the paths are far too clever as well. There are some areas with piles of crates, lumber, or whatever, that you need to squeeze through. You're supposed to be playing as a fairly well built, adult man. Not a muscle bound type, but definitely not someone that should fit through an opening as small as you're expected to. As such, it seems more annoying than anything, that you have to locate these passage ways.
I am all for SMART game development. CLEVER, however, is a major breaking point for me. What's the difference? Let's say you're playing a game where you need to collect rabbits for some reason. A smart designer will look at the game environment, and place the rabbits accordingly. Behind a tree, inside a hole, beside a bush. Boring, but places that a person would think to look.
A clever designer wants to beat the player. S/he'll put the rabbits on top of a tall tree that you'll need to climb. How did the rabbit get up there? Who cares? At least you didn't find it, unless you bought the cheat book. This is the kind of logic that can kill a game, especially for people that want to figure out the puzzles themselves, not using the internet or a book. This game fails people that want to do the mental work themselves in too many areas.
And speaking of puzzles, you aren't always given the clues to figuring out a safe. I had to look one up at IGN, and even the person writing the walk through for them said the designers failed to provide the clue for a specific safe. When a professional for a major game site can't figure out what is supposed to be a simple puzzle, you know the game designers didn't do something right.
To make things worse, some puzzles don't even feel like a puzzle. At best, they're busy work, to stretch out your game time without making the developers work. All you have to do is rotate a tile in one puzzle, until it snaps into place. Move to the next, and repeat. Since each tile that you rotate controls a few others, all you have to do is rotate a couple of them to finish, no real effort involved.
When I started to write this review a few minutes ago, I actually had a higher opinion of it. I had wanted to give it a better recommendation, due to it getting some things right, and giving a reasonable amount of fun and game time. But now, it's really hard for me to do that. I was planning on saying that it would be a good weekend rental, or maybe something to fill out your GameFly list, in between the big, AAA titles. Now, I think I can't even honestly say that.
IF you are really in the mood to rent a game from your local brick & mortal establishment (not everyone lives in a big city), and your GameFly rental hasn't arrived yet, give this a try. But ONLY if you're truly bored, and don't mind a game with too many load screens, a lack of information, and only a hint of originality. Otherwise, break out your last gen console, and play the first Assassin's Creed. You'll have a whole lot more fun that way.
A year has gone by while you lay in some sort of a coma. Asleep, oblivious to the changes in your world. Political chaos has broken loose. There's a strange disease called the gloom affecting the population of your town, and it doesn't have a cure. Most likely, because the governing forces don't want a cure. Control the citizens by disease and hunger. An effective way to keep the people in line.
Few are willing to help the people. Those that do must work in the shadows. Betrayal of the law means a fast "trial," followed by an even faster hanging. The underground movement needs someone with a special skill set. Someone that can control his fear, his emotions, and do what must be done. Someone that knows the shadows, embraces the safety of the darkness. The people need you. Garrett. Thief.
If you've read any part of my walk through for the game, you know that I am not a big fan of Thief. Granted, it is more playable than the many sequels to Assassin's Creed (the first game), but doesn't quite measure up to it. I know, it doesn't seem fair to judge this game based on a different franchise. The trouble is, this game is so obviously a "spiritual successor," that you have to.
This game feels very much like AC 1. The only things missing are the Leap of Faith, and the Templar Knights. And the pick pocketing. But I'll go into that one later. All of the other important elements are here, but changed just enough to legally call it a different game. You climb walls, jump around on rooftops, try to avoid being seen, and when possible, use stealth attacks.
I really did want to love this game. Not just like it, but love it. It truly had some potential. Unfortunately, the way the city is mapped out makes it too damn annoying to get from point A to point B fluidly. For instance, there is one place where you have to enter an area through a building's back window, deal with a load screen, and enter out the front. In order to progress to the building just across the street (too far to jump to the next ledge), you need to leave the area, deal with another cut scene, and enter through the back of the building.
Some of the paths are far too clever as well. There are some areas with piles of crates, lumber, or whatever, that you need to squeeze through. You're supposed to be playing as a fairly well built, adult man. Not a muscle bound type, but definitely not someone that should fit through an opening as small as you're expected to. As such, it seems more annoying than anything, that you have to locate these passage ways.
I am all for SMART game development. CLEVER, however, is a major breaking point for me. What's the difference? Let's say you're playing a game where you need to collect rabbits for some reason. A smart designer will look at the game environment, and place the rabbits accordingly. Behind a tree, inside a hole, beside a bush. Boring, but places that a person would think to look.
A clever designer wants to beat the player. S/he'll put the rabbits on top of a tall tree that you'll need to climb. How did the rabbit get up there? Who cares? At least you didn't find it, unless you bought the cheat book. This is the kind of logic that can kill a game, especially for people that want to figure out the puzzles themselves, not using the internet or a book. This game fails people that want to do the mental work themselves in too many areas.
And speaking of puzzles, you aren't always given the clues to figuring out a safe. I had to look one up at IGN, and even the person writing the walk through for them said the designers failed to provide the clue for a specific safe. When a professional for a major game site can't figure out what is supposed to be a simple puzzle, you know the game designers didn't do something right.
To make things worse, some puzzles don't even feel like a puzzle. At best, they're busy work, to stretch out your game time without making the developers work. All you have to do is rotate a tile in one puzzle, until it snaps into place. Move to the next, and repeat. Since each tile that you rotate controls a few others, all you have to do is rotate a couple of them to finish, no real effort involved.
When I started to write this review a few minutes ago, I actually had a higher opinion of it. I had wanted to give it a better recommendation, due to it getting some things right, and giving a reasonable amount of fun and game time. But now, it's really hard for me to do that. I was planning on saying that it would be a good weekend rental, or maybe something to fill out your GameFly list, in between the big, AAA titles. Now, I think I can't even honestly say that.
IF you are really in the mood to rent a game from your local brick & mortal establishment (not everyone lives in a big city), and your GameFly rental hasn't arrived yet, give this a try. But ONLY if you're truly bored, and don't mind a game with too many load screens, a lack of information, and only a hint of originality. Otherwise, break out your last gen console, and play the first Assassin's Creed. You'll have a whole lot more fun that way.
Wednesday, May 6, 2015
Titanfall: A Year One Review
There have been a lot of mech games over the decades. A lot of them were really good, such as the old Mechwarrior series. Of course, I'm talking about the series before Microsoft bought it. If you have access to an older computer, it isn't hard to find cheap, since so many copies sold. You can also find a watered down, but equally fun, version on the PSOne.
In more recent years, players have been losing interest in mech based games, myself included. The recent generation of games have watered down the game play, mostly to make life easier on the game developers. They took away the most important element in the game play experience: the mech simulation.
The best part of these games was feeling like you were a pilot to one of these massive robot tanks. So many people loved this aspect of the game, that we would spend $8.00 for a single play at VR centers in places like Chicago, Los Angeles, or New York City. We'd be enclosed in a small cockpit, with barely enough room for a chair. Instead of a controller, we had foot pedals, lots of levers, and a joystick. There was no practice time allowed. You were just thrown into the arena, and had to fight it out against the other 11 or so players. No teams, just lots of ammo coming at you.
As developers took away the simulation, the players started to go away as well. Sales for the genre dropped, as the number of gamers started to complain that mech games were boring. Then Respawn Entertainment came along. They put back the critical part of the game. But the question is, was it too late for the genre? Have so many people given up on mechs that it didn't matter how good a game was?
All of the sales figures that I could find were from about a year ago, but as of at least August 5, 2014, the game has sold almost three million copies. In the first sales quarter that the game was out in, it had sold 925,000 units. Not digital downloads, but actual discs. The game has also gathered a strong following since it's release, and gotten some great reviews from the media and fans alike. But is the game good?
I think everyone has a game that they use as a standard when judging a game. Some people compare all the FPS games that they play to Halo (original Xbox), their preferred Call of Duty title, or even Mario. When it comes to mech games, I use the 1995 classic, Mechwarrior 2: 31st Century Combat, computer version. This 20 year old game had more than I needed to enjoy the game, such as x-ray scanning, the ability to use image frames without textures (it sped up a slow computer), and played beautifully. I don't know a single player that ever had a control issue with the game, unless their keyboard or stick was bad.
So, how does Titanfall measure up to my dream game? Surprisingly well. The controls are incredible, the art is beautiful (something I never thought I'd say about a war game), and the maps are extremely well designed. I still haven't found a passage way (except for some doorways) that my mech would get stuck in. There are plenty of buildings to use for cover, and you get a reasonable amount of ammunition. At least, I don't recall ever running out of bullets while playing.
I truly believe that this game would finally replace the 20 year old classic that I judge by if Respawn Entertainment would just make two minor changes. One of which I don't expect to ever see, since so many people behind the game hate the concept: Single player gaming.
A few of the high ups at Respawn Entertainment don't believe in single gaming anymore. They've stated in many articles that the single play stories either take too much of their time, or that people play one level, get bored, and just focus on shooting other players. Obviously, these people haven't looked at the sales for single play games like The Elder Scrolls series, or games that offer both, like Gears of War. I can respect them wanting to make the game that they want to play, but putting the blame for their laziness on players is just plain rude.
Not everyone has the luxury of high speed internet in this country, and some countries really don't have it, period. It's nice to aim high, but if you really want to get the big sales numbers, you need to be as inclusive as possible for your consumer base. There are also those that don't want a long, drawn out on line session. People with jobs, school, families, or any combination, often can't spend a long stretch of time playing a game. Add to that the need to either wait for more random players to join your lobby, or friends to come on line with you, and you end up burning a lot of time that you could have spent playing the game.
My only other problem with the game is the lack of cockpit time available in the game. Instead of offering a mech only character, everyone starts with the pilot. Sometimes you get to summon your mech right away, other times you need to wait up to two minutes. And then once your mech is totaled, you have to wait another two minutes before you can summon it again. I bought the game to pilot a mech. To add insult to injury, the game was sold on the premiss that other mechs would be on the battle field that you can high jack. Try doing that while its pilot is charging at you. No, it was sold with the mention of some empties on the field that wouldn't try to run you down as you entered.
So, do the complaints outweigh the positives for the game? I don't think so. The mechless play is made up for, mostly, by giving you some decent weapons and skills, I love the auto-locking pistol, and the invisibility works well. Too well at times. Instead of a give away shimmer effect, like Defiance uses, you're totally invisible, even to yourself. I love it when I get a stealth kill with it, but hate it when I get slaughtered by it.
The mechs themselves are so well designed, that I can't find anything to complain about, other than the two minute gaps without them. I don't need them to fly all over the place, like some games do. I don't need the x-ray option (although, I wouldn't complain about it being added). I also don't need 50 foot long swords for my mechs. Leave that to Robotech.
Although this game hasn't given me reason to replace Mechwarrior 2 as my all time favorite mech game, I look forward to Titanfall 2's release. Hopefully with a single play option (even if it's really short), and a chance to be inside a well crafted mech the entire match. Add those two features, and I'll be a Day One buyer. Something I've never done before.
And by-the-way, Respawn Entertainment has stated that all of the add on maps will be free. Having bought the season pass, I shouldn't feel as happy about this, but hey. At least people just coming into the game can get some good freebies.
In more recent years, players have been losing interest in mech based games, myself included. The recent generation of games have watered down the game play, mostly to make life easier on the game developers. They took away the most important element in the game play experience: the mech simulation.
The best part of these games was feeling like you were a pilot to one of these massive robot tanks. So many people loved this aspect of the game, that we would spend $8.00 for a single play at VR centers in places like Chicago, Los Angeles, or New York City. We'd be enclosed in a small cockpit, with barely enough room for a chair. Instead of a controller, we had foot pedals, lots of levers, and a joystick. There was no practice time allowed. You were just thrown into the arena, and had to fight it out against the other 11 or so players. No teams, just lots of ammo coming at you.
As developers took away the simulation, the players started to go away as well. Sales for the genre dropped, as the number of gamers started to complain that mech games were boring. Then Respawn Entertainment came along. They put back the critical part of the game. But the question is, was it too late for the genre? Have so many people given up on mechs that it didn't matter how good a game was?
All of the sales figures that I could find were from about a year ago, but as of at least August 5, 2014, the game has sold almost three million copies. In the first sales quarter that the game was out in, it had sold 925,000 units. Not digital downloads, but actual discs. The game has also gathered a strong following since it's release, and gotten some great reviews from the media and fans alike. But is the game good?
I think everyone has a game that they use as a standard when judging a game. Some people compare all the FPS games that they play to Halo (original Xbox), their preferred Call of Duty title, or even Mario. When it comes to mech games, I use the 1995 classic, Mechwarrior 2: 31st Century Combat, computer version. This 20 year old game had more than I needed to enjoy the game, such as x-ray scanning, the ability to use image frames without textures (it sped up a slow computer), and played beautifully. I don't know a single player that ever had a control issue with the game, unless their keyboard or stick was bad.
So, how does Titanfall measure up to my dream game? Surprisingly well. The controls are incredible, the art is beautiful (something I never thought I'd say about a war game), and the maps are extremely well designed. I still haven't found a passage way (except for some doorways) that my mech would get stuck in. There are plenty of buildings to use for cover, and you get a reasonable amount of ammunition. At least, I don't recall ever running out of bullets while playing.
I truly believe that this game would finally replace the 20 year old classic that I judge by if Respawn Entertainment would just make two minor changes. One of which I don't expect to ever see, since so many people behind the game hate the concept: Single player gaming.
A few of the high ups at Respawn Entertainment don't believe in single gaming anymore. They've stated in many articles that the single play stories either take too much of their time, or that people play one level, get bored, and just focus on shooting other players. Obviously, these people haven't looked at the sales for single play games like The Elder Scrolls series, or games that offer both, like Gears of War. I can respect them wanting to make the game that they want to play, but putting the blame for their laziness on players is just plain rude.
Not everyone has the luxury of high speed internet in this country, and some countries really don't have it, period. It's nice to aim high, but if you really want to get the big sales numbers, you need to be as inclusive as possible for your consumer base. There are also those that don't want a long, drawn out on line session. People with jobs, school, families, or any combination, often can't spend a long stretch of time playing a game. Add to that the need to either wait for more random players to join your lobby, or friends to come on line with you, and you end up burning a lot of time that you could have spent playing the game.
My only other problem with the game is the lack of cockpit time available in the game. Instead of offering a mech only character, everyone starts with the pilot. Sometimes you get to summon your mech right away, other times you need to wait up to two minutes. And then once your mech is totaled, you have to wait another two minutes before you can summon it again. I bought the game to pilot a mech. To add insult to injury, the game was sold on the premiss that other mechs would be on the battle field that you can high jack. Try doing that while its pilot is charging at you. No, it was sold with the mention of some empties on the field that wouldn't try to run you down as you entered.
So, do the complaints outweigh the positives for the game? I don't think so. The mechless play is made up for, mostly, by giving you some decent weapons and skills, I love the auto-locking pistol, and the invisibility works well. Too well at times. Instead of a give away shimmer effect, like Defiance uses, you're totally invisible, even to yourself. I love it when I get a stealth kill with it, but hate it when I get slaughtered by it.
The mechs themselves are so well designed, that I can't find anything to complain about, other than the two minute gaps without them. I don't need them to fly all over the place, like some games do. I don't need the x-ray option (although, I wouldn't complain about it being added). I also don't need 50 foot long swords for my mechs. Leave that to Robotech.
Although this game hasn't given me reason to replace Mechwarrior 2 as my all time favorite mech game, I look forward to Titanfall 2's release. Hopefully with a single play option (even if it's really short), and a chance to be inside a well crafted mech the entire match. Add those two features, and I'll be a Day One buyer. Something I've never done before.
And by-the-way, Respawn Entertainment has stated that all of the add on maps will be free. Having bought the season pass, I shouldn't feel as happy about this, but hey. At least people just coming into the game can get some good freebies.
Get Barker: From the Multi-Player Campaign Mode
Assault on the Sentinel: Also From the Campaign
The Winner, And Still Champ!
Is There A Quality Difference Between The Xbox 360 and the Xbox One?
A friend of mine has told me several times that he doesn't see a difference between the previous Xbox and the current one. I have also seen a few comments online from people that didn't see much , if any difference. These comments tend to be from around the time when the XB1 first came out.
Frankly, I see a big difference between the two. The colors are brighter, the images are far more detailed, and the physics run a lot smoother. I'm willing to bet that the vast majority of people that don't think there's a difference haven't seen the same game, or demo, on both systems.
In order to allow people to compare the two systems side-by-side, I recorded myself playing (badly) two of the new Pinball FX 2 machines. The Star Wars tables were on sale recently (except for the Clone Wars table), so I included the Darth Vader table in the series, because of its unusually dark look. I also chose the Avengers Age Of Ultron table, because I wanted a justification to buy it.
I would like to say that I chose them only because they are new, and were coded at the same time. Therefore, they are more likely to be a fair representation, than if I had used two older tables. The truth is, I wanted to use the tag lines "Avengers Age Of Ultron," and "Star Wars." in the hopes of drawing a few more readers to my blog.
If you aren't already aware, the nice people at Zen Studios, the maker of Pinball FX 2, allow you to unlock a table on the Xbox One if you already own it on the 360. I do not know if the reverse is true. Not all of the older tables are currently available for the XB1, but hopefully will be in the near future.
So, for all of you oblivious, casual gamers out there (HI RICK!), here's your chance to compare the two consoles.
Frankly, I see a big difference between the two. The colors are brighter, the images are far more detailed, and the physics run a lot smoother. I'm willing to bet that the vast majority of people that don't think there's a difference haven't seen the same game, or demo, on both systems.
In order to allow people to compare the two systems side-by-side, I recorded myself playing (badly) two of the new Pinball FX 2 machines. The Star Wars tables were on sale recently (except for the Clone Wars table), so I included the Darth Vader table in the series, because of its unusually dark look. I also chose the Avengers Age Of Ultron table, because I wanted a justification to buy it.
I would like to say that I chose them only because they are new, and were coded at the same time. Therefore, they are more likely to be a fair representation, than if I had used two older tables. The truth is, I wanted to use the tag lines "Avengers Age Of Ultron," and "Star Wars." in the hopes of drawing a few more readers to my blog.
If you aren't already aware, the nice people at Zen Studios, the maker of Pinball FX 2, allow you to unlock a table on the Xbox One if you already own it on the 360. I do not know if the reverse is true. Not all of the older tables are currently available for the XB1, but hopefully will be in the near future.
So, for all of you oblivious, casual gamers out there (HI RICK!), here's your chance to compare the two consoles.
The Age of Ultron 360
The Age Of Ultron Xbox One
Darth Vader Xbox One
Darth Vader 360
Friday, May 1, 2015
Thief 2014: Chapter 8
This is the final chapter to the game. Unlike all of the other chapters, you do not have access to the Clock Tower, or any merchants, before you start. If you are low on ammo, you will have to sneak around a lot. The chapter itself isn't very long, and there is a merchant near the end. The "completed" message doesn't show until after the end credits. Fortunately, you can press RB to speed them up.
Follow the tunnel until you see a small opening that you have to crouch through. If you still have some fire arrows, you'll be fine. A single head shot with fire will kill them. They bob their heads while they walk, so zoom in, and wait until they're close. If you are out of fire arrows, just remember that Freaks can't see you. They have very sensitive hearing, so move slow, stay crouched, and you'll be fine.
Just past your first Freak is a chest that you have to pick open. The Mourning Bell collectible is inside. If you need focus, there is also a poppy in the area. The tunnel is one long path, without anywhere to turn. Just keep following it to the end, deal with the Freaks as you need to, and crouch for small openings. You'll know you're almost at the end when you see a locked door.
Near the empty chest is another Freak, as well as a door that needs to be unlocked. Follow the path a little farther, and you get your new objective, "Find a way to the Boat." From here, you get sneak or kill choices. There is also a merchant coming up, so you'll be able to grab more arrows, food, and poppies. Deal with the guards blocking the bridge, and head forward.
Use focus to find the broken glass, climbing points and pipes, an another wire box. Both the pipes and the stairs lead to a closed door with some people inside. Bide your time, and one leaves. This gives you a chance to sneak up and take them out, one by one. There is a second door on the other side of the room. Exit through it, and climb up to the next area.
By now, the merchant should be on your map. Head towards him, and stock up. After you've restored your supplies, keep moving towards the crates. You'll need to climb them to progress. There will be two guards near a fire at the top of the slope. Either go left to sneak past them, or deal with them directly. You can always run back and climb over the crates to try and separate them.
Keep moving forward and climbing until you've reached the ship's deck. There will be lots of guards and lights, so make sure you've filled your quiver as well as you could before starting the next area. There is no going back once you start it.
Enter the door that's in front of you, and climb the pipes to get to the next area. Keep heading downward, opening doors to search for loot, and dealing with guards as you see fit. Eventually, you'll come to an elevator. It doesn't seem like it's moving, but shortly after you enter, the doors open. Outisde is an archer looking over a railing. Take him out, and move on.
There is a door to your left, as well as your right. Open each, loot, and exit out the other side. Take out any guards that you see in the process. This will clear your way to move further down the hull of the ship. As before, just keep opening doors, looting, and dealing with guards any way that you need to. Eventually, you'll reach another cut scene.
You now need to find Erin. She doesn't want you to approach her, so you have to sneak up behind her. Tap her on the shoulder by pressing "X", and she disappears. Seek her out again, and tap her shoulder a second time. This time, she leaves for a new area.
Erin is now your final boss. DO NOT CONFRONT HER! She is very powerful, and not in a good mood. You need to find the three pieces of primal power to stop her. They are scattered across the area. If you don't see them, use focus. You'll also have to keep hiding behind any object that you can, because Erin has some very powerful energy blasts that she can use. One or two hits is all it takes to kill you. She has also split herself into a handful of Erins, so you have a lot of dodging to do.
After you get all three pieces, they automatically reassemble. Now all you have to do is go up to Erin, who has stopped attacking you. Touch the stone to her, and the final cut scene triggers. As stated before, read or ignore the end credits, and you get your achievement (or trophy) for beating the game.
If you still want to play the game, there are some challenge maps available. Since I had more than enough of the game, I didn't attempt any of them. You also have the option of going back through the town to pick up any loot that you missed, or replay any chapter or mission.
Follow the tunnel until you see a small opening that you have to crouch through. If you still have some fire arrows, you'll be fine. A single head shot with fire will kill them. They bob their heads while they walk, so zoom in, and wait until they're close. If you are out of fire arrows, just remember that Freaks can't see you. They have very sensitive hearing, so move slow, stay crouched, and you'll be fine.
Just past your first Freak is a chest that you have to pick open. The Mourning Bell collectible is inside. If you need focus, there is also a poppy in the area. The tunnel is one long path, without anywhere to turn. Just keep following it to the end, deal with the Freaks as you need to, and crouch for small openings. You'll know you're almost at the end when you see a locked door.
Near the empty chest is another Freak, as well as a door that needs to be unlocked. Follow the path a little farther, and you get your new objective, "Find a way to the Boat." From here, you get sneak or kill choices. There is also a merchant coming up, so you'll be able to grab more arrows, food, and poppies. Deal with the guards blocking the bridge, and head forward.
Use focus to find the broken glass, climbing points and pipes, an another wire box. Both the pipes and the stairs lead to a closed door with some people inside. Bide your time, and one leaves. This gives you a chance to sneak up and take them out, one by one. There is a second door on the other side of the room. Exit through it, and climb up to the next area.
By now, the merchant should be on your map. Head towards him, and stock up. After you've restored your supplies, keep moving towards the crates. You'll need to climb them to progress. There will be two guards near a fire at the top of the slope. Either go left to sneak past them, or deal with them directly. You can always run back and climb over the crates to try and separate them.
Keep moving forward and climbing until you've reached the ship's deck. There will be lots of guards and lights, so make sure you've filled your quiver as well as you could before starting the next area. There is no going back once you start it.
Enter the door that's in front of you, and climb the pipes to get to the next area. Keep heading downward, opening doors to search for loot, and dealing with guards as you see fit. Eventually, you'll come to an elevator. It doesn't seem like it's moving, but shortly after you enter, the doors open. Outisde is an archer looking over a railing. Take him out, and move on.
There is a door to your left, as well as your right. Open each, loot, and exit out the other side. Take out any guards that you see in the process. This will clear your way to move further down the hull of the ship. As before, just keep opening doors, looting, and dealing with guards any way that you need to. Eventually, you'll reach another cut scene.
You now need to find Erin. She doesn't want you to approach her, so you have to sneak up behind her. Tap her on the shoulder by pressing "X", and she disappears. Seek her out again, and tap her shoulder a second time. This time, she leaves for a new area.
Erin is now your final boss. DO NOT CONFRONT HER! She is very powerful, and not in a good mood. You need to find the three pieces of primal power to stop her. They are scattered across the area. If you don't see them, use focus. You'll also have to keep hiding behind any object that you can, because Erin has some very powerful energy blasts that she can use. One or two hits is all it takes to kill you. She has also split herself into a handful of Erins, so you have a lot of dodging to do.
After you get all three pieces, they automatically reassemble. Now all you have to do is go up to Erin, who has stopped attacking you. Touch the stone to her, and the final cut scene triggers. As stated before, read or ignore the end credits, and you get your achievement (or trophy) for beating the game.
If you still want to play the game, there are some challenge maps available. Since I had more than enough of the game, I didn't attempt any of them. You also have the option of going back through the town to pick up any loot that you missed, or replay any chapter or mission.
Your Trail To Erin
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