f13.net

So, no one wants to compete with the 360 release. We get Christmas early. There aren't enough words.

Age of Empires III (PC):
It's Age of Empires. You know you want it. Oh, did I mention? The campaign is really, really fun. The multiplayer, however, is almost exactly the same as AOE II. Also, 3D models with a 2D background. You can't rotate the map. That's pretty annoying. But I'm OK with that.

Boy and his Blog BLOB (DS):
Ok, ok. Most people wouldn't be excited about this game. I've loved A Boy and his Blob for the NES since I was wee small. And now I'll love it when I'm hulking big. There was something therapeutic about feeding a blob jellybeans to help me get through sewers and whatnot. Yet another reason I'm feeling ok about my DS purchase. Also, I think this will get delayed at the last moment, Majesco has been in some shit lately.

Fable: The Lost Chapters (Xbox):
Maybe this time the game will be fulfilling in addition to being just plain fun.

F.E.A.R. (PC):
I might put myself into a chemical induced sleep so tomorrow comes faster. Yes, I'm a little stoked. I'll be buying a lot of games this week, but this is the one I'll finish by Saturday.

Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance (GC):
My reasons for getting this are twofold: It's a tactics game and I need to keep validating the existance of my gamecube. It's a psychological thing.

Harvest Moon: A Wonderful Life Special Edition (PS2):
I'm not sure what makes this special. I'm probably not even going to pick it up. But there it is.

Quake IV (PC):
I'd really like this to be completely overshadowed by F.E.A.R. just to stick it to Carmack. It's not that I don't like the guy, I just want him to quit putzing around with that Armadillo Aerospace bullshit. He's an engine programmer, not an aerospace engineer. Damn, crazy fool.

Shining Force NEO (PS2):
They took the original Shining Force and made an action game out of it. I'm pretty pissed off about that, but I'll deal with it.

Stubbs the Zombie: Rebel without a Pulse (Xbox):
I've been pretty stoked about this since it was announced. I haven't even so much as played a demo of this so I don't have much to say.  :oops:

The Warriors (Xbox/PS2):
Surely someone here cares, rite?

Tony Hawk's American Wasteland (Xbox/PS2/Gamecube):
I'm waiting for the X360 edition.

Ultima Online: The Eighth Age (PC):
This is me pouring out a 40 for Windup.

X-Men Legends II: Rise of Apocalypse (PSP):
Coop multiplayer on the PSP is a good thing. Games on the PSP is a good thing. I just hope it's Good.

There's a lot to say about most of these games. Unfortunately I'm very jittery and wanted to get this done because I forgot about it yesterday. I was too busy trying to get my local Gamestop to break the streetdate on F.E.A.R. because they got it last Friday. Damn.

Gak. Normally I'd get AOE 3 but between Rome - Total Realism (and Barbarian Invasion on a seperate instal) plus Civ 4 I'm covered on the strategery front (now if they had released it 3 months ago I'd probably pick it up. Have I mentioned how assinine it is that PC games are clustered around xmas?). I'm going to wait on the reviews before I decide between Fear, Quake 4 and HalfLife 2: Aftermath (I only have enough free time to pick up one. Have I mentioned how stupid it is that all releases seem to happen in Q4/Q1?!?).

From what I've seen, heard, read and played - F.E.A.R. is the one to pick up.

I am all over Quake4.  I’ve been a raging Quake fan boy since Quake1.  RAGING.

I know the series gets no love here.  They’ll be cries of a mediocre single player campaign and a lack of MP options.  I care not.  Unless Raven somehow fucked up the 2-16 payer DM, I guarantee I’ll spend every free second I get for the next 3 months sedated and in front of my computer rocket jumping off heads and gibbing the fuck out of anyone in my way. 

If Q4 is half of what Q1 was, I won’t need another game for at least a good 12 months :)

That's a beautiful typo, man.

GODDAMNIT. Two typos like that in one day. I'm never posting before 10am again. Damn. I'm like some sort of internet mogwai. I don't like bright lights and I should never read after midnight. Yeargh.

I've decided to go with Civ4 first. Looks like it'll be more an "upgrade" to the Civ series than AoE3 will be of AoE.

To hell with Quake. Id is finished with (I would say Id is "Doomed", but....). Breaks my heart to say that, but Oh well...

Even though it kicks my poor formerly awesome PC's ass, I will be picking up F.E.A.R. and playing the shit out of it. Fuck you modern graphic engines.

AoE III should be arriving in the mail this week. Huzzah!

Well, that tears it.  Today is the day I start browsing Newegg for new PC parts.

I've been seriously considering a GeForce 6800 to hold me over until early next year when I'll be able to build a bleeding-edge system again.

6600GT from BFG (the overclocked one) is a damn good deal imo. Great for a "hold me over" kinda situation like you're talking about.

I played the FEAR MP demo, and I ahve to say I was very underwhelmed. Also, I have been replaying HL2 since I didnt finish it before getting my new harddrives. That game is really fun. Specially as you get near the end and it gets a bit harder.

Ill probably pickup Quake, becasue I am a fanboy of the series, and well, thats what fanboys do. I also am planning on getting Civ4, since I never played any of the other Civ games (I know shame on me) but I am not a huge fan of those kind of games. I like a good stratgy game every once in a while, and I figured Civ4 would be a pretty good bet.

I for one would be interested in reviews of FEAR and Quake IV.

Over the weekend Newegg had a Geforce 6800 AGP For $162. You can use Rivatuner to unlock all the pipelines and make it go much faster. The PCI-E parts can't do this unfortunately.

AoE3 demo was a huge disappointment. I'm going to wait for the 2nd round of reviews from the final version before I jump on that ship.

FEAR on the other hand, beta on that and the various stages of demos were not impressive at all. Again, I'm gonna hold out and probably bargain bin it.

Q4 on the other hand I don't know what to expect.

I expect Doom 3. Which is to say, fairly good for single player, but not much to speak of for multiplayer (I do know that it has a 16 player max capacity, so that already gives me an indication that mp is not their priority).

I was once an Id fanboy too. All the way back to the first Wolfenstein (but who isn't?). It's just that there's better things in the FPS world these days.

I loved the AoE3 Demo myself. Fixed a bunch of things I hated about Age of Mythologies.

It just felt really clunky and unpolished/unfinished to me. Then again I've been playing a lot of Dawn of War lately, so it'll be hard for another RTS to compare to that.

LMFAO!  So THAT'S the reason why Spike TV was trotting out "The Warriors" (circa 1979 in ALL it's glory) on Sunday afternoon amidst the football and baseball.  I kept switching back over once I realized it was on; hadn't seen it in years.  Still have all the quotes memorized. One of, if not THE best BAD movies.  Ever.  Good times.  And it's by Rockstar so you know... well, you know.

Well, I'm *sorta* interested in it, just because of the flick.

It has State of Emergency written all over it though (and not GTA).

* I'm not referring to gameplay....Just a vibe.

I'm sure it'll be precisely that, only with shinier textures and more brown.

And half the gamma.

I'm feeling lazy researching these titles; I’m all about instant gratification of ready answer. Please deliver.

Quake4 worth getting or is it another console abortion like DX2? *throbbing vein* Anyone following this title can spill some info?

AoE – is multiplayer anything to write home about? Is single player fun enough to buy it?

Civ4 – is it worth getting? What’s new?

Considering that I have time to spend only on one title, what should I get? (PC only)

>>Ultima Online: The Eighth Age (PC):
You are going to hell Schild. Filthy grave desecrator.

Ooo... now that's tempting.  I wonder if that'd be enough to make FEAR playable.

Decisions, decisions....

Not a single game on that list I want. Luckily I still need Castlevania DS and Midway Arcade Treasures 3 this week, and next week the Taito arcade collection and please don't let it suck Call of Cthulhu: Dark Corners of the Earth comes out.

I'm not anticipating Dark Corners of the Earth sucking, but I will say that if the gameplay is as stellar as it sounds, more than likely we will be subjected to a bonanza of bugs within the game to make heads a splode.  That's my expectation.

I'm convinced Schild is a high-class man whore.  There's no other way he can afford $300 in games a week.

^^^^^
And where does he find the time to play them?  I don't work too many hours, but between web surfing, reading, and tv, I don't have enough hours in a week to properly devote to 1 game, much less 4 or more!

I probably wouldn't if I was independantly wealthy and didn't have to work at all.

13 hours and 57 minutes til I'm playing F.E.A.R.

Oooooooooh Q4 lalalalalaalalalala!

Railgun lalalalalala weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee *HORF*

 - meg

My box is waiting on my desk for Batman to finish.  Whee.

Well, I have had some rough times lately so I'm pinning my hopes on some of these releases being -good- and engrossing for more than 5 days.

I also played the FEAR Demo and was underwhelmed.  My computer can certainly handle it but the playability/fun factor/total appeal wasn't huge when I compare it to HL2, FarCry - or one of my persoanl fav FPS, Soldier of Fortune II.  I think the SP will be neat, but not worth passing up an AoE3 or Civ4 for if you are (sort of) on a budget.  <30 hours and FEAR will be back in your rack.


In a related note the past 2ish weeks for DVD releases have been great.  Stewie Griffin: The Untold Story, Kingdom of Heaven, Batman Begins.  Tomorrow: Land of the Dead.  So I will be picking up AoE3 and Land of the Dead for a full Tuesday of mindnumbing stimulii and THC ingestion.  Viva la nuevo singledom baby.  *sigh*

I don't know how many times, or in how many threads, or how many ways I have to make this clear.

If a game is less than 30 hours that's ok with me. I'll take quality over quantity any day of the week. Eight hours of stellar gameplay (with a tight story) is far superior to 40 hours of say....Morrowind.

I have to agree. I don't have 30 hours to waste on a game unless it's WoW (shaddup schild). I'd rather a fun short game than a long drawn-out affair.

It gets expensive though.

I'll just buy quality AND quantity from now on (wish me luck!  :-))

Well, I made the mistake of playing the F.E.A.R. demo late last night. I live by myself, and the demo really creeped me out. I stopped playing in the middle of the bloody hallway scene because I could feel evil nightmares beginning to assemble in my subconscious.

It's going to be great. Wish I didn't have to wait 1.5 hours. I wonder if I can beat it by tonight. I love games that provide one full day of quality kick my ass heebie jeebies. My problem arrives with the 20-30 hours of heebie jeebies (read: Fatal Frame).

Oh man, don't do this to yourself.

You can't stop me. It's fate that FEAR is released the day before Age of Empires and Quake IV. Well, that's not true, I can pick up Quake IV at 7pm tonight. But 10am? Nope. That's FEAR time. Oh yes. Twenty full missions of a little girl trying to kick my ass. FUCK YES.

Well, I hope it turns out to be all you expect to be.  :-D

The last time I talked like that was days before Fable was released  :|. I'll never go there again.

Seconded.

It's never as good as you think it's going to be.  And it's always better when you don't have a clue...

I didn't play the SP or MP demo. I've left myself devoid of everything short of counting the number of missions in the strat guide at the local Gamestop and watching Rooster Teeth's P.A.N.I.C.S. episodes. All of which were pretty damn funny except the 4th one which can only be gotten on the games section of MTV.com.

Schild,
I think you are cheating yourself if you play FEAR during the day time. Max out the heebie jeebie factor by playing only at night in a completely darkened room.

I the room I'm in can be about 70% dark all day long. I don't like sunlight despite having fairly tan skin and being from Florida. I'm also a betting man. And I bet it doesn't get really heebie jeebie like until 5 or so hours into the game.

All this means to me is.. less than a week until I get my copy of CIV 4!   I hope EB ships it before Tuesday..  MMm tech tree map.

Way - Did you ever check to make sure you were upgraded to the preorder package?  I know you were jonesing for that as well.

You'll be able to beat it before dinner. Shorter than Fable.

Schild wanted me to warn/ask anyone who is buying or has already bought Quake IV. He thinks it may have Starforce on it, because it has that little disclaimer on the box that might as well say "This is a digital veneral disease." Can anyone confirm or deny that?

okay, I hafta yell now.

WTF SCHILD YOU FORGOT TO MENTION SHADOW OF THE COLOSSUS GIT YER HEAD OUTTA YER ASS CUZ IT IS WAY MORE IMPORTANT THAN ANYTHING ELSE!!!!!!!

It's out today, yeah? I haven't actually been excited for a game since I heard about Twilight Princess and well, who the fuck knows when that'll actually get released? Early Christmas indeed.

Disclaimer: if I weren't afraid of outing myself as that much of a nerd, I would actually really, in real life, want to walk down the aisle to the theme from Ico.

I gotta check that out. I will give EB a call. Thanks for the reminder!

Edit- just called their customer service. They tell me I should be fine, which means I will get screwed. I will just make a big stink in the store and get my way if necessary  :evil:

Sorry for the derail...  If I had to pick a game that gave me a case of the heebie jeebies it would be AVP2 for the Marine section of the game.  More than once I had to turn the game off and go check the fucking house.  I could not play that game a night after the first time.

Pretty sure Quake4 is either Safedisc 4 or Securom 4, whichever is at 'version 4'.

Actually, Shadow of the Colossus comes out tomorrow. Yay!

Probably the one situation where a gamer's expectations will be satisfied.

Shame on me for forgetting about it.

God, I was beginning to wonder if anyone was even listening to me. Shadow fo the Motherfucking COlossus!!!

(http://www.stoneschool.com/Work/E3/2005/Colossus.jpg)
This is Sauced's desktop for the last four months.

There is no confirmation of this yet.

[EDIT] This is the text that people are worrying about:

Shadow of what?  Now I need to google something, damnit.



The meanest thing I ever did to my younger brother was to get in his face and hiss like an alien the night after he'd stayed up to watch Aliens with me.  He was 12 at the time and was scared shitless. Ahhh.. emotionally scarring siblings, good times, good times.

I recently purchased a PS2 just to play Shadow of the Colossus.

Television is your enemy.  Not Schild's, though, since he has already eaten American TV and has moved on to greener pastures.  Other than TV, the thing that took the biggest bite out of my game time was a woman.

Quake IV is Safedisc 4. You can buy it now. Except for the low review scores it is getting.

Hi, my name's Schild. I need a new computer something fierce. 4x AGP ain't cuttin it with F.E.A.R.

So far, FEAR reminds me an awful lot of Clive Barker's Undying, but with average-computer-crippling graphics.  Me like.

Yah, I kind of want to do the same to play that and Ico and the horde of other RPGs I haven't been able to play.  Then I remember telling the wife I wouldn't buy a new console until the PS3.  And then I remember how much I don't want to be stabbed.  Plus, it seems kind of silly to buy a PS2/Xbox/GC now with the next gen on the way.

I never should have bought the fucking Gamecube.

PS2s are only $99.99 at Gamestop now. Trade in the Gamecube and all the games, should be on the cheapo. Then Gamefly the stuff you want to play.


At least you didn't mod it for one game and then have that game and the entire series be announced for america.....FUCKING YESTERDAY. Goddamn Tomy.

If you sell your GC you'll hafta get a Revolution to play Twilight Princess (which will prolly be released once the Rev comes out). DOn't sell it!  Ask for a PS2 for Xmas, and if you get the hairy eyeball say you'd rather have the Rev, but was being considerate of money. Or go to a used place and get one cheaper.

Wait a few weeks. After I beat Shadow of Colussus I'll mail you my ps2 stuff.

That would work.   I know you have God of War too.  :-D

I went to Best Buy today looking for X-Men Legends 2 for the PSP.  Didn't have.  Shocker.  Clerk in the games area was clueless too. (Got Batman Begins instead) I think I'm about done with Best Buy as a whole.  They get everything 3 days after everyone else, their clerks absolutely can't think on their own, and it's drawing in the damn Walmart crowd.  I love getting sassed by some pimply, chubby fratboy for asking if he's going to check out at the counter that's just about open and then not 5 minutes later some clueless middle aged guy just figures he's going to just dart ahead of me in line. Then when he realizes I'm still waiting in line and he's about to pay for his shit, "why don't you go ahead, sonny" in a tone that sounded like he was talking to the mentally retarded fry cook at McDonalds.

My inner monologue was out cursing Al Swearengen.

We really need to set up a game trade forum. Added to the LIST.

Yeah, I don't like Best Buy much either. Hell, any store that sells tech products or games for that matter. I feel like I have to play stupid all the time just so I don't make them feel bad (anyone know what I mean?).

Same goes for customer support lines in general.

I'm no Guru, but the people working these jobs are totally incapable of helping me. It's like I'm helping them instead.

I work at BB right now, and can fully attest to the fact that 95% of the staff there, including the managers, have no fucking clue what's going on and are complete and utter corporate slaves.  "How come we can't put that new TV over here where it will really show off?" "Because it's planogrammed to the back." "What about the whole store-ownership that you guys keep telling us." "Corporate says it stays in the back."

I wasn't able to get into BB today to pick up FEAR. I will have it tomorrow. It does however rape my computer sideways if the demo is any indication.

When I get paid next however, I WILL be getting a 6800GT, which when properly abused with Omegadrivers, should play it quite comfortably at high settings.

I ended up getting Castlevania DS, Land of the Dead Unrated, and Teen Titans Season 2 Volume 1 today.  Almost picked up the Howling, but put it back last minute.

Castlevania DS is a bit of alright, though its not as simple as the first 2 GBA Castlevanias.  (Missed out on the prequel to this one.) 

Good to hear. Clive Barker's Undying must be the most underrated FPS/Survival Horror game ever made. Dang that game was good, how it didn't get a cult following of some sorts is beyond me.

I really need to purchase and complete Thief 3.

I wish I could find it in the stores.

Thief: Deadly Shadows is available on amazon uk. I think that's the third one, right? Dirt cheap if you get it from a marketplace reseller too.

Yeah, but I'm wanting it now.

Instant gratification for the win.

Blitz: The League supposedly came out yesterday, but few copies made their way to the Chicago burbs.  All 3 stores I tried had run out of copies and commented on the small number they were shipped.

I guess I am going to have to wait a bit to juice up a team.

Blah, a couple shooters and an rts. Civ 4 is really the only thing I'm looking forward to. Well, and Silent Storm Gold, I'll finally have a chance to play that game after it's long complete absence from store shelves. We need new distribution channels where old shit sits on the shelves for years imo. Goddamned efficiency.

Plan on getting Oblivion, but plan on it being underwhelming, too.

Playing Jade Empire now that it finally hit bargain pricing ($20). Wish it were a PC game, though, consoles are fucking nasty. Going from 720p Bloodlines with highres textures and all the gewgaws of a modern gpu (fsaa/af etc) to the shitbag xbox 480p is disgusting. Stretched, too. It's like a beaten-up little ugly gnomish midget whore giving great head. Lots of fun, you just don't want to look at it.

Had to quit it after an early level where these stupid things kept coming out of the floor, ran out of ammo or whatever you shoot, they kept respawning. Made me really despise that game's more shootery segments.

My brother-in-law that's living with us works at the new Best Buy now and let me tell you, that place is managed like the Speical Olympics. Any flaws that the individual sales people have are going to be magnified by some of the worst leadership I've heard of since FEMA.

Also, there's one guy who works at the local EB I frequent who is just a born dumbass. Nice guy and all, but I swear asking him anything will return the look of complete and utter cluelessness that most dogs have when you try to speak to them in words they haven't heard before.

Only people that seem to really know their shit there are the people working in home appliances.  Every washer/dryer/fridge guy we've talked to really knew the products in and out.  Talking to the TV guys just gets me blank stares when I talk about the new Sony Grand Wegas and then ask whey they've got the old Sony Rear Projection sets out and not the new ones.  Usual response is.. "umm, let me check the computer."

I don't think I've got an intelligent response out of a clerk working at a game store for the past 6 months.  Our local ebgames guys used to be smart. 

PS. Batman Begins on DVD is love.  This movie is better than I remembered it to be.

Heh, yeah whenever I go into EB I just want to play "surprise the geek" by asking very specific questions that a) I don't look like I should be asking and b) they can't possibly answer. Then I buy whatever I actually went in there for and smugly walk out. I think it shatters their fragile egos when some girl who's been shopping at the Gap or Forever 21 comes in and hands it to 'em.

The Best Buy here is alright outside of the absolutely braindead management. There's at least 2 people in every department that know what they're talking about, so you have a pretty good chance of getting someone who isn't retarded.

One of my best friends works there as I mentioned, so I'm on a first name basis with most of the employees there.

The Gamestop here in the mall is staffed by game geeks amazingly.

Ruins the effect though when you buy the pink version... ;)

What kind of question do you actually need to ask these clerks? I use the interweb to research then I go up to the store and buy stuff. I never need to petition the poor high school kid in the blue shirt for help (nor should I).

To join the Best Buy hate, the constant pressure to upsell to service contracts and other garbage is really irritating.

omfg Shadow of the Colossus is fucking beautiful. The opening cutscene made me misty-eyed.

But I'm really good at it!

Go Go GROSS OVERQUALIFICATION.

Just wait til you beat the rock phoenix on the lake. That was one of the most epic things in a game. Ever.

Shouldn't you be playing F.E.A.R.?  PS. It's really annoying to type F.E.A.R..

Can someone please play Fear and tell me if it's as bad as the Demo ?

F.ight E.nemies A.nd R.epeat is pretty decent singleplayer. It's very predictable though.

The pattern is like this:

Scary shit happens
wander around for a bit
enter an area that has 3-4 paths leading to your entrance
get jumped by the bad guys who flank you and shit, in this 'perfect area for an ambush' type of environment
wander around for a bit
repeat


quake 4 is like this, in comparison:

kill bad guy
kill group of bad guys
kill group of bad guys
backtrack to bring some NPC to another NPC
kill bad guy
kill group of bad guys
kill group of bad guys
go ahead solo while 3 guys wait on you for some reason, so you can push a button that opens a door for them
kill a group of bad guys
repeat

That was my impression of FEAR based on the review X Play gave it. If I really wanted something scary, I'd just cut to the chase and get that one Japanese ghost game that looks like Eternal Darnkess but is Japanese (help me out, Sauced or schild) or something. It looked like every other fps but with little snippets of Ringu.

Fatal Frame?

I tried to play F.E.A.R. today but it refused to run because I had virtual drive software installed.

Irritated am I.

If by bad you mean "really good", then yeah. It'll rape your system sideways though.

It's exhausting to play since you almost never feel safe at any moment. I HATE the fucking stealth ninja things. I get nervous whenever I enter an area with cealing tiles now.

Well, I have a confession.  I didn't like the demo.  The Graphics and Sound in Half Life 2 were better, the scares in Vampire were better, the bullet time in Max Payne was better and  the AI in Half Life 1 was better.

All in All, I gave it a meh.  But I am working on the proviso that all I've seen so far is the demo, which seemed really disjointed.  What I really wanted to know was the story worth it ?  Does it weave the whole lot into a seamless game that's well worth the playing experience ?

Looking forward to opinions.

(Oh, and don't worry about raping my system.  I've spent too much on it to fear.)

The AI in Half Life 1 wasn't better. That wasn't even snarky. The AI in HL1 was balls. Same with HL2.  Everything else in Half Life 2....better. Except the story maybe.

Ravenholm is still one of the best areas I've ever seen in a game, period.

Horseshit on the scares in Vampire being better after playing through most of the gold release.  The hotel had about 2 great scares and that was about it.

The AI is downright awesome as well. Way better than HL1 and HL2. I noticed that the release enemies are way more aggressive and don't needlessly hop over every rail they see anymore.

As for graphics, eh. It's a style thing. I dig HL2's stark realism, but FEAR's lighting is damn good for setting a mood.

F.E.A.R. kicks ass, and I say that as someone who plays every big FPS that comes out.  Years better than Doom 3, every bit as good as HL2 (I'd say better based on many things, but it does get damn fucking repetitive in the corporate building, which is a large chunk of the game), and the ending... so nice.  Satisfied me in ways that the omg-what ending of HL2 never could.

The A.I. is a great improvement, but not quite as good as I was hoping with all the hype. 
Graphics are a little less than HL2, but this is the first game where I actually gave a damn about the lighting.  Uncovered humans look kinda plasticy.
Weapons are pretty standard, no complaints. The variety of grenades is nice, because really, theres few things more satisfying in an FPS than a well thrown grenade.  I do wish the shotgun did more than make little puffs of smoke when you fire it. 
Those ninjas go down pretty fast with a melee or pistolwhip attack.  I wish there would have been more of them, honestly.  The groups of 3-4 Replicas got old after the 83rd time. 

Slight SPOILER  :nda:




Watch the credits to the end. 

I forgot to mention this because I almost never used it - Yeah, the Slomo thing is mostly unnecessary and felt like a case of 'oooh we need another feature!'.  I mainly used it to kill turrets and those fucking laser flying triangle things, otherwise I forgot it was there.

If you didn't really like the demo maybe you should wait until it drops a bit in price.  I liked the demo, I thought the full game had a pretty similar feel.  The A.I. isn't so impressive early in the game, but really shines later on.

Storywise, first half or two thirds is slow.  The answering machine messages were pretty boring/uninformative and the lackluster voice acting didn't help. 

Be sure to pick up Q4 if you feel like geting riped off. It's Doom 3 with the Q3 weapons + multiplayer. The single players lasted about 30 mins before I got totaly bored, and the multiplayer feels almost exactly like Q3 in every aspect, some hardcore Q3 fans might disagree though.

Football Manager 2006 came out today in Europe, goodbye social life for another year. Time to elbow out Jose and spend Uncle Romans billions on the new galacticos. Was wondering whether to buy their stablemate game NHL Eastside Hockey Manager as well but have no clue about ice hockey, anyone tried that one yet? Is hockey an easy game to understand?

That and you need a fucking Cray to get more than 12fps.  It's going to be a good 6 - 12 months before I get to actually play this pile of shit, at which point I probably will be over it.

Back to CS:S.

That does not compel me to buy it. Not that I would have anyway.

I have developed a dislike for fps that is rivalling my dislike for rts. Except some online shooters like BF2. But I really dislike single players games that are just about shooting people and my interface with the world is a gun. *yawn* Goddamned Wolfenstein 3d.

I'm cranky today, I've deleted a bunch of posts :P

I'd just like to say that I'm upset that Cricket 2006 is only for PAL and not NTSC. Thank you.

Aw, man. Don't get me started on foreign development....whether it be Silent Storm disappearing from store shelves (luckily a gold version will appear soon!) or Gothic II's expansion not being developed in English (well...there was a patch for the German version giving it English subtitles...and then the devs finally released the long-promised English version...in central europe...and it only works with the UK executable...this was just in the new PC Gamer, one of my longtime gripes - Gothic II rocked).

BAH. You did that on purpose.

Damn, I abuse the slomo at every opportunity. When I think something spooky or dangerous is going to happen I hit the solomo and go around corners or through doors. It's almost like cheating though. I've taken down 5-6 replica soldiers in about 1 second apiece before just by charging a room with solomo on and jacking all of them at point blank with the shotgun, one shell apiece.

The voice acting was above average in every respect if you ask me. A bit hamfisted, but I'm only deathly offended by engrish level acting anyway. I thought the abundance of phone messages were pointless until this one (note: Not really a spoiler, it doesn't explain a fucking thing):

(http://img459.imageshack.us/img459/2756/aiee33bs.jpg)

I prefered to lean around corners with the shift-aiming thing, or use cover from across the room, and use the assault rifle or the penetrator.  Or the Skeletizer, as I like to call it.  Man that thing is fun, especially if you can get the replicas to line up. 

I was really only complaining about the voice acting on the answering machines - thought it was weak and mostly pointless.  The realistic swearing was a nice touch, I admit.   

Fear has an office cube with a red stapler and a T.P.S. Report.

Insta-gaming gold.

That and the slo-mo makes the game playable for us non-ridalin addicted 'older folk' who still like to try these things on hard.

There's a fat programmer NPC with a big belt buckle that says "RTFM" too.

Just played some F.E.A.R, easily GOTY material imo. I'm enjoying it way more than enjoyed HL2 ( which didn't even finnish ). I love bullet time, so that is all good. If they would've thrown in a couple of more weapons in there I think I would've enjoyed it even more.

There's always the PC version?

Taking a break from Civ4, I picked this up. Got to chapter 7, had to restart because I don't have people to finish (3 people had died and 2 characters left).  I didn't realize until after I saved that the game was permadeath. I hate that.  It basically forces you into "flawless victory or reset."  Not fun.  But otherwise it pretty good if not linear, I am hoping that will be opening up more soon.  They seem to be taking the philosophy of very slowly easing you into the game.

That's every Fire Emblem game for you.  Its a shining beacon of complete and utter UNFUN that would actually be a pretty good fucking game if they removed permadeath.

This was a short blast towards the game I did when it was only 1 title ass raping my turn based loving soul: (GBA version but should apply to the GCube one too.)

Its too hard, too unfair, too unfun. PERMADEATH IN ROLEPLAYING GAMES IS NOT FUN ESPECIALLY WHEN YOUR GAME IS DESIGNED AROUND KILLING PLAYER CHARACTERS INTELLIGENT SYSTEMS!! How this game could have been so well reviewed and so well liked blows my mind. It sucks. Could we have cost the player money or character xp/levels for being defeated in battle? Sure. Instead 0hp=go bye bye and the game's AI is based around killing you. It doesn't use tactics or any genuine strategy, it just tries to kill the weakest unit available. And not to mention the bosses are all juggernauts capable of killing your entire party. Yeah. I want to play a scenario where I have to kill over 60 enemies only to die to the boss. Such an awful, awful game, and it all comes down to the permadeath..

Not to mention the things I didn't list like how it ACTIVELY saves every action so you can lose out to simple bad luck.  Like having a spear guy attacking my 31 HP Axeman hiding in a wood square.  Attacker has a 33 percent chance to hit, will do 11 damage, and has a 5 percent critical hit chance.  He hits and crits, killing my guy in ONE FUCKING HIT.  Since its permadeath, time to start the mission over again.

You can lose entire missions due to BAD LUCK.  Skill doesn't even apply in this fucking shithole game series.  And as I mentioned, some fights have over 50 enemies plus a super hard to kill level boss.

And character advancement is limited and random.  All stats might go up a point (HP is a stat in this game.  You can level up and not get any more HPs!), or you might gain 1 whopping point in a useless stat.  You can only gain 40 levels per character.  2 classes and you need to find items to advance for the 2nd 20.

It has that shitty rock paper scizzors nonsense so many Japanese strategy games have a hardon for. 

Weapons have limited uses and you have to buy more.

There are limited replacement characters, and the game being a class/level/use (you get better with a weapon the more its used) system, after a certain point replacements stop being worth taking.  Meaning the more people you lose, the more impossible the game gets. 

Fuck this game.  Fuck it right to hell.  Fuck its designers, fuck its fans, fuck anyone who let this series progress with its shitass permadeath that fucks an otherwise solid title right into the land of sheep sodomizers.

Alongside Gradius and its checkpoint powerup system which means you have to pretty much beat the entire game on one fucking life since no powerup=die...

I don't like playing sports games on the PC.

Cricket is a sport? :rimshot:

I rarely buy games if it isn't about something special but this time I got Civ4, Dungeon Siege 2 and Quake 4 all at once. And I'm really happy.

The most deluding one was DS2, the biggest surprise Q4.

Civ4 is a really solid game, with a good interface and generally rather polished and functional. It doesn't really seem to have any weak point. The engine does the work rather well. I'm pleased and satisfied, but not surprised.

DS2 was deluding because I'm not getting the controls right and it changes some functions that I loved in DS. The dialogues/story are silly at best. But the graphic is incredible. It really looks great and it's also rather fluid. It feels WAY MORE Diablo 2 that the first DS, which isn't really a compliment. It seems to have the exact same fonts and the big health bars of the monsters at the top of the screen. It really tries *hard* to be D2. Instead I believe the value was in some aspects that it got better than Diablo.

It still seems a rock solid and damn fun brainless action RPG. The longevity should be high but it's also the type of game that you could find boring right away. But then it really looks pretty. Animations, monsters, characters and environments are very high quality. The game has some really talented artists. I couldn't praise the graphic enough. And it's not just because it's really pretty, inspired and detailed. But also because it has its own personality and consistence. It looks unique compared to the generic fantasy setting of some games. Every little item is finely detailed.

Even if it's repetitive I like the combat gameplay and I'm going to enjoy it.

Q4 is a surprise because I didn't expected much from it. I only played it for a little while but.. wow. There are two things that the games does right: the feel of the weapons and the graphic. It is the D3 engine but it has vibrant colors and is overall more bright. It's definitely not "brown", nor too dark, nor feeling as D3. All the weapons have flashlights on and the feel of the shooting is absolutely great, sounds included. The production value is really high and it feels like being in a good CG movie. I simply love the shooting, it feels great. This is all about the "wow factor". Way, way better graphic than D3. Both the monsters and the characters are so much better than those in D3. It's the best graphic I've ever seen and is head and shoulders above HL2 and D3. It isn't "realistic" but it looks truly insane. Especially the textures are really well done. I could basically repeat the comments about DS2. The combat feels great, it's just fun shooting at things when the weapons feel so absolutely good, the environments are incredible and the sounds so damn right. So, even if it's going repetitive, I will still enjoy the straight gunning.

Graphic and sounds here are great. I like less the silly setting. I also run through some of the MP maps (alone) just to notice that the textures are again very good. The "feel" of the weapons is less consistent because they removed some effectis in the MP (like the camera shaking as you shoot), while they boosted the speed considerably to make it as twitch as Q3. So it's nothing new for the MP. Just so much better graphic and sounds, while heavier to run (but the maps are rather simple compared to the rich details of the single player zones).

The only problem could be that the single player part is rather short. I believe the D3 was really bad PR for Q4, because I think the game is good.

In short. Single player: probably short, intense and feeling great and immersive but also repetitive if the running and gunning isn't enough for you. MP: good graphic, controls and sounds, but nothing new to offer. Much heavier on the hardware and bandwidth.

Btw, while I had to crack Civ4 and DS2 to play without having to swap the CDs, Q4 seems to work without any problem. And the DVD is in its box (but then I'm playing the UK version).