Thursday, August 26, 2004

Yvan Eht Nioj

Those of you out there who own a copy of SOCOM2(and presumably the first SOCOM), may have noticed a little "bit" in the back of the game's manual asking you rather flatly: "Are you interested in a seal career?". I'm sure that there are people buying the game who very well may be interested in a seal career, but this poses the question: "Does anyone really want these people to be seals?"

You know, real life doesn't have exploitable glitches. It also lacks the ability for some recently killed person to bitch about how their death was entirely the fault of "lag". People don't "spawn" in real life either, therefore making spawn mining well, impossible. I think you're starting to get my point. There are probably, oh let's say, 3 people playing SOCOM regularly that could even physically pass the tests required to be a navy seal. Of those 3, I'm fairly sure that none of them are mentally qualified to be a seal in any way, shape, or form.

Now, don't get what I'm about to say wrong, I have a blast playing this game online. However, it's almost an impossibility to see any sort of actual teamwork taking place. That's probably due to the fact that whenever I've been on a team that actually tried to use teamwork it was actually just the two guys who were scoring the best ordering everyone else around. And you know what? Mostly every time I've seen this tactic used, my team lost to a bunch of people who were running around as they pleased, throwing grenades around like water balloons. I'm sure there are clans playing SOCOM who use teamwork to great effect, but, even they spawn bomb every now and then.

Thursday, August 19, 2004

Doom 2. No, It's Not A Typo.

So last week I mentioned that all this Doom 3 hubbub has got me in the mood to revisit the original Doom games, and I have. Well, I have yet to find Ultimate Doom, but I know it's around here somewhere. I have, however had a blast playing my old copies of Doom 2, Heretic and Hexen.

Yeah, um, so what do I say now? It's not like I'm going to sit here and tell you what these games are about. If you haven't heard by now, then what the hell are you doing reading obscure gaming weblogs anyway, you fucking pervert? Anyway, there is a little bit of new in the stew(I just made that up), thanks to the nice spice(that too) that the Doomsday Engine adds to the recipe(that whole damn sentence, gold). Hey, leave it to me to talk about a source port of Doom like it's a new thing, or a particularly big deal for that matter. Hey, Slashdot did it too, why can't I?

Anyway, the Doomsday Engine, which is called jDoom, jHexen or, you guessed it, jHeretic depending on what game you're playing is basically a hardware accelerated revamp of the original Doom engine that adds some nice things like dynamic lighting that people have come to expect. Don't worry, the game doesn't look like something entirely different than the aging heroes we all know and love. At least not if you forgo the optional high-res texture and model packs. It's pretty hard to look cutting edge when everything from monsters to barrels are sprites that are perpetually facing your direction. Anyway, it's fun, and I'm sure my worn out old copies of the above games are more than happy to see some action again.

Thursday, August 12, 2004

Xenosaga Episode 2 Needs No Mention... It's Implied

So basically, I've barely had any time to play any games this week. I've logged a couple of SOCOM2 matches, and I played a bit of Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance 2, but that's hardly news. So, instead of doing what I usually do, I'm just going to sit here and talk about some games I'm looking forward to.

Monster Hunter is probably number one on my list right now, and as it nears completion I'm finding it harder and harder to restrain myself from drooling at random times, just from thinking about this game. It's an online rpg, but it's not massive in the traditional sense. From what I understand their will be a central tavern of sorts, which is sort of the hub of the Monster Hunter world, and is basically the only part of the game that's not limited to 4 players or less. The rest of the time is spent, well, hunting monsters. Like I said in last week's post, this seems to me as if the game was custom tailored to fit my, and only my needs. Anyone else playing the game is an afterthought.

Another game that really has me going is Oddworld: Stranger. Sure, this isn't exactly an awful lot known about this game right now, except for that it has some pseudo-western(movie) aspects and is a bit heavier on the action than previous titles in the franchise, but who the hell cares? It's another Oddworld game for fuck's sake. Munch's Oddysee was basically the one reason I regretted the fact that I'll never own an Xbox, and now that another installment in the Oddworld series is hitting the PS2, I once again have no reason to own an Xbox. Good. Like I always say: Fuck Xbox.

Anyway, let's put ranting aside for now. You're probably wondering which camp I'm in: Those who have already bought Doom 3, or those who don't plan on buying it at all. Honestly, I don't know. In this case, I'm waiting for a demo. Everything thing has been too wishy-washy in a "well it's good, but..." kind of way that I'm just going to have to wait for myself. While I'm not sure it's intended, the main feeling I've been having since Doom 3 came out is the feeling to play the original Doom. Now if only I could find those old, dusty disks.

Thursday, August 05, 2004

It's Good To Play Together... Oh Wait, That's Xbox. Fuck Xbox.

After seeing the trailers for Monster Hunter, I thought "Hey, I've got broadband now, I should start doing the whole online console gaming thing". It's like somebody decided to make a game solely for me, but to put it online so that I'd have other people to play with whenever I wanted. So, last week I went out and procured a network adaptor, headset, and what are arguably the best two online PS2 games to date: SOCOM2: US Navy Seals, and Splinter Cell: Pandora Tommorow.

I haven't taken either online yet. Hell, I haven't even beat the first level in each. See, I have this sort of... anxiety when it comes to playing a game online. I feel the need to "train" myself in the single player game before I can even think of taking the game online. Even when I do for the first time, I'm sweating and nervous, sure I'm going to do something wrong as soon as I get the chance. So I decided to try to get a handle on SOCOM2 first, it being the less complex of the two. The first mission would be much easier to get through if my A.I. buddies didn't enjoy getting stuck in the level geometry so much. So fuck it, I'll try SC:PT. Oh, it's a trial and error stealth game, this should be... bewildering. Luckily this one has tutorials for the multiplayer, because I don't think I'm going to spend too much time with this in the single player mode. I'm no Tom Clancy fan, and the closest thing to a stealth game I've played lately was Far Cry. It's not like I didn't know this was a stealth game when I picked it up, but I really bought it for the multiplayer.

I'm sure that by next week I'll have had my way with both of these games online, and I'm sure I'll have something to say about it. I'm sure that most people will be busy playing Doom3, though, since it's out now and everything.