Last month i posted a review of Oblivion for the CGUK.com Replay show which i've also posted below. At that point i'd almost finished the Knights of the Nine DLC and part way through the main story quest line. Now 8 gaming hours later i've finished both and have decided to come up for air.
Until Fable 2 i'd always steered away from the RPG but having enjoyed and completed Fable and more recently fallout i was excited about giving Oblivion a try for the replay. Looking back over my time in the mythic lands I am glad that I had this experience before plunging into Oblivion.
I'm sure everyone will agree that the game has an ambitious scope and complexity to match and i barely feel i've scratched the surface of the game after 14 hours. Graphically the game easily stands comparison with today's titles and the music and dialogue are of the highest quality. However, if i had come to this as my first RPG I would probably have put it down again after a few hours not really understanding what it was i was supposed to be doing. The sheer volume of options open to a new player can be intimidating and felt for the first few hours that I was missing something vital piece of knowledge and the game doesn't help you in understanding some of the more interesting features like spells and alchemy. What kept me going in the first couple of hours was my experience with Fallout and the belief that eventually my investment in time would start to pay off. Which it did after 2-3 hours of play.
Before heading of to the Knights quest I completed a few of the main story line quests and side quests. I liked the way that the locations appeared greyed out on the compass for you to discover and cresting some of the environments hills to look down into luscious green valleys never failed to amaze me. The quests themselves were enjoyable and challenging, but the levelling system of enemies never made me feel at a disadvantage.
overall as the purpose is to review the game with hindsight, playing Fallout and then playing oblivion you notice how the developer has learned from Oblivion and implemented changes. In my opinion Fallout simplified Oblivion's leveling system and options and made it more accessible to non RPG fans. They made the quest system just a little bit tighter and I think at least held your hand a bit more through the early stages (although i know some others would disagree on this). I think if they released Oblivion now with VATs it could easily be seen as a natural development of Fallout into fantasy rather than the other way around. That's not to say Fallout is a dumbed down Oblivion, just that Bethesda tweaked the right areas enough to make fallout accessible to more players and in turn have led more of us who perhaps missed out on Oblivion last time to try the title. The first few hours aside i have really enjoyed playing it and fully intend to finish the main quest as well as the Knights. The game has such a rich lore, as most fantasy titles do, I did tend to push through the dialogue on the background to quests not really appreciating some of the story but i don't feel that this spoiled my enjoyment of the game in any way.
After completing this, I continued my quests and finished up the story a few nights ago. In the end it I was pleased with the game and glad it was chosen. It has it's faults, as every game does, but as an immersive comprehensive world experience on the XBox it easily stands comparison with other open world games like Fallout and GTA. The Fallout comparison is obviously easily made, I do believe that Fallout is a superior game but Oblivion surpasses it in it's depth. If you wanted to complete every side quest I do not doubt you are talking 100+ hours Fallout 3 is probably 40-50 hours.
Friday, 29 May 2009
Saturday, 14 March 2009
How the world turns
I've been flat out at work now for the last month, which has really got in the way of me having some down time. Not that I'm complaining, i enjoy my job most when things need fixed so it's been quite a challenge.
I was totally surprised by the revelations from the CGUK site over the last few weeks and I wish both guys the best of luck. Hopefully CGUK will continue, and thanks to the work that Toz and Fly have put in, it is more than just a podcast. I know that we will all miss their conversations and if there were issues in the background I didn't really ever detect any of that in the shows.
Their departure leaves a great hole in the UK podcasts scene for the moment but change can be a good thing sometimes. Maybe we'll get two great podcasts out of this breakup that we can enjoy, there is certainly room for that.
I was totally surprised by the revelations from the CGUK site over the last few weeks and I wish both guys the best of luck. Hopefully CGUK will continue, and thanks to the work that Toz and Fly have put in, it is more than just a podcast. I know that we will all miss their conversations and if there were issues in the background I didn't really ever detect any of that in the shows.
Their departure leaves a great hole in the UK podcasts scene for the moment but change can be a good thing sometimes. Maybe we'll get two great podcasts out of this breakup that we can enjoy, there is certainly room for that.
Sunday, 15 February 2009
IK+ Wii Review
Of late my wii has slipped into the comfortable role of fitness trainer. My better half doesn't play games normally but she is an avid wii fit user and once the novelty of swinging a golf club had worn off then my wii has pretty mutch been a good way of replacing my wifes gym membership.
Looking around on the wii ware screen a few weeks ago, IK+ caught my eye.
Now 20 years on who could resist the opportunity to play this classic again. Certainly not me as i eagerly paid for and handed over my 500 wii points.
For anyone not familiar with this classic of 8/16bit gaming IK+ was a simple beat'em up from the pre SF2 era. No fancy special moves here just good old fashion Shotakan style Karate. What separated IK+ from the crowd, aside from the, at the time, high production standards, was the addition of a 3rd fighter to a player's game pitting you against not one but two CPU controlled opponents you only objective being not to finish 3rd.
So how has this transferred to the wii?.....Well pretty well as it turns out.
Players, either 1 or 2, fight in short bouts of 30 seconds. Bouts finish when someone scores 6 full points in the round or when time is up. Every two rounds a bonus round is played, these vary between either a dodge the ball game or, if you advance far enough, a dodge the sword game. These sound easy but when you've got balls flying at you from all directions it gets a bit frantic. Once of the main features of the game which has been retained is the variety of moves available to the player using only a single button and the D pad you can access up to 14 different attacking moves. Early on in the game you'll be able to survive with a few fancy moves but as you progress through the levels the CPU ramps up the difficulty and you'll need to make full use of these options. The confidence of the early few rounds does give way to some frustration as you advance through the levels and you do sometimes feel like the games CPU opponents are targetting you above fighting each other. Whilst there are lots of potential moves you can often be frustrated in pulling them off becuase of the wii dpad and the game would benefit from using a better controller.
This version is based on the C64 version of the game and it is a true port not a remake so the graphics are 8 bit at there best. The sound deserves special mention i think. 8 bit or not the sound of a punch being landed or you taking a punch to the stomach is as solid and is as good as it ever was. A nice touch is that the original easter eggs from the game are all still there and can be accessed by pulling up the virtual C64 keyboard so you can have fun making your guys trousers fall down.
At 500 points, it doesn't compare favourable with some of the other titles on the service and won't hold your attention for anymore than 10-15 minutes at a time but overall the game is an enjoyable walk down memory lane for anyone who enjoyed the original.
Thursday, 12 February 2009
Lego, Lego, Lego, Lego
There are four legos in the title as I have four lego games. I should say that I have one lego game and my son has three lego games.
My son, aged 4.75 years old (well i was taught under the decimal system, so I think that it's time we started getting rid of these fractions things) loves these games. It all started with Star Wars. Like father like son he loves star wars, we watch Episode iv at least once a week, and it shows you the magical nature of this film that 25 years later my son is doing exactly what i was doing when i was his age, although for me it was a dodgy VHS tape every Sat morning with Shreddies rather than DVD.
We went on a holiday about 9 months ago and i brought along my PSP, so he could watch some divx while we were travelling. I also had Lego star wars along and after seeing me playing it he was desperate for a go and surprisingly caught on to it very quickly. So I picked up a copy of the original trilogy for the 360 for a bit of fun and 9 months and 4 lego games later we are still going strong. We've 100% the original game, done everything apart from the blue minikits in the complete saga, 100% lego indy and are on our way to 100% for Batman. I've seen criticism of these games as rinse and repeat just with different graphics, but to us it's that similarity which makes the games so accessible and so fun. We don't have to learn a whole new control mechanic in every game but there is always something slightly different, be it force powers, whips, batarangs which make it just different enough. Also, there is always a smile to be had watching the lego characters move around the screen and fall apart when hit. Yes they are not hard core gamers games but they are not supposed to be and they don't try to be. Even my wife, who is a dedicated non-gamer, has played these with our son and she was able to go from one game to the next without getting "annoyed" with the controller.
Thanks travellers tales for these games and please please please Lego Back to Future next.
My son, aged 4.75 years old (well i was taught under the decimal system, so I think that it's time we started getting rid of these fractions things) loves these games. It all started with Star Wars. Like father like son he loves star wars, we watch Episode iv at least once a week, and it shows you the magical nature of this film that 25 years later my son is doing exactly what i was doing when i was his age, although for me it was a dodgy VHS tape every Sat morning with Shreddies rather than DVD.
We went on a holiday about 9 months ago and i brought along my PSP, so he could watch some divx while we were travelling. I also had Lego star wars along and after seeing me playing it he was desperate for a go and surprisingly caught on to it very quickly. So I picked up a copy of the original trilogy for the 360 for a bit of fun and 9 months and 4 lego games later we are still going strong. We've 100% the original game, done everything apart from the blue minikits in the complete saga, 100% lego indy and are on our way to 100% for Batman. I've seen criticism of these games as rinse and repeat just with different graphics, but to us it's that similarity which makes the games so accessible and so fun. We don't have to learn a whole new control mechanic in every game but there is always something slightly different, be it force powers, whips, batarangs which make it just different enough. Also, there is always a smile to be had watching the lego characters move around the screen and fall apart when hit. Yes they are not hard core gamers games but they are not supposed to be and they don't try to be. Even my wife, who is a dedicated non-gamer, has played these with our son and she was able to go from one game to the next without getting "annoyed" with the controller.
Thanks travellers tales for these games and please please please Lego Back to Future next.
Thursday, 29 January 2009
Games and Learning
As part of my job i got the chance to visit a show called BETT in London early this month. (The show is about technology and education and is largest in the world of it's type) My company are quite a big part of the show but it's the first time that i have ever been so i was really interested in what they had on offer.
Any of you involved in education will know that whiteboards and interactive applications are always big topics as are Virtual Learning Environments, so they're was plenty of these on display. There was also a lot of cool new hardware like the assus one pc and loads of netbooks. Microsoft were demonstrating their new "surface" system which was interesting but gives all the impression of a piece of technology looking for a use. It probably has more potential as a games platform and display tool than as a learning technology but you couldn't fault it for engaging people as they went past. As i watched a demo of it I kept thinking about how an RTS would work with this interface. (No more mouse or controller just point here with your finger and go there with the other finger.)
Sony were also at the show and had a PS3 on display running buzz, but not really talking about it at all. They were really trying to stress the possibilities of using the PSP as a launch point for accessing schools portals.
There was an interesting roleplay game for history or modern studies students to explore Gazza in a similar style to Fallout. Not quite fallout but still interesting.
The most impressive thing on display form my perspective had to be the "professional" version of guitar hero/rock band. One company was showing off how GH could be used in the classroom as a music creator but it also had on it's stand a modified GH controller with about 64 small buttons on it that was used for actual guitar lessons. Nice but you've got to think, at this level of complexity, surely it would be easier to learn to play on a real guitar.
Any of you involved in education will know that whiteboards and interactive applications are always big topics as are Virtual Learning Environments, so they're was plenty of these on display. There was also a lot of cool new hardware like the assus one pc and loads of netbooks. Microsoft were demonstrating their new "surface" system which was interesting but gives all the impression of a piece of technology looking for a use. It probably has more potential as a games platform and display tool than as a learning technology but you couldn't fault it for engaging people as they went past. As i watched a demo of it I kept thinking about how an RTS would work with this interface. (No more mouse or controller just point here with your finger and go there with the other finger.)
Sony were also at the show and had a PS3 on display running buzz, but not really talking about it at all. They were really trying to stress the possibilities of using the PSP as a launch point for accessing schools portals.
There was an interesting roleplay game for history or modern studies students to explore Gazza in a similar style to Fallout. Not quite fallout but still interesting.
The most impressive thing on display form my perspective had to be the "professional" version of guitar hero/rock band. One company was showing off how GH could be used in the classroom as a music creator but it also had on it's stand a modified GH controller with about 64 small buttons on it that was used for actual guitar lessons. Nice but you've got to think, at this level of complexity, surely it would be easier to learn to play on a real guitar.
Thursday, 22 January 2009
The decline and fall of hard copy game mags
So my copy of OXM arrived this morning apparently, I haven't opened it yet but i assume that is what it is by the package.
With all the coverage of the 1up and the longest running American gaming magazine closing recently i can't help but wonder who'll be the first UK mag to call it quits.
I'm long enough in the tooth to remember the heady days of 80s with CVG, Commodore User, ZZap and Sinclair User. The first mag i bought was Commodore User when i was 10. I remember reading it religiously, and i still have it along with a large collection of others in my parents basement. Like many other kids I used to scrimp and save my money to buy these mags and they were good reads well worth the £1. Even moving through the late 80s and early 90s with mags like CU, Amiga Format, ACE they were packed with news, reviews, previews and feature articles each month.
My "mis-spent" youth can probably be encapsulated by the fact that I can't really remember birthdays or Christmas from my childhood beyond vague memories of cake, chocolate, Star Wars toys and James Bond movies, but I know exactly where I was and in which magazine I first read about the mythical Konix mulitsystem or April fool story run by Commodore User that said you could upgrade your C64 to an Amiga. I was gutted when ACE was closed by EMAP, I had just paid for my first ever subscription and they closed the mag.
The slow death of the 16bit home computer era in the UK I think started the slow decline of print media here. When gaming went from computers to consoles the higher end of the mag market slowly disappeared while publishers pushed more and more glossy, garish mags like Games Master with little content, loads of pics and a useless demo CD.
So here we are 15 years later. The standard charge for a mag seems to be from £5-£7 which would appear to be paying for an almost redundant free CD or book. Edge magazine tries to cater for the high brow gamer, but i think that it is missing the mark, the features can be too specific and it would be called an industry mag now. Each platform has it's official mag, and at least 2 others (from the same publisher sometimes). You've got to ask yourself, why would you by a games magazine these days, with Ign, euro-gamer, Games-industry.biz, kotaku, etc and the plethora of quality podcasts you have all the news and rumours uptodate any time you want and free of charge. If you want a demo, download it from xbl or PSN. There is something to be said for having something to flick through when your offline but even for readability I generally find I'll have read OXM in a couple hours and then unlike my magazines of yesteryear it goes straight in the recycling and if i want to read on the move now I'll just break out my mobile.
So the long farewell to the majority of print media is well and truly underway, no doubt to be accelerated by the current economic conditions.
With all the coverage of the 1up and the longest running American gaming magazine closing recently i can't help but wonder who'll be the first UK mag to call it quits.
I'm long enough in the tooth to remember the heady days of 80s with CVG, Commodore User, ZZap and Sinclair User. The first mag i bought was Commodore User when i was 10. I remember reading it religiously, and i still have it along with a large collection of others in my parents basement. Like many other kids I used to scrimp and save my money to buy these mags and they were good reads well worth the £1. Even moving through the late 80s and early 90s with mags like CU, Amiga Format, ACE they were packed with news, reviews, previews and feature articles each month.
My "mis-spent" youth can probably be encapsulated by the fact that I can't really remember birthdays or Christmas from my childhood beyond vague memories of cake, chocolate, Star Wars toys and James Bond movies, but I know exactly where I was and in which magazine I first read about the mythical Konix mulitsystem or April fool story run by Commodore User that said you could upgrade your C64 to an Amiga. I was gutted when ACE was closed by EMAP, I had just paid for my first ever subscription and they closed the mag.
The slow death of the 16bit home computer era in the UK I think started the slow decline of print media here. When gaming went from computers to consoles the higher end of the mag market slowly disappeared while publishers pushed more and more glossy, garish mags like Games Master with little content, loads of pics and a useless demo CD.
So here we are 15 years later. The standard charge for a mag seems to be from £5-£7 which would appear to be paying for an almost redundant free CD or book. Edge magazine tries to cater for the high brow gamer, but i think that it is missing the mark, the features can be too specific and it would be called an industry mag now. Each platform has it's official mag, and at least 2 others (from the same publisher sometimes). You've got to ask yourself, why would you by a games magazine these days, with Ign, euro-gamer, Games-industry.biz, kotaku, etc and the plethora of quality podcasts you have all the news and rumours uptodate any time you want and free of charge. If you want a demo, download it from xbl or PSN. There is something to be said for having something to flick through when your offline but even for readability I generally find I'll have read OXM in a couple hours and then unlike my magazines of yesteryear it goes straight in the recycling and if i want to read on the move now I'll just break out my mobile.
So the long farewell to the majority of print media is well and truly underway, no doubt to be accelerated by the current economic conditions.
Tuesday, 20 January 2009
Lips
I finally managed to pull myself away from Fallout last night for the first time in several weeks (Other than playing Lego Batman with the kids) to complete my first challenge on Lips.
Despite many lukewarm reviews of the game I really enjoy it. I have most of the Singstar titles for the PS2 and myself and the family used to play them quite a bit but, and this will sound strange, it was already an almost dead cert who would win every game. Singstar is great at rewarding good singers but at the expense of actually making it an enjoyable competition as, and wait for it, not everyone can actually sing despite what they may think. Lips wins for me in this area as the vibreto bonuses and star power actions it asks you to do with the mics make generally more fun and it isn't always the best "traditional" singer who wins. If you're putting you're heart into it, it rewards you for trying hard and some of the co-op games and challenges add an interesting twist on the old karaoke routine of Singstar.
One of the community members at Crankygamers was good enough to agree to a challenge on "you've lost that lovin feelin'". Which was intresting trying to complete to get a good score and keep the noise down so not disturb the rest of the house. In the end I won my first challenge so and emboldened in my victory, i may retire undefeated or then again maybe "just one more go."
I did end up back on Fallout 3 for an hour after though.
Despite many lukewarm reviews of the game I really enjoy it. I have most of the Singstar titles for the PS2 and myself and the family used to play them quite a bit but, and this will sound strange, it was already an almost dead cert who would win every game. Singstar is great at rewarding good singers but at the expense of actually making it an enjoyable competition as, and wait for it, not everyone can actually sing despite what they may think. Lips wins for me in this area as the vibreto bonuses and star power actions it asks you to do with the mics make generally more fun and it isn't always the best "traditional" singer who wins. If you're putting you're heart into it, it rewards you for trying hard and some of the co-op games and challenges add an interesting twist on the old karaoke routine of Singstar.
One of the community members at Crankygamers was good enough to agree to a challenge on "you've lost that lovin feelin'". Which was intresting trying to complete to get a good score and keep the noise down so not disturb the rest of the house. In the end I won my first challenge so and emboldened in my victory, i may retire undefeated or then again maybe "just one more go."
I did end up back on Fallout 3 for an hour after though.
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