I still remember many of my experiences with the original Bioshock. From the early encounter with the maniac splicer that attempted to get inside the elevator to the one that had a magnum in a baby stroller calling it out as her child. Perhaps what was most impressive was the story of how a society that wanted to be free from things it considered a hindrance, itself transformed to a psychotic society yet still maintained a hint of humanity. The reason why I remember my experiences in Bioshock is because the game was a stunning and truly amazing experience. Unfortunately, there is nothing that comes close to this in Bioshock 2.
Casual gaming is a curious thing. On the one hand, you have a wide array of games, appealing to many people who don´t have much more than 20 minute spells to while away during a hectic day. On the other hand, you have die-hard gamers, accusing companies of flooding the market with low intelligence, inferior games, and destroying our beloved gaming world in the process. This brings up an interesting predicament: is casual gaming the future we refuse to accept, or merely a way of widening a somewhat narrow market for appeal to the masses?
Back in the early 21st century the gaming industry was going through a craze about injecting realism. That was also the time period of GTA 3 and Vice City and they particularly stood out because they threw realism out of the window. Now that the craze of realism has slowly died down, it seems the bug of realism has bitten the GTA franchise.
All the Little Things:
Don’t get me wrong, I did thoroughly enjoy GTA 4 when I played it. I was particularly impressed with all the little nuances such as getting spam in your email, to actual television channels and the various mini-games available. I did not really spend time taking part in those activities but I appreciated their presence.
It wasn’t until I played DMC4 and the Condemned series right after GTA 4 that I realized I did not actually have as many thrills as per the amount of time I had spent playing that game. The question that comes to mind is if all the little things that GTA 4 developers included in the game made them side step and take the concentration away from making the campaign missions more exciting and fun.
A recent exchange on our very own website got me to thinking:how fair are game scores? They seem to be the most divisive element in gaming after the "console wars", as a disagreement over what score a game should get can cause angry shouts to fire forth from all corners.
Firstly, for the record, I actually hate the idea of a score. It forces a reviewer to pigeonhole a game in a strict framework, and can detract people from actually reading a review. And how do you come to a score anyway? What defines a game getting 9 instead of 8? And how is this represented in the wider market?
After reading Adeel's excellent review of Mass Effect 2, I thought it worth my while to write a short piece highlighting my feelings on the game. Rather than repeat statements made by the good man himself, I will purely concentrate on the areas I feel let the game down.
For the record, I consider Mass Effect 2 to be a great game, and would have scored it 8. But praise is less fun than criticism, so let´s pick on the little niggles that marred my experience.
Firstly, the story - Yeah, it was great, and we really got to know the squad. But why build up a great squad, with depth to the characters, only to send us on ONE mission? The completed squad should have been the halfway point, after which we took our new friends across the galaxy fighting the good fight. We actually could have gotten more story pertaining to the collectors, and felt as if we had invested a lot more into the final conflict.
Steve Jobs referred to the iPad as the ultimate internet experience. There is also buzz being generated on the potential of iPad as a gaming device. However due to the limited functionality and the steep price for the iPad, there are better and cheaper alternatives to satisfy both computer and gaming needs.
The Price Tag:
The price starts at $499 for a 16GB and $599 and $699 for a 32GB and 64GB respectively. In this day and age 16GB of memory falls short. However an extra $100 for only an increase in 16GB in memory is a rip-off.
It’s an easy enough question: Why do we compare games to films? And is that the correct perspective on which to judge gaming´s worth as an entertainment medium?
After reading recent reviews of games such as Uncharted 2, the general consensus is that “it´s like playing an action movie!” , which seems to me an unfair comparison. When I watch a film, I am an outside observer, watching tightly scripted events unfold in front of me, portrayed by (usually) skilled actors who bring life to their roles. However, as a gamer, I am expected to take centre stage and control events around me, bringing life to someone else´s vision, and this is where I think the comparison falls flat.
The Xbox 360 was slightly light on big budget Xbox 360 exclusive titles this year. But this year was about the strong summer XBLA line-up which was easily the one of the main highlights for the platform. Through its exclusives Microsoft sold many of us in the future of excellent small sized games.
10. Splosion Man:
One of the successful XBLA titles was ‘Splosion Man. This game is easily one of the best platformers I have played in a long time. Based on the simple premise of simply exploding, through clever design, the game offered smart and highly challenging set pieces towards the end.
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Overture Films has come out with a great spoof the movie, Men Who Stare at Goats. Its a spoof based on the trailer of Paranormal Activity. You can also check out our review for Men Who Stare at Goats here.
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