Fallout 3 Review

I’ve been a FPS player since Doom.  I get bored with RPG’s.  Not so long ago I dispaired of finding a game that would get under my skin as much as those I’d played in the past ( Quake, Duke Nukem, Half Life, UT).  I assumed I had just become jaded,  after all there had been plenty that I’d loved playing (Bioshock, Fear, Max Payne to name a few).  But I hadn’t experienced that complete sense of immersion, that obsessional first flush of a love affair feeling.  That sense that there was another life you were living in parallel, as opposed to a game you were temporarily having a ball with.

Then I discovered Fallout 3.  OMG.

So is so cool about it:

1. I could play as a girl.  There’s something not quite right about playing as a burly ex-marine with a voice that could shred steel – when you’re not a bloke.  The level of customisation you have in terms of the character means that you feel a lot closer to your character than games where you have no choice.  So you become more immersed.

2. You can go where you want, when and how fast (or slow).  The first time through I sprinted in giddy excitment around everything….knowing that next time I can play it differently, and slowly.

3. Each quest has it’s own special sense of satisfaction.

4. The odd bits of humour.

5. Actions have consequences.

6. The targetting system (VATS) allows for some groovy slow mo replays of killings.  It can be a bit of a cop-out too but I can forgive it.

7. The Wastelands are HUGE.  Hours of wandering around should you choose to do so.

8. Background music and songs that I ended up singing in the shower.

6. The 50’s post atomic war aftermath styling.

There’s always the not so cool bits:

1. Fighting super mutants when you have the temerity to do so before building up some combat perks and some decent weapons is suicide (and frustrating if you want to jump right into the action)

2. Some of the weapons SUCK.

3. In a couple of the quests I got caught in a logic loop – not sure if it was a bug, but there wasn’t any clear way through it (that I may or may not have need to complete another mission) so in the end I had to abandon the quest.

4. Trapsing across vast amounts of land back and forth between points can, occasionally (when you’re forced to do it for some reason) be tiresome.

5,6 etc…..It takes a while to get the hang of the PipBoy interface and a couple of the enemies can be down right annoying especially the Mirelurk’s.  Players looking for a RPG with the occasional shoot out might find the battles a bit hard and get frustrated because you have to build up perks and skills to get past a group of super mutants unscathed.

There have also been complaints that the game a bit buggy.  Other than a couple of early stutters, I didn’t have to many problems.

I haven’t played earlier Fallout games, nor have I played Oblivion (a game that Fallout is often compared to), so perhaps it’s newer to me than those that have played these other games first.

I’d recomend that you don’t be in a hurry through the game.  Take in the wasted vista’s.  Talk to the characters.  Do the quests.  Get the bobble heads.

This game restored my faith.  Hallelujah.

Unreal Tournament 3 Review

I’m in mourning.

One of my all time, most played, most enjoyed multiplayer game has been messed with, and I don’t think for the better.

Firstly – I get very frustrated with games that assume that everyone wants to play online.  I don’t.  In NZ we have rubbish bandwidth – 128kb upload restriction – (don’t ask) which makes online play a waste of time for games like UT or Quake.

It seems that play, and therefore menus and options, are dependant on whether I’m logged in or not – I can play but I get warnings that tell me that some functions won’t be available.  If you’re going to tell me that, then tell me which ones and why.  And why does my profile name have to be unique across that whole world if I’m playing on my local LAN???!!   Of several attempts to set up a LAN game, only 1 out of 3 are successful without errors.

Overall, the menus are illogical and confusing – half the time I found things by trial and error, not logic.  But this is only one of my gripes.

UT3 by all reasoning should be stunning – but somehow it isn’t.  The maps have heaps more detail and there are interesting layouts and themes, and yes the weapons look cooler.  But the level of detail is not balanced with sufficient contrast or smoothing,  so visually it’s just a complicated  mess.  And combined with the dark and moody atmospheres – half the time I simply can’t see where I’m going.  I shouldn’t have to fiddle about with my settings for hours just to be able to see the difference between a player and the wall behind them.  With  a game that moves this fast – this is simply not good enough.

After managing to ‘dumb’ down the settings enough so the game was playable, I found that while yes the various game types are there and yes there are cool vehicles, UT3 is just UT2004 prettied up a bit.   There was nothing new and exciting about it – frankly I’d rather play UT2004 because at least I could see better.   While compelling environments are nice, and it’s cool to play gorgeous looking maps, ultimately it’s the game play that matters and if the graphics are  getting in the way of play then that’s a problem.

Don’t get me wrong, it’s still a very fun game to play by any standard, but UT is a legend game and can’t get away with a mediocre move of releasing a very similar game in new and in many ways inferior wrapping.   Putting your graphics on visual steriods doesn’t make the game better.

Most of the reviews I’ve read don’t mention issues with the art direction which surprised me.  I think one mentioned that visually it was confusing but that’s as negative as it got.

Maybe it’s just a personal preference.  I prefer my visual’s to look more Fear 2 or Bioshock (if you want dark and moody).

Even the single player mode had me exclaiming “what the?” A  woeful storyline and set path through various game types was just tedious.

I originally bought the game when if first game out and gave up on it.   Another few spins around UT2004 lead me to giving it another go.   My experience this time round was a bit more enjoyable once I perservered with the settings, but I’d call it a miss step, and hope the next iteration get’s the game back on track and offers something new that’s a real progression, not just tinkering around the edges.

Sigh.

Dead Space review

I’d heard comments coming from H when he played this game and was prepared to be creeped out.  And I will give Dead Space that – the ambient sounds help to create a very creepy atmosphere indeed.

Unfortunately the ambience was probably one of the few things I found to recommend about this game, which is a shame because the game has a lot going for it but just doesn’t quite get there for me.

The background story was reasonable – on a routine mission a mining ship cuts communication from command who dispatch a maintenance crew – with the players character, Isaac- to investigate.   The various weapons Isaac uses are fairly inventive and can be upgraded with the use of nodes discovered throughout the ship.

Just for the record, I hate zero gravity but in fairness Dead Space utilises this to good effect – disorientating you without being completely annoying

But dismembering the bad guys is fun for a while but gets a bit ho-hum after a while.  Predictable jumps when something crashes out of a wall just in front of you also gets a bit tiring.

By the time I got to the absolutely rediculous end Boss Monster I was bored.    I can’t even explain why – perhaps it’s because after the fun of the creepy atmosphere ran out, Dead Space is just a standard, follow the linear story line game with (in my mind anyway) some extremely uneven game play along the way.    When will game developers learn that a player’s skill level will not increase exponentially in the space of one game.  Going from fun but relatively easy to overwhelmingly hard is just not fun.

Overall score: 5 out of 10

For the next little while….

I’ll be focusing on game reviews……just for fun.

Google indexing

It’s been a while since I posted here, as I’ve been spending most of my time on the Essentee Blog. I was surprised to see that I’m still getting the odd vistit but it did inspire me to start posting here again.

These posts will be of a more personal nature, with web related stuff going on Essentee.

Last couple of days have been pulling hair out wondering why a new site recently launched has disappeared out of Google’s index.  One day it was there, the next – not.  We had a pretty bumpy ride transferring the hosting with all sorts of now-you-see-it-now-you-don’t problems for a few hours so don’t know if that has contributed to it.

Will post a question on the webmaster’s forum and see if anyone can spot any issues with the site.

Update:  The site popped up (seemingly by itself), eventually but it was interesting that a post to the forum was spectacularly unhelpful.   People would post obscure comments that, while I appreciate the effort, I didn’t understand and the author didn’t then bother to clarify.  Direct requests were rebuffed – here’s a suggestion: if you don’t want to answer questions, don’t offer your contact details or clarify that you won’t ask direct questions.  My conclusion is that these forums are an opportunity for supposed experts to show off how much they know in an effort to get work.  If you get a solution from anyone then you’re lucky.  There seemed to be very few people there who legitimately want to give a helping hand to others.  Not surprised of course, and I certainly don’t have time to give away my knowledge for nothing – but that’s why I’m not on those forums portraying myself as an expert!

Kirk vs Picard

I’m also not convinced it would start a geek riot.

I vote for Picard.  Much as I like Kirk…..

Twitter is like a drug

Especially today as news of Michael Jackson’s death flew around the Twittersphere …..at the time of writing this we’re getting conflicting reports that he’s either in a coma or has indeed died.    And I can’t stop reading the updates as they come……argg! back to work!!

Dr Phil says an addiction is where something interrupts normal daily activities……if work is a normal daily activity, does this make me now addicted?

Cloud computing for dummies

Since 90% of people have never heard of it, I thought I’d post an explanation.  Mostly sourced from Wikipedia:

What is it :

A style of computing where the user pays for applications and services provided by an external provider over the internet.  They access the services via a browser, and the data …is stored on servers owned and managed by an external provider.  The user does not need to invest in physical infrastructure such as hardware, knowledge or expertise but pays for the services they use.  Some cloud computing models can be compared to our use of utilities such as power – we don’t all have generators in our back yards.

Why do it:

• Primarily to reduce the capital expenditure involved in setting up computer networks.
• You only pay for what you use
• Low management overheads
• Utilisation rates can increase if server use is spread out (i.e. no peaks and troughs) over time periods
• Reduces barriers to entry and risk associated with investing in upfront costs
• Potentially better performance (speed, reliability, security) for companies who can’t afford specialists to deliver optimum performance networks
• Flexibility in terms of user location and device

Concerns:

• Vendor lock in and questionable ethics may lead to spiralling costs over time that the user is unable to break from
• Can only use services the vendor offers which may be restrictive
• Unable to install new applications at will or in a timely fashion
• Data is stored with third party so privacy and security of data may be at increased risk
• Multiple regulatory environments as ‘the cloud’ spans multiple geographical jurisdictions
• Physical co-location of data may increase risk by association
• Data and services (and therefore operation of users business) reliant on viability of provider organisation

Well known examples:

• Skype
• Facebook
• Microsoft’s Software plus services that offer services such as email and document management, collaboration and CRM tools
• iPhone (for application delivery)
• PayPal
• Google Maps
• Amazon Simple Storage

See this video Explaining Cloud Computing if you want an explanation with pictures.

Some supporters say it’s the way of the future, particularly for small and medium businesses.   I suspect they’re right, but I guess we’ll see.

Stats show use

I can’t remember how I found these stats (a random Twitter post I think) but came across some interesting statistics out of the US.  It pays to take note of what is happening in the US as they are usually ahead of NZ in terms of general web trends, leaving aside the different product/service offerings.  These stats come from interviews with the general US population over aged 18, during May 2009.  Margin of error is up to +/- 7.5%.

• 54% use Google for search, followed by 22% for Yahoo/MSN.
• Relevant results (45%) is the main reason why people use a particular search engine most often, followed by force of habit (38%) and trust in the brand (35%).
• Participation in social networking sites shows Facebook with 40%, MySpace 38% and Twitter at 14%.  Of those earning over 75K ($111,000 per annum) the difference increases to 14% in Facebook’s favour.
• Of the 14% of Americans with Twitter, only 48% use them more than once a month
• 40% of Twitter users are not supportive of any kind of advertising or subscripting fees (maybe they’re in the 51% that don’t use it often?)
• 90% of consumers are not familiar with the term Cloud Computing
• 92% do not currently pay for subscriptions to online content (bad news for news publishers)
• 66% say they would not pay for any kind of news
• 87% would not ever pay a subscription fee to read a blog (there goes that idea)

Social media – is the end nigh?

Computerworld’s Friday Fryup this week had a somewhat accerbic comment on social media and it’s lack of business model.  That the likes of Facebook, MySpace and Twitter are popular is not in doubt and they fill a basic human need for communities – but all have dubious  value from a business perspective other than advertising, and I think most in the industry are well aware of that.

Apparently even Trent Reznor from Nine Inch Nails is quiting the social media game.  I’m not interested in who someone is but what they might have to say, and he sums up the problem well by pointing out the challenge of getting through the “clutter and noise” caused by “spammers and ‘troller’s”‘ (people who harrass or post outrageous comments to stimulate a response).  I’d add that even a lot of ‘legitimate posts’ are like the mindless bleating of sheep, and eventually people will find something else trivial and meaningless to do with their spare time.

The question for me isn’t really about why people use them (I’m a Facebook and Twitter user) but how and why these organisations continue to get investment funds when they are not making any money and apparently have sketchy or overly optimistic plans on how they are going to do it?  The investors must enjoy throwing money away.   As they say, fool me once……