My name is Adam and I have a confession. I’m addicted to using two weapons in RPGs. I will always take the dual wield option. It doesn’t matter what type of game I’m playing, how bad the build is, or how much more I could min/max my way through with something else. I am going to use two weapons, usually swords, and hack and slash things into virtual oblivion. I have done it throughout my gaming life, and my neurosis runs so deep that after taking one dual wield character to level 85 in World of Warcraft, I started another dual wielder of a different class and am leveling him up. Why? Because he dual wields bigger weapons. Yes, that actually happened.
After the jump, Dragon Age 2 satisfies our hero’s bloodlust Continue reading →
I’m a guest on this week’s Jumping the Shark podcast, which I basically used as a platform to hold forth about how good Rift is. Lucky for me, those guys are way too polite to cut me off!
The Nintendo 3DS is right around the corner. March 27, people! Pre-order yours for only $250! Plus the price of whatever games you’re going to get. What else are you going to do with your tax refund check? Upgrade your PC?
Oh, wait, come to think of it, they have 3D on PCs (Pictured? Is that supposed to be Just Cause 2?). Today Nvidia hopes to remind you of that fact by dropping the price of the Nvidia 3D Vision from $200 to $150. This is basically a pair of battery powered glasses that work with special drivers to make almost any game play in 3D. I used this thing pretty extensively for a review about a year ago.
After the jump, I’ll tell you if the Nvidia 3D Vision is worth it. Continue reading →
There is something very comforting about a bunch of square pieces of cardboard on a hex grid. For someone who grew up at a certain time and frequented hobby stores, an oval inside a rectangle above two numbers separated by a dash has only one meaning: if you put them on a cardboard square, with some luck, you might be able to move them all the way to Moscow.
I can say with the certainty of imperfect memory that War in the East is the first time I’ve gone to a book to help me play a wargame. I pulled my thirty-year-old copy of Manstein’s Lost Victories off the shelf because I couldn’t figure out the best way to use 41st and 56th Panzer Corps to approach Leningrad. Was I supposed to stay completely west of Lake Ilmen? What did a real panzer general do? That’s something I’ve never done, because up until now the game and the history were thematically linked but conceptually separate. Sure, I knew what happened historically, but that wasn’t helpful when trying to line up 42 combat factors for a 3:1 attack. War in the East channels the past straight to my bookshelf in a way The Russian Campaign never did. That statement is blasphemy in this household, but it is pretty much true. Please excommunicate me now.
A long time ago, I wrote an article about the difference between realism and detail in wargames. It ended up being required reading for a course at the U.S. Army War College*. For those of you who skipped class that day, the point was that if you want your game to reward good decisions, it makes no sense to incorporate a level of detail the player is incapable of managing. If things are happening at a level below that of what the player can reasonably affect, there’s no reason to include, except for show. Or “chrome” as old wargamers would say.
*Actual, non-ironic fact.
After the jump, War in the East breaks these rules but keeps on winning Continue reading →
Spoiler: gravity wins. That’s me about 5 minutes into DCS Warthog. It happened as I was turning. Or rather, it happened as I was trying to turn, when suddenly the A-10 fell out of the sky like several tons of bricks. See, as I mentioned in the last installment, the last modern sim I played was Falcon 4.0, which is based on the F-16 fighter. The F-16 is a very nimble aircraft. You can roll it 360 degrees with a flick of your wrist. You can zoom up into the sky and do loops and other acrobatics with ease. This means my instincts for flying the Warthog are all wrong. I tried to bank the A-10 over and pull back on the stick to make a tight turn, just as I would in the Falcon and, well, turns out there’s a reason why one of these planes is named after a graceful, deadly bird of prey, and the other is named after a pig.
After the jump, my introduction to the game is followed shortly by my introduction to the ground. Continue reading →
So that happened.
Podcast (movies): Play in new window | Download
Subscribe:
This afternoon I completed my Army Training. I’ve hit upon a number of military-themed community levels, including one that seems to be a target-shooting sim with a Vietnam theme. Not sure what to make of that one. This one works just fine. I’m a little confused as to why this LBP2 army training takes place exclusively at night, but I’m not going to make a fuss about that. Maybe it’s because we own the night. I don’t know. I do know that the memory of playing this simple little obstacle course is keeping my mind off of the fact that my PS3 is again refusing to connect to the Internet. It’s a sweet level. Not the one I really wanted to post–that’s coming tomorrow–but nice enough. I can’t remember the last time I got the instruction to “Drive the Hummer”. Also, I’m a sucker for ziplines.
Since I can’t resist, I’m gonna post one more shot from this level. Check out the reflection here. It’s a simple thing, but I like how it adds depth. I’m constantly struck by the sense of depth in this simple little world.
After the jump, sackpatriot Continue reading →
In case you’re one of those hateable Steambabies — you know, the folks who whinge about wanting a game, but waaah!, they not going to get it unless it’s on Steam — then you’re in luck. One of this year’s best games, Atom Zombie Smasher, is now available on Steam, and it’s six bucks cheaper than if you were to buy it directly from the creator. I hope you’re happy now.
If you’ve already bought Atom Zombie Smasher, a) good on ya!, and b) you’ll be getting a download code to also get the game on Steam. Because, you know, Steam achievements. Forty of them!
Do you play Halo: Reach? Of course you do! How else are you going to piece together your own custom not-really-a-Spartan Master-Chief-a-like suit of armor?
The Defiant map pack comes out tomorrow, adding two multiplayer maps and a firefight map. Post a comment below and in 24 hours one of the Qt3 interns will randomly pick five posts for a free download code. Make sure to post with your email so we know where to send the download codes. Good luck, and one post per email address please.
By the way, my Halo: Reach character’s armor is pink. It’s ironic.
EDIT: Congratulations to Cadaemon, Doug, Jordan, Mitch, and Joshua!
That right up there is the cockpit of my (simulated) A-10C. Every single switch and button works. To fly and fight effectively in Eagle Dynamics’ latest sim, DCS A-10C Warthog, you’ll need to know what they all do. You’ll need to be able to set your TGP (in WHOT mode, naturally) as the SOI so that you can pick out the T-55 that JTAC designated as your target by pointing out its location on your TAD. After setting the T-55 as the SPI using the TGM switch you’ll want to engage CCRP mode on the HUD and select your GBU-12 on the DSMS. Then it’s a simple matter of flying over the target, watching the SC and TTRN crawl down the ASL, and pressing the pickle when it meets the pipper.
Confused yet? So am I. So what the heck am I doing here?
After the jump, a total nugget (that’s the flight-sim geek’s word for “noob”) grapples with the most obsessively detailed sim ever. Continue reading →
I love the little motivational speeches your commander gives you in Shogun 2. He sits there on his horse, yelling context-specific inspirational pre-battle things before his assembled troops. It’s a great touch that, I believe, Creative Assembly introduced in Rome: Total War. If you want to just get to the battle, you can skip it with a quick tap of the escape key, but then you’ll miss adorable tidbits like the following:
I’m sure it sounds less, uh, rednecky in the original Japanese. Also, here’s an unfortunately relevant bit from the advisor.
Ah, quaintly naive advisor chick, you have no idea. :(
Over a month ago, Atari released a broken Test Drive Unlimited 2 and immediately issued a couple of “oops!” statements and a mea culpa and “we’re patching it now” proclamations. The usual stuff. Fast forward to today, when the patch for the Xbox 360 is supposed to finally fix the game’s social options and multiplayer support.
Oh, wait, it’s not ready.
Maybe tomorrow at 9am. And what’s more, the social options won’t be fixed after all. There’s currently no ETA for when that part of the game will finally work.
Nice work, Atari! Well done, Eden! You guys are doing a heck of a job keeping my copy of Midnight Club: Los Angeles in heavy rotation.
I’m having a grand time with Shogun 2, the latest in Creative Assembly’s Total War series. But those first few days are always a grand time. Will this be the Total War game that breaks the Chick parabola, that curve where you enjoy a game until you discover the AI is terrible? Check for the review on 1up in a few days.
Homefront, on the other hand, is disappointing early and often. I say that as a huge fan of Kaos Studios previous game, Frontlines. Unfortunately, Homefront is no Frontlines, largely because it’s trying so hard to be a Call of Duty. The full review will be on Gameshark later this week.
Also out this week are Yakuza 4 and Top Spin 4, both series I admire rather than enjoy. The Yakuza games suffer mightily in comparison with other open-world games, but they have their own storytelling appeal. As far as tennis games go, Top Spin is like the smart but homely sister to the bubbly Virtua Tennis party girl.
Keep an eye out for Gods Eater Burst for the PSP. Not that I’m necessarily recommending it. But I see the title and I get excited because I think of God Hand. Unfortunately, this isn’t that. But we’ll always have Bayonetta, which is a pretty serviceable God Hand 2.
Finally, are you ready for the latest map pack for Halo: Reach? I hope you are, because I’d love to be able to play Halo: Reach with people who are as bad as me. This latest map pack includes a new firefight map I quite like, partly because there are plenty of indoor hiding spots, where I found a garage with a warthog that has a rocket launcher on the back. At which point I don’t feel like hiding so much anymore.
I should warn you that before me and John Patrick Roberdeau get to talking about what is one the finest RTSs ever made, there is some irrational rage directed at Lego Indiana Jones and some stuff about a boring chemistry-themed game that only a programmer can love. But on the flip side, you also get the nerd version of Easy Rider and one of the coolest names you could ever hope to give a daughter.
Podcast (games): Play in new window | Download
Subscribe:
If you’ve got a kid, go quick and get him to help you with today’s level, Sackeratinator 3000. I’ll confess I haven’t yet gotten my own kid to help me puzzle this one out, but I fully intend to do so. Not because I can’t figure it out myself. Well…a little bit of that. I have only played seven or eight rat test cages, and one of those I’m just not getting. I need a new perspective.
But let me step back a second. Yes you read that right. Rat test cages. Basically in this level you allow yourself to be transformed from sack to rat by a lab scientist. He promises to turn you back to sack once you work through his lab tests. The only real problem with the level is the extensive prologue section about the lab doctor and riding an elevator and blah blah blah. I’m sure I’ll be able to skip it next time I play the level, but I hate skipping this type of stuff first time through, so I end up resenting it if it’s tedious. It is here, but I can forgive that because the little rat test cage puzzles pleased me so. In spite of the fact that there’s one I can’t crack. I’m sure my kid will help me figure it out. In the meantime there’s plenty more to try.
What’s more, the game really does pay you the compliment of treating you like a rat. Because as far as I know, rats don’t get any pop-up tips in their little lab experiments. I like the fact that as a sack rat, neither do you.
I cannot wait to get back to this one.
