Everquest 2

Holy crap, I didn't realize this game was even still around!  Stumbled on to an ad for it today while diving the net, and for nostalgia's sake, had to download it and see how things are going.  I haven't finished with the install, but I had to post something.  This game really should have been dead almost a decade ago.

Disappointment

So I tried going on Steam and downloading the Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning demo and trying it out.  But I have to say, I'm horribly disappointed.  I can only get about ten minutes into the demo(the part where you get the bow) and the game crashes, without fail, every time.

Now, demos are supposed to be shiny tidbits of awesome that get you so hyped up about the game you go out and pre-order, and  then tell all of your friends about it so they do as well, hopefully propelling the game into the stratosphere in terms of sales numbers.  So busted demos are definitely a bad thing.

Having a demo that crashes drops confidence in a game, and let me tell you, my is dropped.  After sitting through all of the opening content twice, fighting the same three battles twice, only to have the demo crash, I'm not impressed.  And it isn't like I can just download a new copy, its through Steam, and from everything I've ever heard, Steam is supposed to keep things like botched downloads from happening.

All-in-all, I'm disappointed, and I'm not really excited to be buying a game at a price tag of $59.99 when I can't even expect the demo to work.  I think I'll be holding off on this one until I hear about through regular channels.

Good Bye Metal Gear

So, I've sort of been on a binge the last year playing anything and everything Metal Gear, and this new year isn't really shaping up to be anything different.  With one exception.

This year I'll probably finish off most of the games in the Metal Gear series (most of these on their upteenth time through), and I was looking forward to the next installment in franchise.  I stress was.  I am no longer looking forward to Metal Gear Solid: Rising.  Because that game no longer exists.

What we have now is Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance, a stupid title that touts an even stupider game.  Now devoid of any storyline even remotely connected to Metal Gear, Revengeance seem nothing more to me than a few of the Solid series' characters put to an episode of Dragon Ball Z.

The trailer was so awefully over the top, it even has Raiden facing off against what looks like a new version of Metal Gear Ray.  He grabs one of rays fins with his bare hands and tosses it into the air like a rag doll and jumps on like he's riding a surf board.

Over all, they took what looked like a really awesome addition to the MGS storyline, and turned it into nothing more than a mindless slash fest.  Kojima Productions even promised it has none of the stealth elements that MGS fans love.

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas to everyone!

LOTRO

So I'm mobile blogging from my phone right now because my computer is distracted by theLord of the Rings online, an awesome mmo my good friend Jon sucked me into a couple of weeks ago.  Now free to play, this has to be one of the most thurough and engaging mmos I've ever played.  The graphics are great, the gameplay is fun, and there are enough quests to keep anyone happy.  One erk I do have though is that so many of the content areas require micro trasactions to unlock, sometimes it a bit tedious to find an area later in the game for you to quest in.  Its not a problem if, you save up the turbine points(out-of-game currency) that you get for free for completing deeds in-game, but it still takes, a while.

All-in-all, though, this has been a great game so far, and I can't wait to delve deeper into, this immersive world

LOTRO

So, my good friend Haiku Master got me started on LOTRO, or Lord of the Rings online, the other day.  And I have to admit, I'm hooked.  I've never really been one for MMORPGs but this one has won me over.

And I think the reasoning is amazingly simple.

First, they took a world I have always wanted to explore and gave it their version of reality, and secondly, they removed the "you must pay every month" payment model.  I know that paying for games is the way game studios make money, but I'm not really one to pay for a game over and over again.

Plus, the graphics on this game are amazing, and the game play is good, too.  On top of that, there are more quests than you can shake a stick at, so the game keeps you more than busy trying to get everything done.

Other M

So, I've been playing a lot of different video games lately.  I don't know why, but I just seem to be flipping from game to game.  I've done FF 7, Crisis Core, Dissidia Final Fantasy, MGS: Peace Walker, MGS: Portable Ops, and Little Big Planet for the PSP.  I've played a few levels of Donkey Kong Country Returns, too.  For my birthday party on Friday we even broke out a LAN party and started playing Quake 3!

And then my wife bought me Metroid Other M.  The last thing I needed was a new title to add to my list this month, but it was so shiny and new.   I couldn't even wait two minutes to rip off the wrapping and stare in wonder at the disc. 

Now, I've heard mixed reviews of the game, but I'm a die-hard fan of the Metroid series, having played every one of the games, and owning all but two (I never did get the DS titles.  It never really seemed imperative I do so).  But as I've played through the game these last few days, I've found that reviews were mixed because the game is mixed.  Its a weird attempt at blending a side-scroller, an FPS, and a third-person slasher, like the newer Ninja Gaiden games.  Overall though, it works, and thanks to the Wiimote, none of it really seems awkward.

But playing through this installment of Metroid made me realize something.  There are some serious problems with the production of Metroid games.  With all of the newer titles, the producers have either gone for game-play and graphics, graphics and storyline, or storyline and game-play.  There isn't a single one that packs all three.  With Other M, I've been sorely disappointed many times with problems in the game-play, things like the 'concentration' mechanism, and the lack of explanation in game-play.  Several times while I've been playing this game, I've had to sit in a particular room for an hour trying to figure out what the hell I'm supposed to be doing.  And this is the first Metroid game since the series started where I've had to pull out a strategy guide just to finish my first run through the game.

But the Metroid Prime trilogy doesn't escape either.  That series suffered from a sever lack of direction.  When you play through all three games, you're grasping at straws trying to correlate the story line.  Each game seems almost independent of the series, and from each other, and only upon reading supplementary material provided by the producers do you really find out whats going on.

(The third option of achieving game-play and storyline is of course Metroid Fusion, which reverted back to old side-scrolling goodness, which, unfortunately, didn't impress the newer generation of gamers.)

So what I really got from all of this is that of the three really important elements of any game, game-play, storyline and graphics, you only need two to make a game that sells, as long as you have a good marketing team.