Challenge Aversive
My Wii has become something of a trophy paper-weight. While others still struggle to find the elusive machines, I was lucky enough to trip over one a year or so ago. The thing is, I barely use it. Outside of Super Mario Galaxy and Super Smash Bros. Brawl marathons, the Wii just hasn't done much for me. Casual and Hardcore may be unfortunate labels, barriers keeping a united gaming front seperated, but the there is some truth in the different groups. The Wii, to me, is a hotbed of party game collections and shovelware with only a handful of gems to really get the most out of the console. The success of the Wii is not exactly something you can deny, but the savvy "gamer" can see why. Nintendo's decision to aim squarely at the casual (oh, those labels again) crowd was brilliant - it put them back on top and made the a cultural phenomenon again, but the cost of that success is that many of us, the "hardcore" (oh boy, cursed labels!), feel abandoned. This argument is flawed somewhat, since it was only a year ago that we received great Metroid and Mario titles, and Zelda needs time to bloom again after the awesome Twilight Princess... But there is some truth in what has been spoken. Looking over the Wii library is like staring at rows and rows of gray. Nothing stands out except the few usual suspects. And while games like No More Heroes and the upcoming Madworld break the mold, how often do games like that show up on this platform? The answer is obvious. But even Nintendo is adding to what many see as a problem, with the lackluster WiiMusic (well, lackluster at $50) and, for me, Animal Crossing: City Folk.
I'll admit it, I like me some Animal Crossing. The first game and the DS title came out at the exact right times, allowing me to unwind and relax after long session of FPSs and such. I liked the way the game sort of flowed, how the world seemed alive and had a schedule of sorts. City Folk, however, is something of a kick in the face. To old AC fans, you'll notice right away that this game is familiar - suspiciously so. In fact, this is basically the DS's Wild World with a slight coat of paint. Now, I think part of the charm of the AC games is in the simplicity and the hidden level of challenge - of planning ahead to get the things you want for your home and take part in the events waiting for you. AC did expect a certain level of dedication. Missing any one day might cost you the chance to buy a rare carpet, see KK Slider play, or perhaps miss your last chance to build a proper snowman and get that sweet themed chair. With City Folk, all of that goes out the window. Can't make it on the next day Red visits your town, expensive and shady items in tow? No problem in City Folk - just go to the city and visit his shop. The same goes for every other merchant you know. In the other games, if you missed a holiday or something, you could be evil and adjust the GameCube or DS clocks, but City Folk allows you to change the time from inside the game - allowing people to just go to the dates they need to. To me, this strips away a lot of AC's charm - it's also a sad sign of dumbing down a game that required almost nothing to dumb down. Animal Crossing isn't rocket science, and it's the same thinking that has given many games created lately a fourth difficulty level, one lower than easy. This sort of thinking leads to things like a re-relased Super Mario 3 where you have all the Warp Whistles in your inventory for the very start of the game. Why not!? Maybe toss in a handful of Starmen so that you can get through the pesky airship armada and beat Bowser without the threat of defeat!?
Drawing lines in the sand between Casual and Hardcore is stupid sounding, and it shares space with shameful Fanboys - but the fact remains that games are becoming less and less about challenge and a little committment, and more about seeing the credits roll. While I can appreciate developers wanting me to see their stories or experiences from beginning to end, I like to think that I earn the honor by working a little for it. I'm not saying every game needs to be Ninja Gaiden, but this constant lowering of the bar for things standing in the way of completing a game is ridiculous. I never thought I'd see a game like Animal Crossing treated like this, where it simply doesn't need to be done. Here's looking to the future...
Friday, December 12, 2008
Thursday, December 11, 2008
Reviewish | FALLOUT 3
How Many Rads Are In Chicken McNuggets?
Welcome to Reviewish, where I kinda-sorta "review" games I haven't actually completed yet. See, I play games at my own pace - which is a nice way to say I play them very slowly. But after I play what I deem to be enough of any one game to get the proper feel of what it is and has to offer, I'm ready to put my not-entirely informed stamp on it. Enjoy!
I never played the other two proper Fallout games before. In fact, the first image of the franchise that pops in my head is Brotherhood of Steel, the Xbox game with the horrible box art that looked like absolute garbage. I have also never played Oblivion or anything else created by Bethesda Studios. The Fallout games passed me by because I was never big on the PC as a game platform, and as a younger Bannen I simply never heard of the series - Oblivion is fantasy based with its medieval stylings, and I'm really not keen on that genre. But now I'm hip-deep in Fallout 3, and I think that being clueless about the Fallout legacy and of Bethesa's previous efforts have made Fallout 3 easier on me. I've read a lot of things on the interwebs from die-hard Fallout devotees who either see Fallout 3 as deeply flawed but enjoyable or think it's the worst game ever created - ever. I can't say I don't know where the bitter feelings are coming from. As a Twisted Metal fanatic, things went horribly wrong when SingleTrac left the franchise and 989 Studios took over. Of course, the major difference is that 989 Studios made feces pressed into the shape of a disc, while Bethesda's masterwork is one of the best games I've ever played. It might not be the same creature the fans fell in love with, but just maybe its soul has carried over into something new, something that shows itself to be glorious over time...
I know a few people that have already played through the game a couple times, and I simply can't figure out how they did it. My guess is that they either quit their jobs or work from home, allowing them to spend upwards of 15 hours a day wandering what's left of Washington DC. I envy them. I scrape and claw for a scant few hours a night so I can explore the wastes, and after investing almost 40 hours so far, I feel like I have accomplished practically nothing - and I don't mean that in a bad way, oh no. Fallout 3 is one of the most detailed, rewarding worlds ever constructed, and you can easily spend hours at a time wandering this way and that, constantly bumping into new buildings and locations to explore, items to either aid you or sell for a profit, people to chat with, and enemies to battle (or run from). I've only completed a handful of side quests and just a few of the "main" missions - there's just something rewarding and unique about trying to make it through DC and the surrounding area. Finding a new spot on the map is a rush, and raiding it for its various treasures is even better. I spent two hours last night around Bethesda Ruins, in and out of wrecked buildings and taking on those damn Raiders (who, perhaps not entirely by chance, look like actual Oakland Raiders fans). I remember thinking that GTA's San Andreas was a feat, and while it certainly was at the time, the Capital Wasteland is unlike anything I've ever seen before in a game - a full realized slice of land that seemingly never ends. The most awe-inspiring show of how big this game's world is arrives early in the game once you manage to leave your life-long home in Valut 101. The view from the ridge, seeing the Capital Building so far off in the distance, is one of those "Events" in a game that will stay with me for a long time.
Just as deep and winding as the world is the freedom you have in your choices. Some games act like you have choices. GTA IV created the illusion of you having free choice from time to time - kill this person or let them live and so on - but in Fallout 3, the quests allow for you to tackle it primarily however you want and feel you should, and the best thing is that the world reacts to your decisions. The best example I one that happens early in the game and shouldn't be much of a spoiler to anyone who has followed the game even a little. Blow up or save the tiny settlement of Megaton. It's easy enough to break it down into you being bad or good, but let's say you choose to blow it up. Moira Brown, the shop owner who gives you a certain quest doesn't just up and die. Instead, your action alters her path, and she'll show up in a slightly different form later on. That's just small example, but it makes dealing with people and their quests all the more important. This isn't just black and white - Fallout 3 deals morality in many shades of gray. This makes the game feel a little bit more real and complicated since it'll challenge you trying to be entirely good or truly evil. I began the game trying to walk the straight and narrow from beginning to end - but when the realities of the wasteland kick in, when money, ammo, and food get low, I've had to make a few hard choices in hopes of getting my hands on the goods I needed. Things have been stolen, people have been threatened, lies have been told, lives have been lost. While I have done enough good to still have high karma, I still know what I've done, and how the game world largely pinned me in a corner to do it. It's all about survival, after all.
Because of its design, Fallout 3 has been very hard to talk about with friends. It's impossible to play the game the same way between people, so discussing mission and things found has been very hard. Luckily, there is always talk of how we have handled the growth of our Vault Dweller (or just "101" as Three Dog would say). The character creation system is as flexible as the rest of the game, and all the Stats and Skills and Perks allow you to craft a character that you think best suits you. I have a sneaky brainiac that also does well with Small Guns, but gets slaughtered in close combat scenarios. A friend of mine is a brawling brute loves his minigun and getting hands-on with Super Mutants, but he couldn't hack a computer if it only had one button. The Perks, naturally, are the shining part of character creation - mostly because they run from being helpful and logical to being out-right bizarre. From what I can gather, Mysterious Stranger and Bloody Mess seem to be the peoples' favorites, and while I haven't picked them up yet, I'm hoping to before I reach that cursed Level 20 cap. The problem is that ALL the Perks are awesome and useful, and I'm willing to bet that everyone is like me, spending most of their time Leveling Up staring at that list, debating which Perk to select.
So, Fallout 3 is an epic in every sense of the word. For $60, it's insane how much it gives you. If you haven't already, get it now - make it #1 on your Christmas list if you must. And while the die-hards may not accept Fallout 3 as their own, it has made me want to go out and get the original two games and try them out. If that isn't living up to the promise of a series, I don't know what is...
Welcome to Reviewish, where I kinda-sorta "review" games I haven't actually completed yet. See, I play games at my own pace - which is a nice way to say I play them very slowly. But after I play what I deem to be enough of any one game to get the proper feel of what it is and has to offer, I'm ready to put my not-entirely informed stamp on it. Enjoy!
I never played the other two proper Fallout games before. In fact, the first image of the franchise that pops in my head is Brotherhood of Steel, the Xbox game with the horrible box art that looked like absolute garbage. I have also never played Oblivion or anything else created by Bethesda Studios. The Fallout games passed me by because I was never big on the PC as a game platform, and as a younger Bannen I simply never heard of the series - Oblivion is fantasy based with its medieval stylings, and I'm really not keen on that genre. But now I'm hip-deep in Fallout 3, and I think that being clueless about the Fallout legacy and of Bethesa's previous efforts have made Fallout 3 easier on me. I've read a lot of things on the interwebs from die-hard Fallout devotees who either see Fallout 3 as deeply flawed but enjoyable or think it's the worst game ever created - ever. I can't say I don't know where the bitter feelings are coming from. As a Twisted Metal fanatic, things went horribly wrong when SingleTrac left the franchise and 989 Studios took over. Of course, the major difference is that 989 Studios made feces pressed into the shape of a disc, while Bethesda's masterwork is one of the best games I've ever played. It might not be the same creature the fans fell in love with, but just maybe its soul has carried over into something new, something that shows itself to be glorious over time...
I know a few people that have already played through the game a couple times, and I simply can't figure out how they did it. My guess is that they either quit their jobs or work from home, allowing them to spend upwards of 15 hours a day wandering what's left of Washington DC. I envy them. I scrape and claw for a scant few hours a night so I can explore the wastes, and after investing almost 40 hours so far, I feel like I have accomplished practically nothing - and I don't mean that in a bad way, oh no. Fallout 3 is one of the most detailed, rewarding worlds ever constructed, and you can easily spend hours at a time wandering this way and that, constantly bumping into new buildings and locations to explore, items to either aid you or sell for a profit, people to chat with, and enemies to battle (or run from). I've only completed a handful of side quests and just a few of the "main" missions - there's just something rewarding and unique about trying to make it through DC and the surrounding area. Finding a new spot on the map is a rush, and raiding it for its various treasures is even better. I spent two hours last night around Bethesda Ruins, in and out of wrecked buildings and taking on those damn Raiders (who, perhaps not entirely by chance, look like actual Oakland Raiders fans). I remember thinking that GTA's San Andreas was a feat, and while it certainly was at the time, the Capital Wasteland is unlike anything I've ever seen before in a game - a full realized slice of land that seemingly never ends. The most awe-inspiring show of how big this game's world is arrives early in the game once you manage to leave your life-long home in Valut 101. The view from the ridge, seeing the Capital Building so far off in the distance, is one of those "Events" in a game that will stay with me for a long time.
Just as deep and winding as the world is the freedom you have in your choices. Some games act like you have choices. GTA IV created the illusion of you having free choice from time to time - kill this person or let them live and so on - but in Fallout 3, the quests allow for you to tackle it primarily however you want and feel you should, and the best thing is that the world reacts to your decisions. The best example I one that happens early in the game and shouldn't be much of a spoiler to anyone who has followed the game even a little. Blow up or save the tiny settlement of Megaton. It's easy enough to break it down into you being bad or good, but let's say you choose to blow it up. Moira Brown, the shop owner who gives you a certain quest doesn't just up and die. Instead, your action alters her path, and she'll show up in a slightly different form later on. That's just small example, but it makes dealing with people and their quests all the more important. This isn't just black and white - Fallout 3 deals morality in many shades of gray. This makes the game feel a little bit more real and complicated since it'll challenge you trying to be entirely good or truly evil. I began the game trying to walk the straight and narrow from beginning to end - but when the realities of the wasteland kick in, when money, ammo, and food get low, I've had to make a few hard choices in hopes of getting my hands on the goods I needed. Things have been stolen, people have been threatened, lies have been told, lives have been lost. While I have done enough good to still have high karma, I still know what I've done, and how the game world largely pinned me in a corner to do it. It's all about survival, after all.
Because of its design, Fallout 3 has been very hard to talk about with friends. It's impossible to play the game the same way between people, so discussing mission and things found has been very hard. Luckily, there is always talk of how we have handled the growth of our Vault Dweller (or just "101" as Three Dog would say). The character creation system is as flexible as the rest of the game, and all the Stats and Skills and Perks allow you to craft a character that you think best suits you. I have a sneaky brainiac that also does well with Small Guns, but gets slaughtered in close combat scenarios. A friend of mine is a brawling brute loves his minigun and getting hands-on with Super Mutants, but he couldn't hack a computer if it only had one button. The Perks, naturally, are the shining part of character creation - mostly because they run from being helpful and logical to being out-right bizarre. From what I can gather, Mysterious Stranger and Bloody Mess seem to be the peoples' favorites, and while I haven't picked them up yet, I'm hoping to before I reach that cursed Level 20 cap. The problem is that ALL the Perks are awesome and useful, and I'm willing to bet that everyone is like me, spending most of their time Leveling Up staring at that list, debating which Perk to select.
So, Fallout 3 is an epic in every sense of the word. For $60, it's insane how much it gives you. If you haven't already, get it now - make it #1 on your Christmas list if you must. And while the die-hards may not accept Fallout 3 as their own, it has made me want to go out and get the original two games and try them out. If that isn't living up to the promise of a series, I don't know what is...
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