Mini Reviews

[Dr. kitteny berk]

AoC - Middle of the game Impressions.

Pros:
Full of promise, awesome combat system, great gameplay.
Sounds are bloody awesome, graphics are good, but buggy.
All the WoWtards are bored now.

Cons:
404: Stability not found
Seriously short of soloable quests (especially during 45-60)
Needs more areas, Needs more transport between large towns (if it has an asura chap, it should be a travel hub)
Also needs more variation, in clothes/weapons especially in capes.
Instances getting turned off because they're not busy, often fucking you over

Verdict:

Very good start, if they actually manage to fix all the bugs, and expand the world by 30%, it'll be a very good game.

For now, It's fun most of the time, but often frustrating due to bugs and poor instance management - on more than one occasion I've been killed due to lag spikes or had the instance I'm in switched off after clearing an area, only to relog into a massive mob.

6.5/10

[Fear]

AIDS of Colon

(Following on from Berks)

Basically, what he said. It has been a very enjoyable single player game up until about level 48, then it became a grind to make the next quests available.

I hit 55 with an Assasin, which solo was challenging, but enjoyable. However I've not been able to progress easily through the game since lvl 48, or easily find competent groups to help me complete a few group quests I have available. Becuase of this I have decided not to renew subscription, however I do plan to renew when I hear news of an injection of quests in the 40-60 range.

With time this could be a very good game, but it does feel rushed. The further you get in the game the less refined it all becomes.

[HereComesPete]

The further you get in the game the less refined it all becomes.

I did think this but then I hit 60 and my quests started stacking up to the point my quest journal was full all the time and the higher areas seem less broken and better to look at.

I'm 72 now and I've got enough quests to see me through to 80, and there's still grey exclamation marks all over keshatta.

The middle bit is a bit empty and relies a lot on the main system/cistern, which is fucking fail. This summer sees a whole new area for 50 ish too. Berk's power levelling of his barber shows the holes in content at their worst, as he ran the quests with a lot less stopping to kill everything going he always seemed to fall short of the arbitrary barriers that some areas place on quest collection. This is being addressed with extra quests, extra mobs and extra loot from right after tortage up to end game.

In terms of groups i'm having more trouble now than I ever did, as my conq feats are fail in terms of scaling, buffing myself or the group is negligible, they add a few dps in fire or ice damage, this really doesnt mean much on mobs that weigh in at a few k in health. The only solider that groups want is the guardian as a tank, if you dont take spellcasters or dps such as assassins or rangers atm, then your going to suffer, so no-one wants to group. Earlier on however i generally advertised in both ooc chat and the player looking for system and goty a group in afew minutes, failing that I just had a tab and a can of beer whilst at the start line, and other randoms would drift up with the same idea and we'd get a scratch group going.

It's not perfect, I am a bit bored all the way out in front so when sheriff and berk catch me up given that I'm not really questing at all atm, just grinding mobs for building money, then I'll have someone to talk to other than the gold farmers.

These reviews all sound quite negative, but imo the game looks great and promises so much, they are fixing it, even though some big issues such as broken quests, stability and balance got ignored for the ability to dance. I think they'll have it fixed inside this year, and it will continue to expand and when it is finished it'll be a real long term thing like wow, but less cartoony and with slightly less retarded kids spamming the general chat.

[Dr. kitteny berk]

These reviews all sound quite negative, but imo the game looks great and promises so much, they are fixing it, even though some big issues such as broken quests, stability and balance got ignored for the ability to dance. I think they'll have it fixed inside this year, and it will continue to expand and when it is finished it'll be a real long term thing like wow, but less cartoony and with slightly less retarded kids spamming the general chat.

so very

I'm not cancelling just yet, mainly because this is the best MONG since CoH, IMHO.

[Dog Pants]

I think they'll have it fixed inside this year, and it will continue to expand and when it is finished it'll be a real long term thing like wow, but less cartoony and with slightly less retarded kids spamming the general chat.

I hope so. It's got the potential to go either way, but it's off to a good start considering how old it is. I'd like for a game to prove that you can start a new MMONG and suceed without half the players going back to Warcraft after a month.

[Baliame]

The Political Machine 2008

A satire to the yankee elections, yet it gives you a pretty good idea what happens during one of these. You have 41 weeks to get more than 270 electoral votes by winning votes all around the USA. The system of the game is between the complexity ratings "SpacEVE" and "AD&D", each runner has like 20 stats, there are over 25 issues, there are actual buildings, ads, speeches, tv interviews, running mates, political operatives, random events. Oh, and you can bob the head of the runners. There is 2-player online play, but you probably need to buy the game before you are able to use it. The game replayability (really low) just removes the value, I don't recommend buying it while it costs more than a fiver.

[Dr. kitteny berk]

Spore

Better than I expected, doesn't live up to the hype, but isn't disappointing, unsure of replayability.

FUCKING SHIT SAVE SYSTEM IS FUCKING SHIT.

[Joose]

doesn't live up to the hype

Unless the game actually made you into god, really-truly-in-real-life, it was never going to live up to the hype. Glad its not shit though.

[Dog Pants]

FUCKING SHIT SAVE SYSTEM IS FUCKING SHIT.

That's the biggest problem PCG had with it. Hopefully soon to be patched.

[Dr. kitteny berk]

That's the biggest problem PCG had with it. Hopefully soon to be patched.

Still no excuse, It's a very casual compatible game, play for 20 minutes here and there.

Unfortunately, you get to play the same 20 minutes over a lot, because they don't let you save the bit you're playing.

[Dog Pants]

You mean you can't save at all? I thought there just wasn't an autosave.

[Dr. kitteny berk]

You can save, but not in some places I think*, pretty much a killer if you've had enough or need to stop, also no button bound for save, have to go via the menu and no autosave.


*didn't pay much attention, a few of the times I stopped, I couldn't save so just quit anyway.

[shot2bits]

my only two trifes with spore are the graphics couldve been better and the stages are far too short, i didnt notice any problem with the save system as i mostly played it through in one go

[buzzmong]

Zelda - Twilight Princess [Wii]

Not bad, infuriating controls at times, required more play testing and polishing. Certain planned combats require lots and lots of retries as it's not at all obvious how you complete it.

Puzzles gallore! Some hard, some easy. Most are up to the expected level from a Zelda game.

Suffers from "ooh, shiny new item, go back and comb massive sections of map to get required items to continue the game" syndrome.

Also using the remote for a fair number of sounds seems to suck the juice out of the batteries.

6/10/

Worth getting and playing on budget.

[Fear]

Crysis

Absolutely brilliant game. I played it on the hardest setting, really enjoyed sneaking up on the enemy, scouting and then assaulting small villages, fucking brilliant. Map felt non-linear, most win. The most realistic AI I've ever had the pleasure of killing.

Then, suddenly.... fucking aliens *

WHY THE FUCK HAVE THEY PUT ALIENS IN AN OTHERWISE AWESOME GAME!!! DIDN'T THE GAME INDUSTRY LEARN FROM HL1 AND THAT ALIEN PLANET SHIT.

I refuse to play it any more.

Does anyone actually like shooting aliens in computer games?

Indecently, 1920x1200 high quality, no problems, very very good looking game. Doesn't seem to deserve to be the butt of all those jokes on hardware requirements.

*About half way through, so still a lot of good game there.

Before the aliens:


After the aliens:

[Joose]

Does anyone actually like shooting aliens in computer games?

[Baliame]

Does anyone actually like shooting aliens in computer games?

Me. Alien vs Predator? Natural Selection? Half-Life series? Spore? (well.. yeah)

[Killavodka]

Nothing wrong with shooting aliens, but the aliens in Crysis are terrible both aesthetically and in regards to the storyline. I did manage to get to the end but I much preferred the sneaky sneaky tacticalness of the 1st part of it.

[HereComesPete]

Well they did that with farcry too really. It was a great game about a hard ass dude in a joose style shirt fucking up some merc types. Then it all went tits up when hueg quake/doom aliens suddenly appeared in the middle of what was suddenly the biggest fucking island ever.

[Baliame]

Spore: Origins (Mobile)

WALL OF TEXT AHEAD. READER DISCRETION IS ADVISED.

There are quite a few good games out there now on mobile. I really enjoyed a mediocre Ratchet & Clank in a boring class, even Nokia's shitty Snake to some extent. What I didn't expect is that they could be potentially replaced for a few hours with our overhyped favourite, Spore. Origins is a cell phase shrunk to a mobile screen with less fabulous graphics and directions to move.

There are three gamemodes, the first one is the classic Evolution, which I feel a bit more in-depth than the Cell phase of Spore (which seems to be a bit rushed and overlooked, I think it's one of the most fun phases). It has 18 levels, on 6 different backgrounds (which make no difference at all), and a handful of enemies to play with. There are no herbivores though, so the game is basically Snake with extra features. You start out with a primordial ooze, which I somehow turned into a primordial ooze that looks like Joose a goth octopus with 12 arms. Every 3 levels you are given the opportunity to place unlimited amount of a piece on your spore, these pieces are broken up into three categories; offense, defense and movement. These have three levels, you need to have at least one piece on of the previous level to put on the next one. Oh, and you can put an eye on but it's pretty optional. As for the gameplay, it's basically same as Spore, you go hunting for little foods to fill your life bar and dna bar (needed to win the level), however, as you fill your life bar you grow bigger, and eventually you can eat the big fishes. And all that all the way through 18 levels.

Now if I said Evolution was like Snake, which I did at some point, I'd like to repeat myself. Survival is like Snake, or in fact no, it IS Snake. Okay, you don't grow as you eat food, but your DNA and health bar does. And as you eat food, sometimes the small carnivore food of Evolution (little colored insect-ish thingies) will pass the screen and attempt to hit you. Again, this is spread out through 18 levels, but there is no Evolution, and the difficulty curve increases exponentially, the first 12 levels are piss, but after that you're probably going to end up throwing your phone to the ground out of rage.

And finally there's Arena. You take your fabulously colored and evolved Spore you made in Evolution (which is by the way lost if you attempt to replay Evolution) and play with people online or any other bloke who seems to have Spore on their phone in a 2 metres circle around you.

In conclusion, this game is a pretty good hybrid of Snake and Spore Cell Phase. A long boring journey may seem a little less longer with this around. You could always bring a blanket and attempt to hide your that you're masturbating. And if you try that, do tell me what it was like you nymphomaniac cupcake.

Rating: