Bioshock - Sea of broken (?) Dreams - Part 2

Finally. I´ve managed to finish the game and let me tell you, the last couple of levels really paid off.

The plot per se is not that good. It pales a little in comparison with the first game but is good nonetheless. Without spoiling to much stuff, there are a couple of surprises in store right at the end.

The level design also is a bit better. "Fontaine Futuristics" begins with a nice sub plot and has multiple levels to explore. It does not feel as constricted as the earlier levels (i´m looking at you Dionysiys Park). In this level we get to know a bit about how Frank Fontaine corporation used to work. There is a room for the Marketing department with all kind of adds for plasmids developed there and even upcoming one, including, a very special and weird surprise. Also, located here is the office of the man himself, Fontaine. Actually, it is kind a weird to see his office located so low on the building. I imagined that he would set up on atop the building in order to better see rapture and plot his plans. Here we have a nice painting of him and his family that tie with the whole "Atlas" family angle of Bioshock.

But the highlight of the whole game must be "Persephone". This level is awesome in complexity and detail. It feels like the levels of Bioshock 1 and play like the old ones too. I can´t be much more specific without spoiling the game for those who have not played it.

Overall i will give Bioshock 2 a grade of 08. It is a cool game, has an excellent gameplay but looses a little in comparison with Bioshock. Now, we can only wait for the next entry, Bioshock Infinity.

Har Har Har....Piracy Ahoy!

I don´t really know how many of you reading this blog knows how the game industry works here in Brasil. Suffice to say that the cost of a single game can buy two, three even sometimes four games back there in the USA, Europe or Asia.

That is why piracy runs rampant around here. It is not uncommon to see many, many stores selling pirate PC games, Xbox 360 games, Wii, PSP and DS. It is a sad sight.

I confess, when i was little, just a kid, i used to buy some pirate games for my Nintendo, PS One and Two and my beloved Dreamcast. It was the best thing in the world at the time since i could play all the new stuff without paying almost anything and keep up with my friends and magazines.

I guess when we grow up, we start to really think about things on a new light. We start to see how our actions have consequences. If i buy a pirate (or even download it) i will be one less people to pay for it and all those people who spent months, even years, working on it will suffer. The game will sell less and with less sales, less jobs and maybe, that sequel you were hoping for will be canned due to low sales. But even then, i had some games i had to had the original thing (games like both Fallout, Baldurs Gate, Icewind Dale and Planescape).

Today, i pretty much prefer to buy all my games original. I love the smell of a recently opened game box. To read the manual is as much a experience as playing the actual game (altought i must say that some companies do not make cool manuals as they used too).

I believe that everyone should have access to videogames since it is so much fun but if you can´t afford it, maybe you should invest in yourself and you career to make some money and be able to actually afford for your hobbies.

Another thing that i would really like to see around here is the pre-order bonuses. We don´t have those and it would be cool to receive some sort of prize.

Maybe, as our industry here grows (we have now all companies working around here) we will be able to receive these things and maybe someone will start taking notice and lower the taxes so we could all enjoy this together, free of piracy.

Bioshock - Sea of broken (?) Dreams - Part 1

I Love Bioshock. Really. I fell in love with the series after playing Bioshock on, at the time, brand new Xbox 360. It was actually the first game i ever bought and it goes without saying that it was an awesome experience.

Much has already been said about it. It´s themes, philosophical debates and characters. What i want here is to compare a few things between Bioshock and Bioshock 2.

I´m currently playing Bioshock 2 on my PS 3.

I had put the game on hold for a few months as i wanted to finish other ones first and better enjoy it at full capacity and attention. Bioshock is a game where you just don´t play it, you experience it. Ever minor detail tells a story, every area has a history. Be it on tapes, design and objects disposition, all is there to be seen, interpreted and fill your mind on the big picture of what has happened to all those dreamers.

Bioshock 2 is a good game. It is even awesome but there are some minor nitpicks.

I just passed the place called "Dionisyus Park". It was a place made for Sofia Lamb, the main antagonist of Bioshock 2. When i entered the area and discovered this fact, i expected to see something different from what was presented. I wanted to know her, discover more about her mind walking those steps that once served as her private retreat. The designers took the path of less is more here. Many areas are impassable. Those who are, are covered with grime, ice or other things (since the place was flooded years ago). There is barely any object and those there are, are rehash of objects of earlier levels. I felt really let down. There is an are called "Imago Gallery". When i saw the name, i got excited imaging a "museum" of sorts to the mind. The damn place is covered in ice, security systems and pretty much nothing else.

There is also an area dedicated to art which is also lame. It is a stark contrast to that brilliant part on Bioshock were you were cornered by the insane Sandy Cohen. That part on Bioshock made me shiver down my spine as disturbing as it was.

That is not to say that the game sucks. There are truly inspiring areas like "Ryan Amusements" and "Siren Alley".

Also, there is one thing that many people didn´t caught that, in reality, your character is the enemy this time. These splicers, as messed up as they are, are just reaching a level of returning to humanity. You can see on many levels, through dialog and actions that they really believe that Lamb will be able to deliver them from their state. They are living together, functioning as a family until Delta came along and start killing left and right.

It is truly a cool change from Bioshock were they were clearly the enemy.

A recurring theme on this game is failure. Bioshock showed us what happens when things go too much right. Bioshock 2 in contrast, shows what happens when things go horrible wrong. All the levels have this theme of failure in various levels. I strongly recomend this blog: http://mwclarkson.blogspot.com/2010/02/sea-of-broken-dreams.html, as the author express these themes of failures better than i could do.

Overall, so far, Bioshock 2 is very good, despite my drawback with "Dionisyus Park".

I will update this post as soon as i pass by "Fountaine Futuristics".

Fallout New Vegas

RELEASE DATE: OCTOBER 19

PRODUCED BY:Obsidian Entertainment

PUBLISHED BY: Bethesda

DESIGNED BY: Josh Sawyer, John Gonzales and Chris Avellone

New Vegas.

A shinning beacon on the devastated wasteland. This place attracts a lot of people from around the West Coast. Money and sex are the principal attractions.

So, why has New Vegas got that much power to light it up as it used to on the old days? What was the thing that kept it from being destroyed as many other places on the Great War?

This and many other questions are for me one of the main attractions of the upcoming Fallout New Vegas. The setting is very interesting. The presence of the "New California Republic" is also, for me, a major selling point. I loved these dudes on Fallout 2 and missed them from Fallout 3 (there was no point in them there as their name clearly shows). And also, this baby is being made by many guys from Fallout 2 and the canceled "Van Buren" a.k.a. Fallout 3 from back when it was a Interplay game. The presence of the very cool and nice man, Chris Avellone was the cherry on the top. As soon as i heard about his presence, the game was instantly a must buy and that is why i pre-ordered the damn thing (You guys should check out his game "Alpha Protocol" which is also very good).

I don´t know, for me, this one will be better than Fallout 3 story wise since i fell that these guys involved have a lot more experience on the Fallout universe and also RPGs in general. Most of them came from Black Isle that was THE best company ever and it is a shame that it had to go. Chris himself led the development of Planescape Torment which is one of the coolest RPGs ever made (check it out if you haven´t).

Well, October 19 is just around the corner and as usual, i will let you guys know as soon as i start playing it.

"Fallout 2"

Somebody asked me today what is my favorite game on the "Fallout" series. My favorite one is "Fallout 2", for a lot of reasons.

"Fallout 2" picks up a few years after the events of "Fallout". The setting is a little more mature and dark which i found very refreshing and cool.

There are a few places on this game that i absolutely love. "Vault City" is one. I can still remember the awe on my face as i approached it and explored it from top to bottom. One of the other places that i really love is "New Reno". It was almost as good as seeing "Vault City" for the first time.

What i really love about this game is the plot. The whole "Enclave" thing was a masterstroke. Another faction, the "New California Republic" is also a major winner for me and one of the reasons i´m so excited to play "New Vegas" since i want to see and learn what they have been up to.

There was so many things to do and see and that you couldn´t avoid feeling overwhelmed. Among the things that you could do was becoming a porn star, join the mafia and even engage in a adultery plot. It was that awesome. These things you don´t normally see in a normal RPG.

That is why i like so much this game.

Now, as i was saying on my very first post, "Fallout 2" has a lot of themes underneath all the fun. There is obviously the whole fight for the survival of humanity on the wastes (as i tackled on my first post). But there is also a a study about the greedy and the anything goes mentality of the companies and the government, embodied on the "Enclave", "Vault Tek" and "Poseidon Energy". These factions would do anything for more profit, and indeed they have (i can´t go any further without spoiling your game).

It is a powerful message that rings true even by today politics.

"Fallout 2" is an epic game and i strongly recommend to everyone who has not yet delved into it.

The new "DmC"

Over there at my buddy blog, http://havocvgb.blogspot.com/2010/09/sign-of-times.html, Spike had already said a few words about how time changes the game design, please go read there and then come back here.

Now, Hideki Kamiya (The creator of the "Devil May Cry" series) just had a few things to say about the new "Devil May Cry", named "DmC", just like in one of those hip hop bands.

http://kotaku.com/5640496/what-does-devil-may-crys-creator-think-of-the-series-new-look?skyline=true&s=i

This new take on the character Dante is a kick in the balls for me. The game can and probably will be cool but the character himself will not. A guy with short hair, a weak physic with his chest nude does not make a cool character. He looks like a reject from a "twilight" movie (probably exactly the thing they were aiming for). It screams to me "I wanna suck as many cocks as i can get!"

But my taste is a little biased. I know that japanese has a different taste for characters and a different culture and so, maybe for them this new Dante will be cool.

Just to compare, a male character for me would be a guy like Solid Snake or even Kazuma from the Yakuza series.

I don´t know why kids today like these emo looking kind of guys. In my time it was guys like Arnold, Chuck Norris and Stallone who were THE guys and role models. Strong guys. I really dislike the direction of today pop culture and i really hope that someday we can return back to "normal".

To faq or not to faq? , that is the question!

A lot of my friends ask me if i use a faq to finish or play a game. Well, yes and no. I play games since i was 10 years and being 29 years today, i´m from a time that faq were rare, specially in Brasil were we had to rely on game magazines that had what they called “Detoned” were they teach you all you had to do to finish a game. The problem is that all the time the things was plain wrong. You couldn’t find the items properly or given strategy was plain wrong and so I gave up fairly early.

Another point for me is that, games are expensive here in Brasil and so, when I buy one, I really like to find stuff for myself and get my money worth on the investment.

The other side of this coin is that, being old do not gives us many time to fool around a so there are certain games, specially RPGs were i sometimes had to use a FAQ to help me find that extra stuff. But I must add that I only use it after finishing the game a first time in order to avoid any spoiler that could spoil my fun.

“Yakuza 3” was one of those. I had to use it since there are many things to do and so I used the excellent guide by “The Patrick” to help me solve some side quests.

So I am a firm believer that you should at least give yourself the pleasure of playing the game by yourself first. There is no better feeling than killing that huge hard monster by yourself instead of relying on someone else’s work.

Final Fantasy - The Fantasy End

I know that this is like beat in a dead horse but i fell in my heart that i really have to say a few words about the current state of Square Enix, specially, regarding "Final Fantasy XIII".

Recently, games from Japan are suffering a lot of flack from the reviewers on USA and Europe. I´m not an expert but i believe, from reading several sources, that the market there is actually suffering a lot.

On the days of my younger years, Japan was THE country regarding games. All launch titles were crazy hyped and the quality was overall, very good. At the launch of the Xbox, although a failure per se, Japan has started to dwindle and now produces little and with a awful quality.

Square Enix was the only company that was still regarded as a good one. Their games have always been and i still believe that will always be very expected by the players.

I bought "Final Fantasy XIII" with crazy expectations. After all, Final Fantasy can be sometimes weak but never crap right?

Wrong!

"Final Fantasy XIII" is horrendous. The game is like playing a "House of the Dead". You keep moving forward just pressing ONE button.

I don´t know what Square had in mind here. The game was in development for many, many years. The graphics are not that hot and the plot is very weak. I´m really disappointed with it as are so many players around the world.

In my view, Square SOFT died the day Enix bought them, after the whole debacle with the "Final Fantasy: Spirits Within" movie. This company has never been the same since then and all they release is just but a shadow of what they used to produce.

Now, in TGS they showed a few trailers about Versus XIII and Agito XIII. I´m not impressed. Both games are on production for a few years and both had nothing to awe me or prove that they will improve after the "Final Fantasy XIII" failure.

I really wish i was wrong. Really. Maybe, as opposed to my Title, the Fantasy refuses do end and never dies.

CrapKuza: Is it the End?

Imagine this. You are watching the masterpiece "The Godfather". Don Corleone has just been shot outside Genco Oil and is rushed to the Hospital. Michael Corleone, his son, is walking with his sweethart, Kay Adams and discover that his father was shot and naturally, decides to go to the Hospital and visit his father. He arrives at the Hospital, all is quiet and vacant, suddenly, an army of ZOMBIES attack him!!

Pretty cool huh? huh?

....

Yeah, i got your feeling. Now you can begin to understand my frustration with the recent announced spin off, of the Yakuza series, Yakuza: Of the End!

At the Yakuza Sega Forum we had a lot of discussions regarding the future of the series. Many fans declared that the series need a change, something new to keep it fresh. I bet my behind that no one expected this.

In my opinion when a producer or writer is limited, he tends to insert Zombies, naked chicks, guns and/or Aliens. Nagoshi has finally showed his true colors.

It is clear, since Yakuza 3, that the series has been loosing steam. Part of this is because setting the game in the same place over and over again, keeping the same character and overall design tends to do this to any series over the years.

It would be much better if they changed the setting, Kamurocho has been used to death already. Change the characters (done in Yakuza 4) and maybe, change some aspects of the gameplay. Trowing Zombies in the mix but still setting the game in the same place and keeping the same characters will not change anything. It will actually hurt it more. Why not make a spin off with the Majima character for instance?

I think Sega has to be careful and even remove Nagoshi from this series. It is clear that he has lost sight of everything and will run down the series to the ground. He is no Kojima. Kojima maybe could pull something like this off, although i doubt that he would make the same choices for this series. And Nagoshi, don´t come to me and tell that if this game don´t sell, it will be the end of the "Yakuza" series. You cant´possible expect me to buy shit just to keep it stinking.

As Spike said to me, the monsters on this thing looks like copies from Resident Evil. I say even more, they look like Resident Evil Rejects. I mean, they are awful and awful monster design tend to brake a game. Take "Dead Space" for instance. The game had a good atmosphere but a horrible monster design.

I won´t even enter in the discussion that Zombies do not belong to a series focused on the japanese crime underworld. It is just plain dumb.

If i wanted to play a zombie game, i would buy "Dead Rising 2". Nuff said about that!

Halo: Reach

Big, Dumb and....fun?

I never thought i was gonna say this but i really liked Halo: Reach, the last game on the Halo saga from Bungie.

The game for me felt like "Call of Duty", which i must confess i like it and i couldn´t stop playing it until the credits rolled.

A plus for me was that the plot was nice and dark and actually very sad. It was overall, the best of the games on the whole series and i recommend it to anyone who enjoy shooters. There are a few set pieces that are incredible and i can only imagine what Bungie will do now that their contract for Halo is over and they can finally work on something new. If Halo: Reach is a harbinger for things to come, the future is indeed very bright.

Welcome to the Wasteland!

"It´s the end of the world as we now it"

The Fallout series has been around for many years now. Old School gamers probably had the chance to experience it in 1997 by the hands of Black Isle Studio and published by Interplay. At the time is has hailed as a rebirth of PC RPGs.

Since then i was hooked and in love with this series, specially, after playing "Fallout 2".

I will not try here to tell you all the story of this series, since much can be found by simply looking into google. What i want here, and actually, in this blog is to describe my views on it, my feelings and give my opinion on whatever comes to my mind. Actually, this post and blog was inspired by two things. My impatience in waiting for the upcoming Fallout: New Vegas and my buddy blog: http://havocvgb.blogspot.com/.

The first thing that come to my mind when i remember my experience with the "Fallout" series is the feeling of dread and despair. This is a word devastated by a nuclear holocaust. A world that could actually happen today, tomorrow, that could have happened years ago at the peak of the cold war.

These themes have always fascinated and scared me because Humanity is the worst of the animals to walk on earth and is also one of the staples of this series. In my view, this whole series is a study of how Humanity would cope with a destruction of this magnitude, how would we survive? What would we do in this situation?

What we are presented in a grim scenario indeed, one in which we would descend into a level akin to that of a irrational beast, killing our own kind for our own survival. The law of the strongest is the law of the wastes.

But there is always hope and goodness even in hell. We are presented to several settlements trying to survive the Holocaust, trying to band together in other to cope with the loss and teaching us that when we work together, help each other, we can accomplish anything.

There are several other subjects underneath all the killing. Specially on "Fallout 2", we have a very cool and aggressive take on the government and companies and their constant greed for money.

I don´t know if i am being to tacky here in my post but i have a lot to say regarding the "Fallout" series and my views of it. My idea is to talk about each one individually if you guys and gals demand it, if not, we can move on to better things.

Thanks for reading and i hope to be you companion in the years to come. Come visit me and leave me your opinion, bad or good.