A Plethora of Great Games

As I promised in my last post (see below) I wanted to talk about some of the games I've been playing lately. Over the past month I think I've finished more games than I did during most of my teenage years. I've made it a point to finish what I'm playing these days so I am able to get the full experience as intended by the designers. Let's keep it down two games though so as not to make this post too long.

Lost Planet: Extreme Conditions came out for the Xbox 360 back in January of 2007 to decent reviews. Over that year they also released a somewhat buggy version for PC and a version for the PS3. Now I've never been huge into console gaming so the recent trend of releasing great action games multiplatform has been a boon for me. Since the first version was bugged Capcom released Lost Planet: Colonies Edition over the summer and I decided to pick it up while I wait for the great releases coming this Christmas. Lost Planet centers around the adventures of Wayne on the harsh world of E.D.N III. The colonists of this world have been chased off by the predations of the Akrid, a race of gigantic insects. The few individuals that survive the harsh winter wastelands survive by collecting thermal energy, which is found in the body of every Akrid. Though the game is linear, except for the few outdoor missions that tend to give you a wide area in which to operate, the story is really what kept me playing on. That and fast paced mech combat against giant insects. Giant mechs known as Vital Suits are scattered all over the levels. These suits were designed to be flexible and match any playstyle a player might throw at it. Each VS has a number of customizable hardpoints that allow you to swap it's weapons for any you might find later. I almost always had a missile launcher and gatling gun. The variety of suits in the game ranged from slow moving suits that could jump high or hover to the vastly more maneuverable models that allowed for limited flight and jetting around. This game became one of the inspirations for my Unreal 3 Mech combat mod. When not running around in a VS Wayne can carry 2 different weapons (even a weapon pulled off a VS can be used) and has access to a grappling hook. The action when not in a mech is more like a combat platformer. Wayne has to get to a certain point using weapons commonly found in shooters (assault rifles, shotguns, rocket launchers, and sniper rifles) while doing battle with snow pirates (colonists who remained on the planet), the Akrid, and NeVec a shadowy corporations that killed your father. The level designs were fantastic with battles raging inside Akrid hives and ruined cities. Special attention was paid to creating levels that were sprawling vertically. Though your supply of thermal energy was constantly depleting (giving you a timer like games of old) replacement energy was dropped by every enemy and there was never a short supply of those. Weapons were placed in excellent positions with rewards given to players who used their grapple to explore the levels. I could almost always find a rocket launcher on top of some building or vehicle if I looked hard enough. Being that it was a third person action game you might expect to have camera position issues but Lost Planet's levels and hallways were always large enough to accommodate both the player and the camera. The new PC version still had a few bugs (my computer bought this year would lag at times and even locked up twice) but the game was far from unplayable. The only pet peeve I really had with this game is that it was a direct port from the Xbox 360 version, complete with the instructions telling me that a gamepad was the preferred input method and all of the instruction screens when I jumped into a VS explaining how to operate it using a 360 controller with no mention of keyboard controls. The additional multiplayer content you get when purchasing the Colonies Edition never really came into play with me since even though I can play cross platform I had a very hard time finding anybody playing. If your a mech junky like myself this game should definitely be added to your list. And since it's has a very modest price point I would suggest it as great filler if your waiting for Fallout 3 and Red Alert 3 like I am.

Maybe I'll keep down to one review. Till next time folks!

Wow How Time Flies

Welcome folks! Here I am reporting to you live from....... The Ferris State University Computer Lab in downtown Grand Rapids. I know I have not posted in awhile (read: several months) but I swear I have a good reason. Following the successful completion of the Digital Animation Summer Camp and my writing of a manual on how to run future camps, I have been quite busy with my work as a web designer. Add the fact that school started again in September and I barely have enough time between the two to keep up on the latest games. Since I want to be a designer I feel that making sure I keep up with games (good and bad) is very important. When designing a feature for a map or mod its good to know if anybody has tried it before, and if so what I can do to improve it. Anyway on to recent project reports.....

This blog has become a project in itself for me. Currently my business is working on creating a blog using WordPress (wordpress.org) for a client and I thought to myself Why haven't I done this for me yet? So when I complete that project and have time to create one for myself I will post a link to my new blog.

My WAR-Piracy project has evolved again (big surprise)! The level has evolved a bit to have the ships parked in a bombed out port to offer some land based combat but there is an ulterior motive to adding this portion. This map will be the flagship map for a new mod featuring fast moving mech based combat. The plan is to ship the map and 3 mechs (basically variations of the same design) as well as a mutator that allows you to use the mechs on your favorite UT3 maps. The design is complete and I hope to do some playtesting using another model I'm working on soon. The mod will focus on short range and melee combat using the mech suits. Combat will be possible outside the suits with plans for an emp type weapon added later.

With my impending graduation coming up within a couple semesters and my wedding to my wonderful fiance and business partner May 29th I am unsure currently if I will make it to GDC this year. It would be disappointing since I've gone the last 2 years but the wedding bills come first.

Within the next few days I hope to be posting my design reviews of the titles I have been recently playing: the newest version of Lost Planet, Spore, Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning, and an oldie but goodie, F.E.A.R.