Well, if blowing stuff up isn't fun enough, I just finished several guerrilla actions. Basically either you're called upon to help defend a miner housing location from EDF attack or asked to go rescue some captured hostages. These are the only types I'm sure, just the ones I've come across. My jaw dropped when, while I was shooting at an EDF soldier, he did a drop and roll to get behind some cover; it would have made a Far Cry gunman proud. Didn't expect that!
Finally, I was taking out some EDF towers and whatnot. EDF troops showed up and I had a firefight on my hands. Then some of my guerrilla buddies showed up to join the fight. Then some baddies rolled up in one of their Hummer equivalents. I moved around, got into it and started trying to run them down. They moved out of the way if they could, but sometimes they just became EDF jelly . Then I backed over a couple of my guerrilla buddies. Oops!! .
Lots and lots of fun. And very free form; you can go after what targets you want, when you want. And sometimes escaping after some sabotage requires a bit of imagination. You can blow holes in fences, sure, but one time I found it expedient to run up onto a big pipe, slam down with the sledgehammer and open the top a bit, then hopped into the pipe to run away .
The world is pretty open. The initial area, Parker, would take a good ten or fifteen minutes to run across, if you could avoid cul de sacs and dead ends. Now there isn't stuff to smash or visit everywhere in Parker, it's confined to certain locations, but you do find new things as you explore.
MP will have to wait, I prefer to spend time in the SP campaign first.
OK, after an hour, I'm hooked . Great controls (once I get used to them being a bit different than the game I played yesterday) both on foot and driving. I played through the first activities which are essentially tutorials and bring you into the story. Actually kind of an interesting situation. Yes you can run around smashing things, but this just brings down the locale Federales on your ass. And they will kill you. Right now it's just simple hit and run.
Oh yes, you can pretty much smash anything you can see. However, only certain things provide you any value. And smashing those brings down the fuzz. It's fundamental to the concept of the game. You need to destroy the EDF property to lower their control of the region. And you need to *not* accidentally kill civilians which will lower their morale. It's a pretty clever mechanism to allow you as the character to run around doing things, yet putting constraints on yourself, rather than being forced to play missions on a rail.
The graphics are fine. Maybe they could be prettier, but this is grungy Mars, not Tahiti. I haven't explored much of the world some I can't tell you whether it feels confined or ok or very open. More to come on that.
Ok, so I don't have impressions yet, but I did want to alert the GT community who may have pre-ordered through Gamestop that in spite of receiving no automated "your game will be arriving tomorrow" call, my pre-order did arrive and I'm on my way to pick it up.
Since Fuel did not arrive today, I guess I'll be jumping right into RFG and I'll try to have impressions later this afternoon.
Bummer, no call from Gamestop last night saying my pre-ordered copies of Fuel and Red Faction: Guerrilla are shipping. Probably because that stinking Sims 3 is taking priority .
After getting the "Unable to Complete Repair" status over the entire weekend whenever I would try to get my 360 entered into the online system for a repair, I finally called the 1-800 number. Then I was treated to a bunch of menus while they kept reminding me that I could do all of this online! . Finally I got an agent who thankfully didn't waste a lot of my time trying to talk me into something, but then it didn't hurt that I had all the info he needed right away. After going through some more hoops I finally got a trouble ticket number assigned and they are sending me a label. We'll see how long that takes.
Good review. Glad to hear that the single player campaign is "lengthy", I don't know when I'll be back in the mood for some MP. Also I wasn't all that bothered by the flat graphics in the demo, guess I'm more old school.
Completely bypassed me that this are the same folks who did Saints Row 2. I just finished that game and I really liked the default control scheme and reactions. Gives me hope that my pre-order wasn't misplaced!
Based upon not only number of hours played, but also the excitement I got when playing and the anticipation I would have waiting to get off work so I could get back to them. In no particular order, these are my top console games:
- GTA San Andreas on the PS2. The reason I got a PS2, since I didn't want to wait months till it came out for the PC. When I might start to get frustrated or bored I did some mini-games or just drove around. Even late in the game there were still missions that I found interesting, if at times frustrating. Later I discovered it again on the PC. Being able to program my own music made it a great game in which you could just cruise to the tunes.
- Test Drive Unlimited. The reason I got a 360. Open world racing, driving around sightseeing, in-car dashboard views, decent multiplayer, and fun side missions. I'll always remember the challenge of Tantalus, struggling over and over to beat that time while dodging buses and cops . And the Around The Island challenge. Almost an hour, no in-race saves, just pauses while I let the blood back into my fingers. Amazingly I won it on my first try, by seven seconds. I was high for an hour after that.
- GTA IV. I was initially disappointed at the "muddled" graphics and the car handling. Then I grew to appreciate why cars handled they way they did, and learned to love the graphics. Fewer interesting side missions and mini-games, but the design of the city, all the little details, and the vast size of it all made it fun all the way through.
- Bioshock. This one almost didn't make my list of "bests" only because I was dissatisfied with the design of the endgame. However, from the very start it was one of those "I'll play just a few minutes more" kind of game. Incredible visuals, an interesting story, and lots of plot twists.
- Saints Row 2. When this game first came out I was intrigued for a while, but it was in the middle of Fallout 3, Far Cry 2 and CoDWaW, so I shelved it. When the DLC came out I played it again and when the second DLC was released last week I started Thursday and played it all this weekend through the final mission not only of the DLC but of the main campaigns. Great story, more over the top than GTAIV, but more interesting IMHO. Great stunt missions, better than those in GTAIV. The cars and driving are more fun, the flying is more fun... but as a city Stillwater just doesn't seem to have that appeal I find in Liberty City. Yet I find myself drawn back to playing the side missions and mini-games of SR2, but have no interest in going back to GTAIV until more DLC is released.
For honorable mention I'll throw in COD4 and CODWaW; I never really did warm up to the single player mode in either, but the multiplayer is great.
I'll also mention Forza Motorsports 2 as a very good racing game. It would be on my top five list if a) there was an in-car dash view, and b) there were more tracks and ones that were more interesting as well.
Quote from: Bullwinkle on June 01, 2009, 12:24:00 PM
And probably Wolfenstein 3D (or is that next week?).
Thursday I believe. Don't know how excited I could get over a game that old and basic. Yeah, it has sixty levels, but who has the patience to play through all of them?
Red Faction: Guerrilla and Fuel. Red Faction: Guerrilla because I liked the single player demo and it's been getting good reviews (90% per GameRankings). Fuel because I keep whining about wanting an open world racing gaming (Test Drive Unlimited came close to what I'm looking for) and now there is one. I'll take the bullet for the forum and dive into Fuel first to try get some impressions up early, while the rest of you enjoy your Red Faction: Guerrilla copies.
My only concern is that my games should be arriving the same day as The Sims 3 and I'm hoping the crowds won't be a pain.
I've played it a while more and don't really have more to add than what I posted. It's Jagged Alliance, but on the DS. Controls are a bit unusual, but you get used to them. Honestly, once you've played JA2, the original seems rather limited. I'd only get this game if you have a hankering for turned based squad combat but want, for some odd reason, to play it on the DS.
Oops, I was mistaken. The Gamestop one is the dead one over in the corner. The one that just died is one MS already repaired and yup, it's still under warranty. Too bad the damn website won't take my damn repair request. I hate to have to deal with the damn phone support again.
Just finished "The Last Lion: Winston Spencer Churchill, Alone 1932-1940" by William Manchester. This was the second and final volume of Manchester's biography of Churchill. Unfortunately Manchester had a stroke late in life and announced that he would not be able to complete the 3rd volume covering the WWII years. Anyone interested in Churchill or British history during this time should check out these two volumes.
I've recently gotten a couple more Churchill related books in my collection that people might be interested in.
In Search of Churchill: A Historian's Journey by Martin Gilbert - Haven't read this one yet, but looks interesting. Part of it is Gilbert discussing the people he met from whom he drew some of his information about Churchill, the other part is Gilbert's autobiography.
Winston Churchill: Soldier: The Military Life of a Gentleman at War - I did finish this book a while ago, I found it pretty good. It covers not only his active military actions, but also focuses (perhaps too much for some folks) on his career in Britain while a soldier. Churchill never saw himself as a lifetime soldier. Serving in the military was just a stepping stone to bigger things for him and this book discusses how he always stayed attentive to his long term goals.
Oh, and so I don't double post, I've recently completed: "Washington's Spies" by Alexander Rose "The Victorian Internet" by Tom Standage "Porsche 356" by Dennis Jenkinson "Mexico: Biography of Power" by Enrique Krauze
The closest I remember him being happy about something was when he was reviewing the Orange Box. He noted he had nothing bad to say about Portal, he actually liked it, but since that's not entertaining he quickly changed subjects.
The second DLC is available now. Three missions, six more vehicles, new character customizations, new clothing, new co-op modes, new MP maps. I'm getting it.
I've never tried multiplayer (not co-op) in SR2. Anyone find it worthwhile?
Since Fuel was delayed a week, I decided I need a sandbox driving/shooter to occupy me. I tried GTAIV, but having finished it, it just wasn't that much fun. So I went back to Saints Row 2 of which I had only completed about 40%. So I've been playing it the past three days and have been having a blast. I did get the first DLC (the second is due out tomorrow) and while it was really short, it wasn't too bad.
One place I am hung up on, however, is the last Ronin mission.
Spoiler for Hiden:
I keep getting killed by the helicopter depth charges while riding the jetski. I've tried the mission a dozen times but I just can't seem to figure out how to get past this part of it!
I have just been playing Chinatown Wars on the DS and the graphics are comparable. You can see enough of the terrain to play without a problem, since you also have an overview map on the other screen. When the developers decided to maintain enough of the tactical map in the window to be playable it resulted in your mercenaries being pretty much indistinguishable from one another in the near overhead view, but you can jump from one to another by pressing the "select" button.
Since you can scroll the map with the +Control, those of you who are right-handed will find it easy to use the stylus in the other hand to do things. Us lefties just have to switch between those controls, but again after playing for awhile it becomes second nature.
Item dropped on the ground or in open crates can be seen, but can't be uniquely identified till you tap or click on them. Back in the bad old days of 1994 screen resolution this was the case as well as I remember. Again, it's not really a problem after playing for awhile.
People who have become accustomed to JA2 or later games of this genre may be off-put by the simpler and less refined game play. However, as a DS game it's got a lot more content than you probably see in the majority of other DS games.
Picked this up this afternoon. Thirty plus page manual, fairly beefy for a DS game I imagine.
I haven't played the original JA in years but recently did get some time in on JA2. It had more bells and whistles so I'm might be getting confused over things I think are missing but just were never in the original JA on the PC.
You start off the game getting the back story on this little island that's now under the control of some bad guys, all except one sector, sector 60, where you have to go to help the good guys out. You contact the mercenary organization A.I.M. to hire folks. You *don't* get your own character in the game, but I don't remember if that was the same in JA1 or just in JA2.
After hiring in your folks you get to equip them with the stuff they brought plus some stuff you have laying around the local sector. Then you got into the tactical map proper.
Control is by either a cursor controlled by the D-pad plus the "A" key to initial actions, or (far easier) using the stylus. Tapping once does one thing, tap and hold brings up a menu, double tap does something else. The shoulder buttons swap the overview map and the tactical map between the top and bottom screens. There's also an inventory screen and options screen.
I played through a couple of days with three mercenaries. The manual is pretty small compared to what I remember, but you do need to read it because there's a lot of functions that may not be obvious when you play.
Shooting isn't too hard. You click the bottom of the touch screen on the guy's weapon which brings up a menu of which shot type you want, fast, normal or precise. Then you click on the target. You scroll the map with D-pad and you have the option to also active screen scrolling by tap and hold on the tactical map borders.
Gun reloading is automatic. Didn't figure that out for awhile!
Overall after an hour I can say that I'm not unhappy. I keep thinking some features might be missing, but it might just be a JA1 versus JA2 thing. Otherwise it really does seem to be Jagged Alliance on the DS. That's a good thing. Maybe X-Com can be next?
Jagged Alliance DS now showing on the Gamestop page as shipping 5/26 . Probably no surprise there, reflecting the absolute lack of gaming web site buzz about it.
Well, no worry, I've got a busy next few days and then Fuel arrives on Tuesday or Wednesday.
Quote from: MonkeyFinger on May 18, 2009, 01:11:33 PM
Quote from: Turtle on May 18, 2009, 11:07:34 AM
There was some other strategy game similar to JA released a week before JD:DS, it looked better, no idea if it played better. Sadly I'll have to dig up the title.
There was? Curious what you dig up.
More than likely in on JA:DS as well.
Yeah I'd like to hear about this as well.
I got myself warmed up for JA:DS by re-installing Jagged Alliance 2 on my PC. I had burned to DVD the as-installed game folder which I had updated with the current 1.12 and the fan built 1.13 patch, plus the Hi-Res mod. Locked up my computer on first try but worked fine after the reboot. Thank goodness I had burned it to DVD, I don't know that I would have had the energy to install the game from the original disk and then go through all the patching and tweaking.
Late to the dance, but since I inherited a free DS a while ago I finally picked up this game yesterday. Turns out it's a decent game to play while riding the exercise bike . I had put off getting it because it sounded a bit too frantic, but so far it's been fun. It's my first DS game so I'm still clumsy on the controls, but I'm getting there.
Sadly it's pretty much too little, too late for a lot of folks who won't bother.
I finished the game, or rather I stopped playing during the finale sequence:
Spoiler for Hiden:
In one of the last missions, you go to a landing zone to get a dropped briefcase. The moment you pick it up, scores of enemies spawn all around you. That's bad enough. But I couldn't kill them! Not on hardcore. So I changed the difficulty to "easy", but they were still almost impossible to kill and I'd get nailed every time. I finally went to the guide which noted that in this mission the bad guys are significantly harder to kill than elsewhere in the game . I decided enough was enough, even though I was probably one or two missions from completing the game.
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Perhaps the second-most interesting tweak is the ability to play ranked matches on user-made maps. "You should already find a selection of those maps thanks to some of our active community members," the team said.
I never have gotten into multiplayer, it just didn't seem to appeal to me. Maybe this change will motivate me to try again.
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Meanwhile, the new patch also fixes a few random bugs in single-player and multiplayer, and introduces a new "hardcore" damage model where all weapons do "much more damage".
Hmm, a damage model that increases vulnerability? This might be worth checking out if it makes hardcore mode more like CoD:WaW hardcore. Mind you, it might make it impossible for me to get too far into the game, but it does have an appeal if it applies equally to the AI characters. In the present game they would go down with a single sniper shot (mostly), but often I could put a half clip from an assault rifle into them and they'd just stagger around and then resume firing. I wouldn't mind my character in the game being more sensitive to damage as long as the AI is equally as vulnerable.
Today we are pleased to announce the release of a Farcry 2 title update for Xbox 360.
This patch will include a lot of improvements for both single player and multiplayer modes; with better browsing features, more multiplayer game options, and other new additions in order to let you play the game, the way you want. Information on a similar update for PS3 and PC will be announced soon. Here is a list of the fixes and additions:
Single Player Fix some random crash occurring during specific Malaria attacks Fix health damage not following the difficulty level when switching difficulty during player’s walkthrough Fix some camera issue when using a mortar near a rock Reduce significantly the probability of having a corrupted save game*
Multiplayer Add Respawning time in Host - Advanced options - player match Add Starting rank in Host - Advanced options - player match Add min players in the host option Add deaths in scoreboard Balance current damage model Show VIP on Scoreboard (for your team only) Players can stay on the same host for consecutive matches in Ranked match Add a Quick match button when selecting a map in the Map community Fix vehicles spawning on their initial position immediately after being destroyed by an explosion Fix client being disconnected from the host randomly and not being able to see it after that Fix death message does not appear randomly Fix some issues when interacting with objects Fix bandolier doesn’t always unlock extra ammo Fix some bug when healing another player and getting wounded at the same time Fix diamond gain in rank mode Fix players don’t get a request to keep a map after playing on a IGE map DLC Fix some issues when using the crossbow
Extra features Add a “hardcore mode” that will provide a new damage model where all weapons do much more damage to increase realism. Add the possibility to play Rank matches on a selection of user maps**
Many of the new features were requested by members of the community and we would like to thanks everyone for taking the time to communicate with us, we hope you will enjoy the improvements.
* We are very aware of the problems some people have been experiencing and have been doing everything within our powers to resolve these issues as quickly as possible. We found out during our testing that several elements could cause an issue with the same consequences and therefore prevent certain players to finish the game. We have been able to provide solutions that prevent those corruption problems in most cases and we haven’t encountered any problems now. We apologize wholeheartedly for the inconvenience that this matter has caused to some owners of the game. ** In answer to a growing demand we have developed a tool that enable us to mark user’s created maps as ranked. You should already find a selection of those maps thanks to some of our active community members.
I so hope they didn't screw this game up by porting it to the DS. There haven't been any reviews or even decent previews released, which keeps me from considering a pre-order.
metallicorphan, let us know how it goes. After the problems with "The Pitt" I'm leery of getting the new DLC if there's even a hint of a problem with it.
Completed several more campaign missions and a "bar" mission plus a couple of assassinations and am now up to 73%. The game has drawn me back in again . I did get killed about four times in the past four hours, but each time my "buddy" saved me. It's a great design feature, rewarding me for helping the buddies earlier on.
At first I didn't like the save house design decision, instead of "save anywhere". But now I've gotten to appreciate how it influences my game play. I am more cautious and plan more. Yet it's just as enjoyable as playing Fallout 3 and saving all the time.
For my last half-hour of play I cut loose and just became the terror of the savanna. I selected my all explosives load out and blew up everything in sight. Much fun. I now have 39 hours in on the game.
Sheesh, Jagged Alliance for the DS? I inherited my wife's DS but haven't gotten anything for it, although I was tempted by Chinatown Wars. If this Jagged Alliance is decent it might be what it takes to get me to fire it up. Gamestop shows shipping date as May 19th. Anywhere I can get it tomorrow?
I'll disagree, I think the first map pack is pretty decent. Kneedeep is very good, the night map is not too bad, and the subway map is interesting, although I know a lot of folks hate it.
As always, I'm only play Hardcore Team Deathmatch, and since the removal of the tanks I've grown to like the four tank-less "tank" maps. I played for awhile on Saturday and we ended up on all four. None were voted down and no one complained when we started each time. I think folks just adapt to them. As long as a map is big enough* it's can be enjoyed. Nightfire is a bit on the small side, but ok. Bog comes to mind as a map that's just too damn small to enjoy.
*big enough can be accomplished not only by dimensions, but also by lots of buildings, walls, and other impediment to sight lines.
Quote from: jztemple2 on April 16, 2009, 07:02:23 PM
Count me among those that have fallen victim to the Far Cry 2 bug. 62% complex too, dammit.
After being pissed at the game for a couple of weeks, I decided I was punishing myself for the developer's screw up. I went back to a save before the "blue square" Crash site mission was accepted. I did the alternate "red circle" default mission and got past the anomaly point. I'm at 68% complete, but as should be obvious now, the save percent is NOT the completion of the game, it's more like milestone points the developer built into the game. The % complete seems to only increment after certain campaign missions.
I really do enjoy this game, although I have to take a break occasionally because it is pretty intense. Shame that they haven't fixed the save game screw up.
I just started playing this last week, kind of off to a rough start. I'm a bit clueless as to where I'm supposed to be going upon exiting the vault. I cleared the nearby school with no particular objective, then I found a kid whose town was overrun by fireants who kick my ass. Not really getting anywhere it seems like.
Don't worry about nothing being guided on rails. That threw me off at first as well. The thing to do is just go explore. You will be given information as you go along regarding the main quest, but it's just as important to do side quests to build up your inventory and your skills. It sounds weird, but the thing to do is put yourself into the game. Decide what you want to do based on interest or survival instinct, not on how you think the game designers want you to move next.
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. Then I backed over a couple of my guerrilla buddies. Oops!! 
.
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. Great controls (once I get used to them being a bit different than the game I played yesterday) both on foot and driving. I played through the first activities which are essentially tutorials and bring you into the story. Actually kind of an interesting situation. Yes you can run around smashing things, but this just brings down the locale Federales on your ass. And they will kill you. Right now it's just simple hit and run.
. 
. Finally I got an agent who thankfully didn't waste a lot of my time trying to talk me into something, but then it didn't hurt that I had all the info he needed right away. After going through some more hoops I finally got a trouble ticket number assigned and they are sending me a label. We'll see how long that takes. 
and hope to get back to playing Saints Row 2 second DLC over the weekend. 
. This was on a refurbished one from Gamestop that's WAY past their store warranty. Damn.
Curious what you dig up.
but worked fine after the reboot. Thank goodness I had burned it to DVD, I don't know that I would have had the energy to install the game from the original disk and then go through all the patching and tweaking. 
. I did get killed about four times in the past four hours, but each time my "buddy" saved me. It's a great design feature, rewarding me for helping the buddies earlier on.