LA Noire

Title: LA Noire
Platform Played On:  Xbox 360
Release Date:  May 17, 2011
Date Played:  May - July 2011
Time Played:  20 hours
Completed (Y/N):  Yes
Score:  5/5



Opinion:
Just like everyone else I thought that I was getting myself into a 1940's Grand Thief Auto; however LA Noire turned out to be a completely different experience.

New Technology Used For Facial Animation

LA Noire is unique in many ways. The most notable of which is the use of a brand new, sophisticated motion capture technique, which allows the in-game characters to have the most realistic facial animations in video games to date. It is something no one has done before, it allows the characters to display emotions and tells with subtle facial expressions. A technology that goes hand in hand with a crime drama that LA Noire is.

The entire game is broken up into cases, which Cole Phelps (you) is trying to solve.  They range from missing persons to murders to arson, basically covering all of the investigative basis.  And investigating is what you do in this game. After almost every conversation you are presented with three options, you have to decide if the interviewee is telling the truth, is lying or you are not sure but doubt his story (in which case you need to present evidence of the lie). Normally you would judge a character by what they say, but in LA Noire you are given detailed facial animations and character behavior as a tool in making your investigative decision.  These mechanics make you feel like a real detective in a 1940's crime drama film.

Investigation

Almost everything in LA Noire is done very well, the characters are memorable and life-like. The graphics and real life 1940's Los Angeles layout give the game a great look and feel.  The cases vary a lot and you are never bored or feel like you are going through the paces.  LA Noire has a good momentum from case to case, as well as the overarching plot that keeps you engaged throughout the story.

When boiled down, LA Noire is a multi million dollar adventure game. However it is arguably the best adventure game ever made.  From its brand new and shockingly good facial animation system, to rich characters and accurately depicted 1940's Los Angeles with dozens of landmarks that are still there today LA Noire is a unique and fun adventure.  It plays like a movie, and would be fun to non-gamers and gamers alike. We may never get anything like it again; therefore LA Noire is a must have experience.

Scanning In The Actors

Enslaved: Odyssey To The West

Title: Enslaved: Odyssey To The West
Platform Played On:  Xbox 360
Release Date:  October 5, 2010
Date Played:  December 2011
Time Played:  12 hours
Completed (Y/N):  Yes
Score:  4/5




Opinion:
Enslaved came out under everyone's radars, but quickly gained popularity among the gaming press and fans of the action genre.  After hearing good things about it I promptly added it to my long backlog of games.

Enslaved Features Great Character Art and Animation

To be honest I had no idea what I was getting myself into when I popped Enslaved disc in.  I attempted (successfully) to avoid all and any spoilers  over the last year in order to keep the story interesting.

Imagine if Uncharted, Fallout, The Matrix and Planet of the Apes had a baby... probably hard to imagine actually.. but basically Enslaved has the pretty graphics and climbing mechanics of Uncharted, set in the post apocalyptic future of Fallout with Planet of the Apes aesthetics and overarching story thread of the Matrix.  I am a fan of all four of those, so naturally Enslaved grabbed me immediately.

The game starts out with you making an escape off of a slaver ship along with the girl named Trip.  This whole sequence is arguably the best one in the whole game.  It throws a ton of WTF moments at you and presents some incredible set pieces to play through (clearly the developers at Ninja Theory are fans of Uncharted).  Speaking of Uncharted, Monkey (you) navigates through the environments very similarly to Nathan Drake, jumping from rock to rock, ledge to ledge and pipe to pipe, this mechanic is used throughout the game and is overall executed very well.
Without spoiling anything I will say that the relationship between Monkey and Trip are an important part of the narrative, and as you progress through the story that relationship changes in pretty interesting ways.

My only complaint about Enslaved is the fact that a lot of the combat happens with you essentially locked to a small area fighting waves of enemies. The combat has plenty of unlocks and abilities that keep it interesting; however I feel that the game would flow and play better if every encounter (perhaps with a few exceptions) was a single wave.  The enemies take a beating as it is, and it simply gets frustrating having to fight a wave after wave of enemies just to see the story progress.  Not to mention that Enslaved does not do a very good job with checkpoints and having played through the whole thing on Hard I found myself having to replay decent chunks of the game over and over again just because I would successfully kill 14 guys, but would die on the 15th (last one).

Overall Enslaved presents an interesting story, although I do feel like the developer dropped the ball, and missed a lot of opportunities to take the story in a more interesting direction and have a much better ending.  To be honest, ending left noting but "What the hell was that?" feelings in me.  It is either a hugely missed opportunity or there will be a sequel (and I am fine with that, I will pick it up and play it for sure). That being said Enslaved is a great action adventure with a story that will keep you guessing until the very end in a world that is a very interesting place with a ton of stories waiting to be told with and without Monkey and Trip.  If you want a good action adventure, with a unique setting and unpredictable story you got to play Enslaved. It is pretty, exciting, and fun... there is no reason not to play this one.

Tiny Tower

My Tiny Tower After a Few Days of Play

Title: Tiny Tower
Platform Played On:  iPhone
Release Date:  June 23, 2011
Date Played:  December 2011+
Time Played:  N/A (Real Time Game, Time is in 100s of hrs +)
Completed (Y/N):  N/A
Score:  5/5

Opinion:
Oh Tiny Tower how wrong was I when I first laid my eyes on you in June 2011. You are not a scheme to make our kids max out our credit cards, neither are you a hooker which we have to throw our cash at in order to get any kind of enjoyment out of you. You are a legitimate game, with micro transactions.

Let me tell you... I first came across Tiny Tower upon its release, and the fact that it was free totally thew me off. Generally speaking, any free game on iOS store has either adds or it nickle and dimes your wallet as you play. So when I got Tiny Tower and upon launching it saw that you would need to pay real money to get some Tower Bux, I thought to myself.. aww its another one of those crap games that try to suck the money out of your wallet.. and promptly deleted it.

About 6 months later, my girlfriend grabbed it on her iPad and after watching her play for a few hours and realizing that she could do everything she wanted to do without spending a dime I decided to give it a go as well.

Normally free games will have an easy to get currency (in Tiny Tower "Gold Coins") and then a hard to get currency (in Tiny Tower "Tower Bux").  Most games... well... actually... all of the ones that I've tried, will give you plenty of Gold Coins, but only a few Bux at the very beginning (usually during Tutorial) to give you a taste of what you can do with them, and then slowly stop giving them to you altogether, basically forcing you to buy them with real cash.

Tiny Tower takes a different approach for which I salute thee.  Basically they took a game concept (not original one at that, but whatever... just think of it as Sim Tower on iOS)... anyhow they took that concept and absolutely nailed it. Made it into an enjoyable, fun game.  But the devs gotta eat right? So they simply added micro transactions that you could use to get extra Tower Bux.  Whats great is that the micro transactions are completely optional (while other games claim the same thing, they basically force you to buy them because progression without them is nearly impossible).  And unlike those games, Tiny Tower gives you a dozen different ways to get Tower Bux without buying them.  Every time you build something you get some, the little dudes will randomly tip you with Bux, and there are little missions you can do such as giving them their dream jobs, and fully stocking floors etc etc... the point being that there is a nice and steady income of the so called rare currency, which allows you to play and enjoy the game normally without the frustration of needing to spend a penny.

The whole approach of Tiny Tower makes it a fun and addictive experience. The pacing is what normally kills games like these, but I must say they nailed it in this one. There is always something to do and keep you in the game and the rewards are spaced out well to keep feeding the addiction.

I love real time games, this concept is what makes EVE Online so attractive for me, unfortunately other aspects of EVE make it hard to approach.  As far as Tiny Tower is concerned it strikes a good balance between always giving you things to do, but at the same time is forgiving if you only drop by for a few minutes every few hours or even every couple of days.

There is no reason to not check out Tiny Tower. It is free on iPad and iOS. It is by far one of the most addictive and well made games on that platform.


PS - Current state of my tower can be viewed here http://towers.nimblebit.com/290470476

Uncharted 2: Among Thieves

Title: Uncharted 2: Among Thieves
Platform Played On: PlayStation 3
Release Date: October 13, 2009
Date Played: October 2009
Time Played: 12 hours
Completed (Y/N): Yes
Score: 5/5


Opinion:
Uncharted 1 was a successful game, and everyone knew that it was a matter of time before a sequel would be announced.

What an accomplishment!  All of us were impressed by the storytelling, animations and characters of Uncharted 1: Drake's Fortune, and Uncharted 2 is not only impressive, but it blows away with it's cinematic direction, lovable characters, amazing environments and insane (what out to be unplayable) playable cut-scenes.

This story follows the legend of Marco Polo and the fleet, that was transporting the Cintamani Stone (basically a Philosopher's Stone). You are introduced to two new characters, Chloe and Harry Flynn who take Nathan Drake down the road of as much lies and deception as adventure and unbe-freaking-livable near death amazingness.

The textures and animations are even better than the excellently rendered ones in the first game.  The snow looks better than I have ever seen in any game, and Nate is as nimble and quirky as ever. To sum it all up, Uncharted 2 takes you on an amazing adventure, every bit as good as the first game.

All that being said, this great game comes with some flaws.  The biggest one being that as in the first game, they proceed to tell you an epic adventure story, but then as soon as they see a "Crazy Village Left" they take a sharp left turn down that path.  Sure, sure there is plenty of crazy unebelievable stuff in Uncharted, like Drake getting shot 1000 times and seemingly brushing it off.  Like performing insane jumps that no man without superpowers should be capable to pull off. Like the treasures hidden in plain sight for centuries that Drake easily finds. To even the fact that he is solving puzzles in half destroyed temples, using that destroyed geometry, does that mean that when the temple was brand spanking new and there wasnt that half of a wall missing noone ever could possibly get to the keyhole to unlock the amazing treasure?  What about rock platforms that slide in and out of walls and floors with seemingly no machinery or power source?  You know what though... all those things are FINE.  Somehow as a player you are overcome with that Indiana Jones suspense of disbelief. What was that? Sure, why not... why wouldnt he be able to hold on to a submarine while it goes across the Atlantic with the Ark on board? He is Indiana Jones, he does that kind of stuff.

I think they are able to accomplish the same type of suspense of disbelief because Nathan Drake, just like Indiana Jones gets seriously f^kd up by the bad guys.  Half the game you spend either bleeding to death or limping... or both. This somehow (dont ask me how) makes the craziness of Uncharted believable (most of the time), just like in Indiana Jones.  The whole package creates such an atmosphere that you are 100% immersed into it and easily overlook craziness.

But, as soon as the game takes that left turn down to "Crazy Village" (in Uncharted 2's case, big blue Hulk) all that suspense of disbelieve dissolves and you are reminded that, oh.. right... this is a game...  In my opinion they made a mistake by going the mystical route in the first game, and again repeated that mistake in Uncharted 2.

The other flaw of Uncharted 2, and this actually applies to all of them is the fact that there is just too much shooting... the game shines in its story telling, and set pieces.  At times you are on a roll and the story is about to take an interesting twist, then BAM, the momentum is instantaneously halted and you are locked in a courtyard fighting off waves of enemies, who by the way all appear to be professional baseball athletes with how they throw those grenades.

In a grand scope of things Uncharted 2's flaws are all but a spec on a leviathan of amazingness made of pure gold.  Play this game, even if you have to borrow a PS3 and RedBox the game. Do it!

Back To The Future: The Game (Episode 5 of 5)

Title: Back To The Future: The Game (Episode 5 of 5)
Platform Played On: iPad
Release Date: June 23, 2011
Date Played: November - December 2011
Time Played: 3 hours
Completed (Y/N): Yes
Score: 4/5

Opinion:
To be perfectly honest I was getting a bit tired of the Back To The Future: The Game. I felt that a lot of the scenes were pointless and were put in there to extend the playtime. A lot of the puzzles started to repeat and in general I was ready for it to be over.

This is the fifth and final episode of Back to the Future:The Game, and it is named Outatime. To be blunt... it starts very poorly.  All of a sudden Doc is a bad guy and your main enemy.  I understand the desire to shock and awe, but for Pete's sake Doc is half of what everyone loves about Back to the Future, it is all about him and Marty working together to outsmart Tannen or some other ill minded individual. The point at which you turn the duo against each other is when the love for Back to The Future starts falling apart.

On top of all that the first half of this episode takes place in one giant room, no change of scenery or anything, just a dozen puzzles or so on the same screen. While the story does progress the lack of variety becomes tiring fairly quickly.

At about 75% mark, Tell Tale (developer) totally redeems itself.  The characters are back on the same team, and the story takes a sharp left turn. In fact what happens is pretty damn unexpected and exciting. It was at this point that I actually felt 100% engaged in the story again. I was excited to see what would happen next.

Overall they tidy up the story pretty well (although in an expected, yet interesting way). They end this game simultaneously with a kickback to the movies, and in the Back the the Future tradition leaving room for a sequel.

As with the previous four episodes there are some technical issues on the iPad, most notably stuttering and freezing. The graphics look a heck of a lot better on the PC as well. I feel that the 15 hours or so that the 5 episodes lasted could have been compressed into a 5-10 hour story, perhaps 3 episodes. Nevertheless if you are a fan of the movies I would definitely recommend this game to you.  It is for all intents and purposes the fourth film. If you do play it though, grab it on the PC, since the iOS devices do not look nearly as good and have technical issues.

And so we reach the end of our journey through time (for now). We saved the future, by preserving the past... or did we??? 

Flight Control

Title: Flight Control
Platform Played On: iOS
Release Date: February 26, 2009
Date Played: Spring - Fall 2009
Time Played: 3 hours
Completed (Y/N): N/A
Score: 4/5

Opinion:
Simple, yet fun and addictive is one way to describe Flight Control.

The whole premise of the game is to draw navigation patterns for jumbo jets, helicopters and biplanes so that they can land without crashing into each other. As you land more and more flying apparatuses the patterns become more and more complicated. The planes start coming in faster and getting in each other's way. It becomes pretty hectic pretty quick, and if there is a crash the game is over.

When Flight Control first came out it featured only one map, since then half a dozen others have been added along with new game mechanics (such as asteroids on the moon). Flight Control's puzzly action is accompanied by a great soundtrack and really sharp, great looking textures (graphics). The overall style they picked suits the game very well.

Being a 99 cent proposition (for a limited time FREE) Flight Control is not a game one should miss.  It makes a great bathroom companion either on iPad or iPhone.

Words With Friends

Title: Words With Friends
Platform Played On: iPhone
Release Date: July 6, 2009
Date Played: 2009 - 2010
Time Played: 20 hours
Completed (Y/N): N/A
Score: 5/5

Opinion:
I never really got into Scrabble, but the prospect of playing at my own pace with my friends was appealing. Since everyone and their mom was grabbing Words With Friends from the app store, I decided to give it a shot.

In essence Words With Friends is an asynchronous game of Scrabble, and thats it.  Yep... nothing spectacular.  However what makes it great is the ability to have a bunch of games going on at the same time, and take turns whenever you are able to.  This dynamic makes it extremely easy to be able to play even if you are incredibly busy with your life. You could pop up the app while on the toilet, make a move and put it away until you are standing in line somewhere and have a few minutes to make another move. Such a simple thing makes the game incredibly more appealing and accessible.

I should also mention that the presentation and gameplay (which is almost identical to traditional Scrabble), are spot on.  There are no technical problems and the interface is easy to use.  Although this is a simple game, it is a great one to have on a portable device.  I would definitely recommend everyone to pick this one up and play a few games with their friends, it is surprisingly addictive.

Icewind Dale

Title: Icewind Dale
Platform Played On: PC
Release Date: June 29, 2000
Date Played: 
Time Played: 
Completed (Y/N): Yes
Score: 4/5


Opinion:
I was months deep into Diablo 2 and talking to some friends during weightlifting class in High School when one of them said.. "Diablo 2 sucks... you should play Icewind Dale, or Baldurs Gate 2, they are way better."  And a few days later he let me borrow his copies.
When I got home I installed Baldur's Gate 2, but disliked it due to feeling extremely slow compared to Diablo 2's fast action.  Not only did combat feel a lot more methodical, but there was way more reading than I cared to do at the time. The next day I told him about my experience, and he said that I should try Icewind Dale, it is more action oriented than Baldur's Gate.  And so that night I sat down  to play Icewind Dale.

My impressions of Icewind Dale were that it was a mix between Baldurs Gate and Diablo.  It was as my friend said more action oriented, but was still much slower than Diablo 2, and had a decent amount of reading.  But the combat was more frequent than in Baldur's Gate and less strategic, which was a good thing. I loved the experience I had with Diablo 2 and simply wanted more of it.

The game starts with the you joining an expedition to the town of Kuldahar, which has recently sent word of strange happenings. On the way there sh#t hits the fan and the entire expedition (except for your party) is wiped out.  You push for the town. Once there after receiving additional information you embark on a journey to find out whats causing all the trouble. Icewind Dale picks up pace pretty quickly and stays consistently interesting.  For the most part the dialogue serves to set the scene, and for those not into reading can be easily clicked through; however it is very well written and I would advice against doing so. What kept me interested in Icewind Dale is the story and character interactions.  On one hand I hated having to manage 6 characters at the same time.  But the interactions between them, their unique personalities and abilities is what made the game so interesting.

There were a couple of things that I didnt like at all.  The game uses Dungeons and Dragons 2.0 system for its back-end, and as such some of the conventions made no sense. For example armor value, instead of higher is better was lower is better because the numbers represent penalty. I didn't really like hundreds if not thousands of items littered all over the world with zero purpose, other than clutter that is. Rings with no stats, twigs with little damage, and also clones of the same item repeating in large quantities.  All of this was slightly underwhelming after seeing thousands of unique items fall from slain enemies in Diablo 2.

I wouldn't play Icewind Dale for its mechanics or graphics. I would however recommend it for good writing and interesting story. If you want something mindless, this game is not for you. But if you want an RPG with good writing then I'd say give it a shot.

Roller Coaster Tycoon

Title: Roller Coaster Tycoon
Platform Played On: PC
Release Date: March 31, 1999
Date Played: 2000-2001
Time Played: 30 hours
Completed (Y/N): N/A (Scenarios No)
Score: 5/5

Opinion:

I've always enjoyed theme park simulators, starting with Theme Park for Sega Genesis. However most of them are not very good. This particular one, is one of (if not) the best.

I came upon Roller Coaster Tycoon by chance, it was one of a couple of games given to me by a High School friend (Joey). The moment I installed it I was overcome with memories of playing Theme Park on my Sega Genesis, and immediately became a fan of this at the time new franchise.

One thing that may seem strange is that I never cared for its so called "missions", some examples of which are to get certain number of visitors or certain amount of revenue by a set date.  Nope, for me it was all about making the craziest rides and keeping everyone in the park happy. I would make roller coasters that would go through mountains, loops of other roller coasters and underground. In other words, they would make you throw up mid-ride. The game provides you with tools with which you can make practically any ride imaginable, and that is where 95% of the fun is for me. And if creativity is not your cup of tea, then it comes with more than enough real world counterpart rides from all around the world, from Six Flags to Knotts Berry Farm to Disneyland, which you can just rotate and plop down.

Since Roller Coaster Tycoon I have tried a handful of theme park simulators, and none of them come even close to the charm, flexibility, and fun that Roller Coaster Tycoon had to offer.  All these other developers were trying to go into polygonal graphics, which did offer some neat features (such as first person view on a roller coaster, and ability to stroll around the park as one of the guests). But with that all charm was lost, characters and rides looked pointy and impersonal.  I was willing to give up those first person features for the charming sprite based look of Roller Coaster Tycoon.

Overall Roller Coaster Tycoon is my favorite game in the Theme Park genre. It is a lot of fun even today. Admittedly Roller Coaster Tycoon 2 is where those interested should go. It is everything this game is and then some.

Metal Gear Solid

Title: Metal Gear Solid
Platform Played On: PC
Release Date: September 23, 1998
Date Played: Winter 1998, Summer 2000
Time Played: 20 hours
Completed (Y/N): No (99%)
Score: 5/5

Opinion: 

I got my first PlayStation in the summer of 1998 (Twisted Metal 2 was the console seller for me). I remember going to Sears and picking up newly released Dual Shock PS1 along with a copy of Twisted Metal 2 (both of which I still have in my closet).

It so happened that I came across a demo of Metal Gear Solid, which consisted of the first level (a good 20-30minute chunk). After playing it for the first couple minutes I was in love with it. It was one of the coolest games I have ever played. Snake was a cool character, the enemies looked super cool with their white suits and masks. And the stealth genre was still in its infancy, it was something new and interesting.

It was not until the year 2000 or 2001 though that I got my hands on the full version of the game. I was visiting a local GameStop at Westminister Mall and saw a copy for PC selling for around $20. And the rest was history.  I got home, installed the 2 disc game and spent the next 5-6 hours playing it.

I distinctly remember the first mission (probably due to playing it multiple times in the demo). I also remember that the game was not easy at all. Trying to take out guards silently and sneak into the base undetected was quite a challenge, partially due to the fact that I have never played a stealth game before, and as a new concept there was much to be learned.

I made my way through MGS over about a course of a month, with no readily available FAQ's it was a pretty challenging game, but its mechanics were fun, and the story kept me engaged. Eventually I made it to the final boss, Metal Gear Rex. After spending a few hours trying to beat him over the course of a couple of days I gave up. He seemed impossible. To this day I have not killed him, and my MGS progress remains at 99%.

Metal Gear Solid was a pretty amazing game.  Its innovative mechanics and fun sneaky (James Bond like) gameplay kept me interested all the way through and made me a fan of the series. I have since beaten MGS2,  3 ,MGS Acid1 and 2 on PSP, and bought a PS3 for MGS4. This game was a masterpiece of its time and inspired many other franchises, such as Splinter Cell. It's graphics do look very dated by today's standard. But perhaps it will look pretty good if played on a PSP, or perhaps Konami will some day release an HD version of the game like it did with MGS2 and 3. I would definitely recommend this game (and the franchise) to those not familiar with it, but it may be too difficult to look past the PlayStation (once spectacular) graphics.

Final Boss - Metal Gear Rex

Silent Hunter III

Title: Silent Hunter III
Platform Played On: PC
Release Date: March 15, 2005
Date Played: April-May 2005
Time Played: 10 hours
Completed (Y/N): No
Score: 4/5



Opinion:
I really enjoy simulators, and unfortunately there are very few good ones out there.  Silent Hunter is a shining example of a great submarine simulator.

Set in World War 2, you are a captain of a German U-Boat.  You embark on missions to disrupt Allied shipping lanes and destroy their battleships. You have full control of your submarine, from crew to loadouts. And let me tell you.  This is not an easy game. It is extremely complicated to navigate in an ocean ensuring the safety of your sub and at the same time taking out targets. This simulator is so detailed its incredible. You can walk between the compartments giving orders to your crew (an important part of the game) in order to ensure proper operation. You can even set the fuse on the torpedo like you would in real life. And as expected you have to account for current, time and relative motion.

One of the most intriguing parts of the Silent Hunter 3 is the ability to go anywhere in the world. You could sail to New York or anywhere in Europe.  It gives you a incredible sense of freedom. You feel like you can embark on your own adventure exploring the Atlantic waters and perhaps running into an Allied fleet that is trying to sneak by the German subs.

In addition to the campaign and the free roam modes there are also scenarios, one of which is the battle of Bismarck. One word can describe that scenario. Epic.  I remember firing it up the first time and ordering to surface. I popped up encircled by the British fleet unloading on Bismarck, a ginormous ship. My goal is to destroy the British war ships and save Bismarck.  Water tech in this game is amazing (or was amazing in 2005 when I played it) and so the whole battle scene was mesmerizing. Fire, crackle and explosions all around, hitting water and Bismarck, and me trying to navigate in this hell and sink the British. An incredible experience.

Silent Hunter 3 is a great submarine simulator full of epic battles and exciting moments, keep in mind though that this (like most other simulators) is no short game. Prepare to sink in dozens of hours as you embark on your death march (swim? :P )

Zombie Gunship

Title: Zombie Gunship
Platform Played On: iPad
Release Date: July 15, 2011
Date Played: July 2011
Time Played: 1 hour
Completed (Y/N): N/A
Score: 1/5

Opinion:
Zombie Gunship is barely a game. It is a shooting gallery with 1 level.

It is clear that Zombie Gunships' developers are trying to capitalize on the excitement Call of Duty 4's AC130 mission had. It puts you at the guns of a circling AC130 with 3 types of ammo.  Your mission is to defeat zombies before they reach the bunker, while at the same time not kill any civilians.

While fun at first, lack of variety catches up pretty fast and I found myself bored after playing for 20 minutes or so.  I have tried coming back to it, but every single time its the same thing over and over again. One level, same enemies, same objectives. It does feature an upgrade mechanic, but even that is not very interesting.

This would be a decent free game, but your 99$ are better spent elsewhere.