Erathoniel's Musings

I picked up Shadowrun 3rd Edition from a local store last week, and it is fun! I just played the Quick-Start guide adventure with some custom characters, resulting in a near TPK, thanks to the idiocy of one of the Street Samurais. It's a good system, tense at times, but other than needing insane numbers of dice (which can be handled), there is no real issue with it.

I wrote up a review and forgot to save it, so here's what I'm gonna say:

Elves with rocket launchers.

If that interests you, get it, if not, don't bother. It's a fun play, especially with digital tools. It's on sale at DriveThruRPG (look to the right!) for $18.40.

If you wanna learn more, download the quickstart from DriveThruRPG, or visit the unofficial Sixth World Wiki (wiki.dumpshock.com). Below is a program which can be used to create characters, by Mike McGurp, which I am hosting due to unavailability.

I give it a 5/5, and it's at least worth a look.

So a couple days ago I picked up a used copy of Icewind Dale (with original manual and quick-reference flier). My first thoughts: "What am I doing?". The transition to AD&D, even having played Baldur's Gate for hours, from Neverwinter Nights? Painful, at best. However, after some graphics tweaks (on my XP rig, I needed to set up Open GL rendering mode to not get a ton of black boxes around text that go down maybe a few inches (or ~600 pixels? It's been a while, and I don't really have a ruler in by my computer).

Anyways, I'm a huge fan of the graphics of Icewind Dale. The artwork is spectacular, which you don't get with a lot of new 3d games (though, I guess that is less and less now, but NWN doesn't begin to match IWD), and the attention to detail is stunning. With a horribly cheating solo wizard, the difficulty isn't so bad (though, he does have vanilla spell levels, so that 1 spell/8 hours does kinda mean he winds up hitting stuff an awful lot). The main concern I have with the game is that I won't be able to pay attention all the way through (when IWD2 was on Gametap, I started it up and got about 5 minutes in before leaving for a break).

However, it's an enjoyable experience, and 8 dollars for a game and a nice heavy manual? I'll take it.

I'm a major Tom Clancy fan, if you haven't noticed. I'm about 1000 pages through Executive Orders when I write this. However, my first experiences with Tom Clancy's works were not with books, but with movies and games (Red October and GRAW 2).

Rainbow Six Vegas is a great game, and it's on GameTap, so you can play it at any time for a monthly fee. I recommend it personally, though I've price locked into lower rates. It is not quite as "hardcore" realistic as its predecessors, being more forgiving and less focused on tactics. This means that it is easily possible to beat the game for even novices.

The first R6V is significantly more difficult than the latter in my opinion, and I was unable to really play the coop to full enjoyment due to the loss of some story information. The second remedied this situation. The controls are easy to learn, at least if you take a good glance at the controls list first and go through the tutorial level in the second (which may be mandatory, I don't recall for sure). The games look good and play smoothly. The experience/ACES system from the second is very engaging, and allows a sense of accomplishment, though I didn't finish the whole system (lvl 14 assault out of twenty, everything else maxed, unsure if I was at max experience level or not). The cooperative experience in the second was enjoyable, and Terrorist Hunt was good for a few laughs on the easiest mode and a few exciting moments on harder difficulties, though the difficulty was such that it was possible to finish the whole campaign in co-op in one weekend.

They are both relatively mature games, with harsh language and disturbing themes for young children (and did I mention violence). Oh, and the casino music in R6V 1 was haunting, though that might just be me (and a select group of other similarly easily fazed people).

Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter is more action packed than R6V, with less emphasis on stealth and tactics (though it is a Tom Clancy game, beating it without dying requires skills in using team-mates to your advantage).

GRAW 1 is much more difficult and realistic. I was unable to beat the second level alone with heavily-modded weapons (a high-damage MP5S with reduced recoil). The second game was much more easy, though I have only beaten it in co-op mode fully (partly owing to the fact that I rented it first, meaning the only time I dedicated towards solo mode was pretty limited, and ever since I've never felt like going through it alone).

They are both incredibly similar, though the first GRAW (at least on PC) is first person and the second (on Xbox 360) is third person, they are incredibly alike. The game consists of a campaign (which is pretty much all I've played), though on 360 I've played GRAW 2's Helicopter Hunt mode (I recommend a big sniper, the rocket and grenade launchers are too inaccurate and hard to track with) and gotten a blast (sometimes literally, I hate assault choppers) out of it.

All four games get 4.5/5, the first lose half a point for too much difficulty, and their sequels lose half a point each for not being terribly innovative, though the quality is impeccable.

Left 4 Dead 2 is good. I'll give it that much. Having played a couple campaigns (First 2, half through third) solo, and two split-screen (First 2 again), I'm willing to bet that it's that good all the way through.

Sure it's got some graphical glitches (especially in split screen, which is why it's normally disabled for PC until you do some fancy console commands), but it's got good graphics otherwise. In fact, it looks much better than the first, though this could just be due to adding on a layer of grunge and then a layer of polish.

The gameplay is basically Left 4 Dead with more guns and more zombies. It plays mostly the same, but has a little bit more action at the cost of suspense. The Uncommon Infected (Clowns, Hazmat workers, et cetera) are simple but add a nice touch, and the new "bile bomb" allows you to invoke a Boomer attack at any time. The Spitters and Chargers are annoying, but a nice touch, and I totally despise the Jockey (which probably is the intent). The new levels and the scavenging aspect looks like they could be fun in multiplayer, though I've only seen the short scavenging in the first campaign (I was lazy and just tossed all the cans down to the other player, or tossed down four at a time when I was solo), it was a unique twist. The melee weapons feel natural, and the baseball bat is a must have (though it is a bit mean for me to say that, since it was a pre-order incentive, and really the only benefit is that you'll always have a melee weapon for everyone in the party anyways).

All in all, it's a good buy if you'll play the multiplayer or play through it a few times, though you might want to wait for the price to drop, since $50 is a fair deal. If you're a 360 gamer, you'll definitely want to wait for a price drop, since you won't be able to get custom campaigns. I give it a 4/5, just like everything else. I really should review something unspeakably horrible to change this.

Normally I tend to avoid EA games, just because I don't like their DRM policies and whatnot, but when I saw Burnout Paradise for PC at a very reasonable price (about $10), I decided to give it a shot. Plus, I played it pre-RROD on my 360, and I had a hankering for it.

Basically, race at full speed in a crowded city with intentionally explosive results. It's like the motorcycle scene from FFVII: Advent Children, except everywhere and with more traffic. It's fun, and it's a quick game. Plus, it's priced so low that you can get a copy for yourself and a friend with relative ease, and play together online, which works really well.

The graphics are outstanding, though occasionally the car deformation will pop an engine in perfect condition through a dashboard, and it'll be a little jarring. The motion blur and everything else works well, and it'll look like eyecandy compared to some games (especially older games, like KOTOR or Neverwinter Nights). Suffice it to say, it'll keep a destruction junkie happy.

The music is decent, too. Even if you don't like all of it, there's plenty of tracks. I personally prefer classical music when I'm going on a rampage at two-hundred miles per hour, and the selection, while Chopin deficient [Okay, I'm maybe just too much a fan of some of Chopin's works], still is pleasant (and trust me, it's possible for some classical music not to be, even to me.

The gameplay is nothing too special, consisting of freeroam, various races, attempts to do as many takedowns as possible, and avoiding being taken down while reaching an objective. Oh, and there are stunt runs, where you try to do flips and whatnot, but I don't do those much, since I prefer the more violent modes. The online shines, though, because you can do various challenges with friends, or just mess around, so I'd say that it's best to get it for PC where the online is free (sans the cable bill, but hey, you can't have everything, unless you can find good wi-fi).

I'd give it a 4/5 rating, a must play given its price.

HEADSHOT!

Unreal Tournament III is a wonderful game, recently added on GameTap, for those in the States (or select other locations?), and I've had a fun time with it.

Single Player: I love single player in a game. It's the man's way of playing. At least in my opinion. That or co-op, and UT:III has both. The co-op works just like the single player, which is incredibly short but sweet, by adding in a second player to the action. It's fun and easy on casual, and I was too much of a wimp to try it on anything else.

Unique Gameplay: While the UT series is hardly known for unusual gameplay, UT:III has some interesting aspects. First, Warfare mode. Sure everything has a similar mode, but it's still incredibly fun, especially with the action-style weapons, and it feels like a challenge, and rewards the player. The hoverboards are also particularly awesome. They offer what is probably the best experience in an action game in terms of having speed and mobility since Tribes. And that's a lot for me to say. The Translocator is cool too, but after the hoverboards, I'm not so sure that it's anything that spectacular (except, of course, for the telefrags, which I intentionally got a couple of at the beginning, then quickly started playing normally).

Graphics: The graphics are nothing to sneeze at. UT:III delivers very good graphics. They aren't too over-the-top in terms of special effects, but they show what they need to show with a glossy finish. Still, I would've enjoyed a noir-style mode or desaturation mode (think Far Cry 1 here), but I'm just a nut for stuff like that. You can also adjust the violence level, for the squeamish or those with young (or sheltered) children, which makes it much less gory (in an entire play through, I would have given it a T rating, even with spatterings [okay, a fair deal] of harsh language)

Ultimately, Unreal gets a 5/5 for GameTap Users and a 4/5 overall, making it a must play.

Recently, I went on a major blast from the past. I started up Knights of the Old Republic. Unfortunately, I couldn't find all the original's disks, so I skipped straight to the second. Despite having a quirky unwinnable situation (I've bypassed it once using a save editor long ago, but got sidetracked) on Onderon, I have played the entire game before, so I feel I can still honestly review it.

I had never really heard of D&D until after playing KOTOR, so I never knew what it was like. In retrospect, KOTOR's pretty much Neverwinter Nights in Space. It's a good game (if plagued by glitches, save often), and delivers hours of satisfaction (or, if you cheat immensely and happen to be a full completionist, about 20 hours per playthrough, up to three or four playthroughs if you wanna experiment, though two will really show you the majority of the content). You can go dark or light. I always go light for free healing, or dark for lightning. Because who doesn't want to turn their fingers into lightning guns?

Its music is nothing over the top spectacular. It's pretty good, though, good enough that I made it about ten hours in before putting on the metal in the background (Plea for Purging, a Critique of Mind and Thought, and Thousand Foot Krutch, Phenomenon, if you must ask, depending on which mood I was in).

Graphics are decent, though I had a couple weird glitches (and it wanted to go windowed on me, though the renderer really works best in full screen), and they are immersive, but it's strictly [sixth?] generation, or at least not this one. They're decent, though, if a mite poor in some circumstances.

I'd give it a must play (4/5), especially considering I've seen it in a pack with Jedi Outcast and Empire at War, two other Star Wars games that are pretty darn good.