Welcome to my blog about, at least mostly, games. Here you can find reviews, impressions, pictures and things that I think are interesting enough to write about. If you want me to speak up on something, then write it to me. Want to discuss something in a post then write it in the comments. Hope it will be good reading for you.

torsdag 20 december 2012

Bioshock Infinite Cover or Enough is Enough

December 1st. Irrational games releases the cover art for Bioshock Infinite. It looks like this.

My thoughts are exactly like this: Shit, that's a really bad ass cover, bold move to have the burning flag in the background. The more I saw it, the more I loved it. I love how the man on the cover looks tormented, I love the colours. It's a great cover. Well, as usual, I don't think the same as every other gamer. An uproar of complains started to spread on the internet, It's too generic was the main complaint, and that they thought that the cover would show more of the political aspects of the game. I guess the subtleties in the cover didn't reach out to people as it did me. But okay fine, If you don't like it, it's your opinion, and everyone is entitled to one.

Later Ken Levine, who is one of the driving forces behind Bioshock Infinite, explained that the cover was not meant to appeal to the hardcore gamer, they are going to buy the game whether the cover looks bad or not, because we really only care for the game itself, as we should. The covers was for the gamers who knew little of the game, the gamer who only buys three games a year, the gamer who would feel compelled to buy a game where the cover features a bad ass holding a shotgun. And I bought that, I got that, because I realize that the industry is not only for us hardcore gamers, but for all kinds of gamers.

But then, I don't know what happened, but they buckled. They said okay, let us give you an alternate cover. It's sort of the same deal as with the Mass Effect ending. I mean come on, have some creative dignity! Don't change your work because others think you should, hold firm to your believes. I hated that Bioware decided to change the ending, even if it sucked, doesn't mean the game did, it was great actually.

Still, the cover thing is not even close to being the same thing, they will keep the old cover, but just have two covers so that you can change if you didn't like the other. It's a smart compromise, but I still feel like developers listen too much to the fans. To some degree it's good, but you can't start doubting yourself over it, and unfortunately I see it all the time. Because, and I mean no offence when I say this, but most fan critics doesn't know shit about what they're talking about. And when you listen too much to them, you get Resident Evil 6, you get Final Fantasy XIII-2, you get Halo 4 (I will get to all of these in time). Games that thinks they're improving on the things that are wrong with it, but are really just forgetting the real problems.

But I digress, in the end, we got six covers to vote on and the winning cover looks amazing, even better than the first one, so no harm done there. But I feel at time that we need developers that don't second-guesses themselves. Because when the professionals start to turn to only players for advice, the industry will begin to decline. 

tisdag 18 december 2012

WiiU Thoughts

November 30th, that was the day that I stood outside my not so local (had to drive 50 km) Gamestop to pick up my since long ordered WiiU. I was about half an hour early and first in line, although only two more would come before the manager opened for us, 15 minutes early. I bought it together with Nintendoland and New Super Mario Bros. U. And than I had to work the entiee weekend so I dd not get to sit down with my WiiU properly until monday, the 3rd. And I've been playing it on and off since. So what do I think of it?

Well first off, what is good about it? Well, I can honestly say that I love the console itself. I love the HD-graphics, I love the way it looks, I love the menues. I haven't gotten to try the online functions just yet but youtube works nice...

I love the controller. It's a lot bigger than I thought it would be, but that is of no concern, you ger used to it pretty quickly. But it's inovation at its finest, it will be really interesting to see what will do with it.

This is best shown in Nintendoland. It is what Wii Sports was for the Wii, it shows perfectly what the controller is capable of, and does it in a really fun manner. I took my WiiU with me to my teens at church and they had a great time with Nintendoland, even the people who normaly doesn't play video games at all. This shows me how Nintendo once again manages to make gaming mainstream.

So what about us hardcore gamers, we who in manies opinion where left out by Nintendo, previous generation. And here's somethig to be glad for, because since the specs of the WiiU is much closer to the 360 and the PS3 (and probably better) many of the games released on those platforms are also being released on the Wii U, many even say that most of them are better on the Wii U, though some games say the opposit, unfortunatly.

But that brings me to my first concern. Becaue even though they are on equal ground at the moment, the next generation consoles of Sony and Microsoft is at most only two years away. Then they will swoop in with their monsters and Nintendo will once again be reduced to doing awesome first-party game with little to no third-party support. I would have wished that the WiiU were a lot stronger, but still, at the moment they are at the peak of it.

Two years is better that none, the problem with WiiU is in the other end this time, the excusive titles. While Nintendoland is a great game, it is best played Toghter with others, preferly five people. New Super Mario Bros. U is the game that combines great multiplayer fun with intense singleplayer gaming. And it's still sort of the exact same game as the other three in the series. Don't get me wrong, that's not necessarily a bad thing, it's only a safe thing. New Super Mario Bros. U is a great game. It's just not an amazing game, the kind of game we've come to expect from Nintendo, and most of all Mario.

The only other game that kind of interest me is ZombiU, and from what ive heard it's a good game but not much more. The problem that Nintendo is facing now is that there does not seem to be any amazing games on the horizon for the WiiU either. I mean sure, I look forward to LEGO City Undercover, Pikmin 3, Bayonetta 2 and most of all Rayman Legends, but do I think they will be amazing games, no. Well maybe Rayman, but otherwise no. I think we will have to wait until we find out what Retro Studios has been up to, to get out first really amazing game for the WiiU.

With that said, I love my WiiU, for two reasons, one universal and one just for me and some other people. Because, I never owned a Wii, and bam, I suddenly got a whole library of AMAZING Wii-games, that I have yet to play. In this regard, WiiU might be the best buy for me this entire year. The other, there will be good games. I look at the history of Nintendo consoles and I see amazing games everywhere, some of my favourites, on every console Nintendo has ever produced, so I don't think we have to wait too long for games we can all enjoy, for the WiiU.

With that said, I say goodbye, I have some self-torture to do... I so hate you Final Fantast XIII...

onsdag 12 december 2012

What I really think of the Assassin's Creed franchise

One of the most popular game franchise at the moment is the historic sci-fi epic Assassin's Creed. But I have always wondered why it is so popular. I mean, sure, I can see it, but I never really got it. So I'll try and tell you how I really feel, playing Assassin's Creed.

I was actually really hyped for Assassin's Creed when I was announced. The more I saw of it, the more awesome it looked. And then I got my hands on it, and it did meet my expectation.... for a while. For what I got in Assassin's Creed was a really uneven gaming experience. The thing I often think of when thinking back at the first game is how boring it got after a while. You just kept on doing the same thing over and over and over and over again. As the completionist I am, I had to do at least most of what the game offered, and that just got too tedious after a while. But the worst thing about it was how often you failed with the sense that it wasn't your fault, because of the controller. And that only added to the bore.

But then again, I had a lot of fun with it at times. I actually really like the story for example, one of the strongest reasons I play games, and the only reason I keep playing these games. I also really like Altaïr, a real bad ass assassin with an interesting story. Not to forget that, yeah, the feeling when you manage to sneak into a target's huge palace, to assassinate him without getting noticed, that feeling very very few games can match.

All in all, Assassin's Creed was a flawed game, but the good sides turned it to a still fun experience. The three next games improved a lot but at times not at all. Let me explain.

The Ezio triology (Two, Brotherhood and Revelations) is improvement from game to game, but is still missing the big one, the controller. The second was not even remotely as monotone as the first game, therefore it was never as boring as the first game. In return we got Ezio Auditore da Firenze, and I do not like him. He is not cool, anywhere, mostly because he let's him emotions get the better of him. Nothing wrong with emotional characters, characters that cares, but as long as they can control their emotions and be cool about it. And Ezio clearly can't.

Besides that, the second game, while not as monotone as the first, didn't change much else from the first game, gameplaywise, something that Brotherhood  instead did. Here you can recruit and train assassins, and then send them on missions. A lot of other thing changed with Brotherhood, such as the diversity in the missions and optional objectives in all missions, which made for a much more fun game that lasted longer with a higher replay value. With that said, the controller still didn't do what you wanted it to, and Ezio was still a wuss.

Gladly, that was something that Revelations took care of. It featured an older and, in my opinion, much cooler Ezio. It also added new gameplay elements and made of an even more pleasant experience.

With that said... The controller still sucks. So bad. It works fine, most of the times, then you have time to think about what you want to do, but often you have to hurry because your chasing someone of are being chased yourself, and in those situations, I find the controller often doing things I don't want it to. And in a game that depends so much on platforming, the controller needs to always to what you need it to. To not make a jump in Super Mario because you suck is one thing, but to not make it because the controller didn't do what you told it to do, that can't happen.


I have not played Assassin's Creed III. Yet. I can most definitely say that I will, because even though I don't get it, something keeps me coming back, but only in small bursts. After playing the second for a while, I got bored of it and put it on the shelf, only to come back to it, play through it all, and start directly with Brotherhood. Same there, after a while I got bored and left it alone for a while, before picking it up again and playing through it. Revelation is at the moment on hold after playing through almost half the game, but I will probably play through that as well, and the third as I said, maybe by the time the next one arrives. In any case, I am curious for what is to come in this series. even though I don't get it.


tisdag 11 december 2012

Yeah, so, bloggin'

Yeah, so, I realize that I haven't been the most frequent blogger out there, and for that, I do apologize. But yesterday I got my egoboost and longing to blog, back again. It was my friend who told me in a text, that while he was taking a shit, he read an old issue of the swedish game magazine GameReactor, and apparently, one of tye first things I wrote, made it into the issue. So I decided to start again, because I'm just that good! (to be humble it apparently not my strong side...)

So what to expect? Well, I have aquired a WiiU, Halo 4, and is currenty paining my way through Final Fantasy XIII, and wow is it bad... Review coming up. I also find myself still playing a lot o Skyrim so, you will be sure to hear more of that.

Yesterday I was playing Halo 2 with a friend (trying to get through the other Halo-games before trying Halo 4) and this is my thoughts.

Halo 2 is epic, I love it. It was the first Halo-game I played and did play it a lot with my brother. We really did have a great time with it, but I have not played it since 2005, so I've a lot of remembering to do. It is great in all the ways that Halo is great. The epic storyline, the equally epic music, the tight controller, the awesome weapons and vehicles and of course the multiplayer, even though it never seemed to matter much to me. I just loved the singleplayer. So what's bad about Halo 2. Well, the game suffers from the same fault as the first Mass Effect does; if you die, the checkpoint is often way back, meaning you have to play a lot of things all over again. Not whole hours as in the title mentioned above, but still enough so that it irritates you. Otherwise, not to much bad to say about it, it still holds up great.