This is my first Final Opinion article, a quick semi-review of a game that hasn’t earned or won’t get a full, proper review. Our first target is Test Drive Unlimited 2.
Test Drive Unlimited was a sneaky-fun game. Not a great game, maybe not even really that good of a game, but it had it’s charms. I liked the game world, I liked the cars, and I liked the multiplayer premise. Is it’s sequel a better all around game, or just another wreck of a game?
For as long as I played World of Warcraft – the thousand-plus hours in my main and the hundreds poured into alts – I always preferred to take the solo route when possible. Allot of people do, if only because it can be a hassle getting a cooperative group together right when you need one. For me, it was more a matter of personal choice. While leveling my way from 1 to 85, I was asked time and again: If I wanted to play alone, why was I playing an MMO?
My stock answer was that if they could find a single player game that offered what World of Warcraft offered, in terms of the world, the mechanics and the gameplay, I’d go play that instead. Why, though, is such a game so hard to find? That got me wondering if the fissure between social MMO players and their less-social counterparts lies not with MMOs and their developers, but rather with the lack of offline options.
After spending last evening fighting the game’s servers, I finally got to play Lead and Gold today on the game’s free weekend on Steam. After a couple multiplayer rounds, it’s clear that this game isn’t going to supplant Team Fortress 2 as a multiplayer shooter, but then again it doesn’t have to.
Lead and Gold is different enough, with it’s wild west theme and basic game mechanics that it doesn’t really have to compete with TF2 for the same audience. It’s cartoony style resembles Valve’s shooter, but the gameplay is more deliberate. There are only four classes to pick from but they compliment each other well and you’re encouraged to band up with your allies by getting bonuses from the different classes being near each other. My biggest issue is that for all of the different modes, players seem to devolve them into mere death matches time and again. Other then that, it’s an intriguing spin on multiplayer shooters, especially for those with a penchant for the old American west.
In case PC gamers needed another reason to love Steam, they occasionally offer free play weekends of their games. This weekend it’s Lead and Gold. If you’ve got Steam installed, you can download the game now and start playing. The game is under 2 GB in size, so it’s not a huge download (that statement would have been balked at even 5 years ago).
I’ve never played the game before, so there’s no better time to try it. After a play test or three I’ll post an opinions article on the game. Let us know in the comments here if you’ve played it, if you’ve liked it, or if you’re going to give it a shot, too. While you’re at it, join the e-AAGH.net Steam group. It’s nigh silent right now, so join up and make some noise. I’ll be organizing the group as people join up.
My first MMORPG experience came with World of Warcraft in 2007 (I played The Sims Online and Second Life, but they don’t count since they weren’t RPGs). Since then I’ve spent chunks of time in almost two dozen different online worlds, none of which have grasped me like Blizzard’s behemoth. Does Sony Online have the answer in DC Universe Online, or is this just another pretender?
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The Sims has evolved allot since It’s debut in 2000, there’s no debate about that. There’s also next to no debate that The Sims 2 was a better game then the original. The question we’re here to answer today is, is The Sims 3 better then The Sims 2? I’ve got questions and answers on the subject. Let’s get started.
With the Nintendo 3DS on it’s way soon, I got my first hands-on with on this morning. My first impression was that I really liked the 3D look. I didn’t have high hopes for it’s appearance since I’m not a fan of 3D movies or TVs, but this was a nice change. I took Pilotwings Resort for a spin, using the new analog nub to pilot my avatar’s jet-pack-belt-thing around Wuhu Island. The controls were much better then say, Mario 64 DS was with the d-pad. I enjoyed the 3D experience for a few minutes and could really see myself enjoying one of these.
And then I stepped away for a second, and felt loopy.
It was perhaps the oddest sensation I’ve ever had as a gamer. I was wobbly, my eyes were out of focus and my balance was off. It took me a second or three to get my bearings again. I don’t know if it was me, the system, the game, the lighting, or some mixture of them all, but I was dazed for a short after I played it. Visions of the Virtual Boy came flooding back, with all of the people experiencing headaches and sore eyes after playing it for a while.
The technology was fun,the games looked good and I liked the new controls, but unless that vision and dizziness issue can be solved, I can’t see this thing taking off in a big way, and that’s a disappointment.
Dragon Age: Origins won game of the year here on e-AAGH.net in 2009, so I was really looking forward to the sequel. I played the demo like most everyone else, and was impressed. However, a demo does not a game make. Did Bioware blow their budget on the demo, or is there more fun to be found within the walls of Kirkwall?
When I say, within the walls of Kirkwall, I’m not kidding. After the introductory escape sequence, almost the whole game takes place inside the city. There’s the occasional foray into the wilderness but by and large your tale is an urban one. That winds up being a double edge sword – on one hand, it’s the same locations over and over, while on the other you develop a familiarity and comfort level with the surroundings, and they almost feel like home after awhile.
