Monday, November 17, 2008

Dead Space DLC

i awoke today to find an ad on my XBOX360, promoting downloadable content for Dead Space. i'm all for DLC, but at least make it worth my while for foot's sake. different color costumes and guns? that's BS. give me a new mode or level, don't just re-texture some shit and think that's enough.

then again, this IS an EA game, and they're known for bullshit like this so i shouldn't be surprised. i'm more disappointed really. i had a lot of fun in this game, and would LOVE to find another reason to spend MORE time, but new outfits aren't gonna do that for me.

Sunday, November 16, 2008

Mirror's Edge

i started mirror's edge the other day and i must say it is one beautiful game. taking place in a gleaming white city with sparse patches of bold primary colors. it's quite intense, and nice to see when most other games just end up looking brown. (heres looking at you gears)

the training level seems on par with the demo which is good, but i've noticed as i progress through the game the quality of gameplay starts to slip. faith (your character) does primarily what you want her to do but i'm noticing that when i try to do the same thing repeatedly (as i often am doing) the results are different. same button, same order, same timing, same location: different result.

it's become quite frustrating. not so much that i want to stop playing, but enough that i do need to take breaks due to said frustration. i still feel compelled to play though. i'm hoping the story will pan out and become fully realized. there seems to be a bit of stalling, no doubt to extend the gameplay. it's not a new tactic, and this IS EA we're talking about. granted they've put out some damn good games in the last year or so.

back to the game. while i'm sure getting through the game without firing a gun is possible, i'll leave that to my second run through. most enemies can be run past, which is good considering this is a parkour (free-running) game. it's mostly the times when you're FORCED to fight that i feel the game starts to fall apart. disarms are possible, but the timing is odd, and the window of opportunity you have is a bit small. needless to say this is when i decided shooting enemies was going to have to happen. which is too bad.

so on to some good, yes?
the camera has never been an issue for me in this game and that's HUGE. also as i stated earlier, the controls are spot on a good majority of the time. i really though running and jumping in first person (to this extent) might be a bit weird, but i've played Metroid enough to get used to it quickly. (thanks retro!)
you can generally tell where you should be heading which is a good thing when speed is the name of the game. there are a lot of rooftops to run around on but not as many possible paths as you'd hope. yet it's still possible to lose your way from time to time. and in those times, a simple tap of the 'b' (or 'O') button points you to your goal.

i'd say overall it's worth renting. i've finished the game today and can say with full confidence i will not pick it up again. i don't miss the experience which is a shame. the first half of the game was fantastic, but the later levels drove me up the wall.
i give this game a C, maybe a C+.