DrRandle's Blog Posts

This post relates to: Fable II, Animal Crossing: City Folk

Good Gravy, Batman!

   Just saying hey. Wanted to wish everyone a pleasant Thanksgiving. Hope you're enjoying whatever festivities you have planned. Whether your alone playing Fable or with friends and family, you have my best wishes.

   So what are your plans? I plan on visiting my Animal Crossing: City Folk town and seeing what festivities they have planned before going over to my grandma's to eat dinner with family (seeing as my immediate family has skipped town to spend it with yet more family). Then maybe some Black Friday shopping, but I probably won't be doing the crazy rush I usually do since my mom is out of town.

   Please leave your comments below, and make sure to wish everyone else here in the Giant Bomb network a wonderful Thanksgiving!

-Make it a good one!
Randy "Dr. Randle" Marr

This post relates to: Fable, Fable II Pub Games, Fable II

Albion You All Night Long

   I'll be honest, I never got around to playing the first Fable so I was very quick to find a disconnect when playing Fable II. There was a lot of talk about old guilds and lands that I had no real idea of, and I mention that only because I'm saying that I have no prior Fable experience to base this on. That in mind... Wow. I wasn't sure what to expect, and was less sure when a bird craps on my character in the opening cinematic. What I ended up with far exceeded my expectations, or was at least good at making sure I didn't know what said expectations even were and then delivered me a fine product anyway. Player choice, if I had to say anything, is what this game does right.
   Fable II takes place a good long while since the events of the previous Fable. The old Albion was mowed down by a man's wish inside a large, powerful spire and had to start from scratch. Built on the ruins of the old is the new and improved Albion (which I guess means it has better graphics now.) The world of Fable II is quite gorgeous, with enough spectacular bloom lighting effects to really give it that fairytale flavor. If only it's technical side could quite live up to the vision: this game suffers from some frantic frame-rate. Not so bad that it's unplayable, just bad enough for you to wish it was at least locked down to a solid 30 frames per second.

   We find your character (male or female) and his or her sister enjoying their little street-urchiny lives when a mysterious blind woman named Theresa recommends that they purchase a music box from the local unsavory salesman. After a few menial tasks to get used to the basic controls, as well as used to the, shall we say, colorful people of Bowerstone, you finally obtain the money to afford the music box. After a nice little song and dance, however, it disappears and the day is considered a tragic waste. That night however, it seems the box granted your wishes, as you have been summoned to visit Lord Lucian at Castle Fairfax. However, a pleasent visit with the tragedy-wrought lord goes south when he reveals that one if not both of you are of Hero lineage, and must therefore be destroyed. He shoots your sister and then attempts to shoot you, your tiny body hurtling to the ground outside the castle. That's just where the story begins. What lies ahead is a hearty journey to find the rest of the Hero's lineage and take down Lucian before he can reset Albion once more.

   Yes, the overall story might sound a bit boiler-plate: Some jerk wants to level the world because he's all angsty, and so you're hero has to rise up and stop him. But what's great is how well fleshed out all of the main characters are. Each segment of the main-quest is thoroughly compelling. It might be somewhat of a disconnect, but this game seems to leap between comical and downright despondent very quickly. Surprisingly, Fable II pulls it off well. In the end, there's no denying that this is, to quote the Team Fortress 2 Demoman, "A bloody grim fairytale." Even all of the side stories tend to reflect that nature, for instance, the mission where you have to help a ghost get revenge on his wife for betraying him and driving him to kill himself. Your mission is to go and make her fall in love with you and then you can either break her heart by revealing your charade, or actually marry her and live happily. Me? I chose to marry her, and then sacrifice her at the Temple of Shadows' Wheel of Misfortune for bonus membership points. And that's why I love this game.

   Gameplay is simple, and solid. Each of your primary three attacks are handled as follows: X is your melee, Y is your ranged weapon, and B is your magic. A is the "do" button, as per standard door-opening/mission-accepting protocol. What's great is how combat works: however you want it to. If you want your character to be a straight brute, all you do is fight with Melee and you'll get Melee experience. To become better with magic, fight with magic spells to gain magic experience, and so on. You can slant your character however you feel is best to your playstyle, and each one works and feels great. While it's wise to have at least a few ranks of everything, it's totally up for you to decide. Also, the decisions you make affect how your character look. Picking more strength will cause your character to become more beefy, and if you start to delve deep into magic, you'll get glowing blue will lines along your body.

   Similarly, the game has a method of measuring the stats of Good vs. Evil and Pure vs. Corrupt. Where you stand on these two bars will alter your appearance. A pure good character will have a nifty little halo, while a good but corrupt character might have an aura of flies. Each action you take will have a clear influence on these stats. For example, if you got bored and killed a few townsfolk, a little horned icon appears over you with a numerical value representing how evil the thing you just did was. Similarly, if you decide to eat meat, you'll get a little corruption icon. Another influence on your characters appearance is what you eat: if you spend the whole game eating pies, prepare to have a tubby hero. All of this considered, the townsfolk of the game will react to these stats appropriately, and each will have an individual opinion of you that you can directly influence by changing your clothes, emoting, or drastically altering your apperance. It's alot to consider, but once you decide what kind of character to build, it's very gratifying to see the actions instantly gratified.

   To join your character in their journies is a faithful furry friend, whom you may name. The dog's main purpose is to help guide you to treasure chests and burried loot, though he does pull his own in combat. It's not very revolutionairy to the game play, but there's a rule in characterization: if you ever want to make a character more likable, give them a dog. Eventually you'll likely find yourself attached to the four-legged metal detector, whose apperance changes with you. Pets really do tend to look like their owners, after a while.

   The game is very open-ended, if I haven't gotten that point accross yet. You can end up spending your hard earned rewards buying up the town and adjusting rent, eventually owning entire cities. Or you can just buy one house and settle down with a wife, or husband, be you gay or straight. And you can do this in every town, if you so please. (It's not a good idea to let spouses see each other.) If you want, you can even end up having a kid who will grow up during your travels. It's all quite inspiring, and really helps draw you into the world of Albion.

   The audio of the game is satisfying. An interesting blend of orchestral and the occasional electronic riff help solidify the fairytale nature of the game. If nothing else does it, the music box melody every time you dig through your inventory will remind you "oh yeah, this is a fantassy game." Hints of Danny Elfman's original work can are strung through out, but the new composer does a fine job even against my personal bias of him not being Danny Elfman.

   For as wonderfully unique as many of the characters in this game are, the townsfolk tend to blend together after a while. I don't think it's for a lack of character models, there certainly are plenty. It's mostly for a lack of extra voice actors. This gets especially troubling when your surrounded by the Temple of Light people, who are all identical. Fortunately the writing is good, so it's relatively forgivable. The game has a tendency to be self-aware at times, and one character references this point by mentioning that in his studies he has found that many Albion townsfolk sound identicle. I don't know if that upsets me that they were aware of the problem and didn't fix it, or if it was a purposeful decision to help keep costs down and they just thought they'd make fun of a common video game idiosynchracy. So I'll let you make your own decisions on that.

   Along with it's trudging framerate, the game suffers it's fair share of glitches, as is common with any kind of open-ended psuedo-sandbox game. On rare occasion you might find yourself stuck in place, or find the physics engine hiccup and cause fallen enemies to jitter around like they're being electrocuted. I personally had a spouse glitch, where he refused to acknowledge my existance no matter what I did. Meanwhile he kept petting my dog. I don't know if it was out of jealousy or just because I wanted a husband who worked, but I straight up murdered him. My character was going through a real dark period, then.

Closing Words

   If you're the run-and-gun type of gamer who wants to just blast through a game without checking out the side activities, you may find yourself unsatisfied at the banquet Fable II has to offer. But if you take your time and sample everything, I think you will be overjoyed at the feedback the game gives you for all of your imput. It really is a powerful example of video game cause-and-effect, all based on the decisions you make. The narrative is incredible, the visuals are stunning, and the game is all-around great at pulling you into the world of Albion. This title is an absolute contender for my Game of the Year, and well worth the attention of action-fans and RPG fans alike.

This post relates to: Mirror's Edge, Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts, Fallout 3, Fable II, Dokapon Kingdom, PlayStation 3

Sort of...

Hey gang, holidays are coming up and I know spending is tight this year. If you still haven't caught up to the Playstation 3, then here's a great deal: Buy a PS3 off of Amazon.com with a Sony Card and get $150 credit. According to an advertisement I received via the Playstation underground, all you have to do is apply for a Sony credit card. If you succeed, you can use that card and, while I'm not sure of the exact details, order from amazon and get a great deal. Being a Playstation Underground member, I was also given some nice deals, including an additional $100 credit if I purchase two select blu-ray movies. If you're not a member of the PSU, I recommend finding a way to join. They have some great deals, like this from time to time.

Just giving you all a heads up.

Sorry for the lack of content recently, I've been knee deep in Fable 2, Fallout 3, and now I have Banjo-Kazooie, and Mirrors Edge. Plus, my friends just keep wanting to play Dokapon Kingdom lately. It's been busy. I'm going as fast as I can!

-Make it a good one.
Randy "Dr. Randle" Marr

This post relates to: Inon Zur, Power Rangers, Fallout 3

Didn't See That Coming

   While doing a little research into the voice actors of Fallout 3, I came across the composer for the game, Inon Zur. Being the most awesome name I've seen today, I looked it up on IMDB and found quite an interesting repitoir: mostly that Inon has done the music for every Power Rangers since Turbo. Not only that, but Inon is responsible for the music for Beetle Borgs and The Mystic Knights of Tier Na Nog.

   Now, by no means am I trying to discredit him, I am simply pointing these things out for the sake of amusement. I honestly liked these shows as a kid, and the music, admittedly, isn't terrible. His list speaks for itself, though, so feel free to check it out.

   Also: if you're going to vote, vote for Malcolm McDowell. If Fallout 3 is any indication, he'll make a great president.

-Make it a Good One
Randy "Dr. Randle" Marr

This post relates to: Silent Hill 3, Silent Hill 4: The Room, Silent Hill, Silent Hill 2, Silent Hill: Homecoming, Silent Hill

   Preface: Yes, I am a huge fan of the Silent Hill franchise. Does this qualify me more to talk about it, or am I "teh biased?" In short, it's a nice qualifier. I have enough presence of mind to not mindlessly go with one thing because I liked it's predecessor. If that were true, I would have liked G2, but all that is is a watered down version of (the already watered down) Gatorade. This review is clearly written from somebody who is aware of the ins and outs of the series, and understands it clearly. Take it all with that grain of salt, as you should with most any reviews. This review is to discuss Silent Hill: Homecoming, not just as a product on a shelf, but as an experience and as a work of interactive art, as are all my reviews. I just thought, in this dense review season, that a reminder was in order. I also thought you might want to know where I stand.
  

You Really Can Never Go Home Again

   Silent Hill has a history of two things: somewhat confusing, albeit meaningful stories and scarring you for life. The games have always managed to evoke deep levels of emotion and fear, even when the gameplay itself was a little less than stellar. Let's be honest, the first couple games were only playable in the sense that they got your character from beginning to end. Silent Hill: Homecoming almost ended up completely switching the formula, giving you deep, tight controls with a mostly passable storyline. Almost, however, isn't there yet.

   Homecoming finds the main character, Alex Shepherd, carted down a hospital of craziness in the opening scenes of the game, apparently after being injured. He soon finds the place to be a chaotic mess and runs into his brother Josh along the way. His brother seems pretty disconnected to the whole scenario, and eventually escapes Alex. After falling down through a hole in the floor, Alex wakes up from his nightmare just in time to be dropped off in Shepherd's Glen, a neighboring residence to Silent Hill. He finds the town in the grip of some disturbing phenomenon: people are disappearing without reason and the town seems to be choked by endless fog. He runs home to find that his brother is one of the missing people and his despondent mother tasks him with finding Josh.

   I'm going to stop right there because we've already run into the problem I have with this game: it is in no way original. The plot is borrowing from all the other Silent Hills and throwing even more of the Jacob's Ladder references that the first game started. First: Shepherd is the maiden name of Mary Shepherd-Sunderland, the wife of James in fan-favorite Silent Hill 2. While I would love to just pass that off as a cutsie reference, it doesn't stop there. The achievement for killing your first Siam monster (the thing that looks like a fleshy gorilla with a lady strapped on it's back) references James. When you kill your first dog-monster it references Eddie who talks about killing a dog in Silent Hill 2. You find chemicals that you inject to gain health and if you get the mall you get the "Kaufmann's Handiwork" achievement, referencing the substance created by the doctor of that name in the first Silent Hill. Achievements are just the start of it.

   The game borrows the visuals from the Silent Hill movie, and by borrows I mean blatantly copies. When Homecoming begins its transformation to the infamous dark-side version of the world, it does so in the same peeling away upwards fashion that the movie created. Ok, that's fine, it looked good in the movie I can go with it, it's just one thing. But then we have the "sexy" nurses. Sure, we've had nurse zombies in almost every Silent Hill game, but these are very blatantly the "sexy" nurses from Silent Hill 2. While I'm on this rant, let me just remind you that Pyramid Head shows up in the game to menace the screen for a few minutes, and then put it all together. Those things were in context to James Sunderland in the second Silent Hill. I allowed them in the movie because a: the movie was doing it's own story thing, and was thusly allowed to break the rules. It was deviating from canon to try and be creative. And b: if you're going to bring a franchise to the big screen, you kinda want to throw up some iconic moments and characters in for good measure it just makes sense. The movie also went ahead and made sure the rest of it's monster line-up made sense within the context of the story; smoking ash-baby monsters because of the coal fires, for example. They represented the pain of being burned alive. Please tell me what the swinging pendulum head monsters are supposed to represent? A fear of hammer head sharks who can split open? And the Siam monster: That just doesn't make sense at all. To be fair, the monsters do look pretty cool, but there's just no reference for them. Overall the game does look good, and the lighting is especially superb. The character models are finely detailed and the animations are pretty smooth. The Nurse monsters move particularly well. It may be just like they did in the movies, but at least they did a damn good job copying that herky-jerky movement. The game also has (relatively) real-time battle damage. If you cut a nurse with your knife, the wound shows up in real time. It's not perfect, per se, but for the most part it works, and it's awesome. This realistic battle damage is something I want more out of my video games.

  The game's new attempt at more action-based combat is unwelcomed. Sometimes the "action" camera puts you completely out of view of what your doing, and the emphasis on having to time dodge and counter attacks to fight anything will be a serious detraction to long time fans. Old Silent Hills allowed you to get by without having to kill much and when you did a few gunshots from a safe distance or a good mashing of the melee attack got you through. This game requires that each monster be carefully combated, even when there's 4 or 5 in the room. Some of the monsters can block you as well, so you have to actually time your counterattacks. One monster can even block bullets! The attempt to turn Silent Hill into what Resident Evil has become is not welcome. The combat is going to be too frustrating to some fans of the series who enjoy it's accessibility of play. It's a series that people who aren't very good at twitch-based gaming could still enjoy, and that has been taken away from them in favor of a more Gears of War gameplay that doesn't work as well as it should. Also, the game has a series of pointless and severely annoying button-mashing sequences. For example, some doors can only be accessed by cutting a fleshy substance open with the knife. First, equip the knife. Then, hit A to tell the game "I would like to open this." Then hit A really fast and a lot to help Alex carve it open. Then press A again to squeeze through the doorway. What was the point of that? There is none. It's obnoxious and just bad game design. It's also not the only instance, but roughly the most frequent.

      The story itself isn't bad, but it's completely disjointed from the franchise. I won't say what, but I will say that the story completely rips off older Silent Hill storylines in an attempt to recapture the glory years. The fact is, if this were an original game, and not Silent Hill, I might be more favorable on it. These "creative liberties" would be much more suitable and fans wouldn't have something to pick at. Plus, it would perhaps help mask the fact that the game doesn't have much of an original bone in it's body. This game is, for all intents and purposes, a mediocre fan-fic. Certainly not a bad one, where Pyramid Head and Walter Sullivan do something highly uncharacteristic to each other (well, uncharacteristic for Walter), but definitely not one that evokes the thought of "this is a sequel." And maybe that's why they took off the number 5, they were aware that this didn't feel like a proper introduction to the core franchise and wanted to try and do their own thing. Their own thing happening to be everything the movie, comics, and games did first and better.

   The Silent Hills are alive with the sounds of music produced by series headliner Akira Yamaoka. (Sorry, but I had to.) This game is no different, yet somehow, even that feels a little phoned in. There's not really any memorable tunes from the newest title. Nor are there too many real set-pieces. The other Silent Hill's are chock full of memorable moments but this one never dropped my jaw. Then again after Jasper Gein's self-immolation in Silent Hill 4, perhaps I'm a little jaded to much else.

   Would I recommend this game? If you like survival horror, it's not bad. If you can put aside the nitpickings of it not being a proper Silent Hill and just play it for what it is, a technically sound game, than by all means check it out. The game has a lot of endings and some new game + features, like extra costumes, so it's not a bad investment. At about 10 hours long, you might be able to rent this one and clear it in a weekend if you're dedicated, and that's probably what I would recommend for most people. If you're a hardcore Silent Hill fan who enjoys anything with the logo on it, then you've likely already purchased it and hate me for thinking Silent Hill 4 is the best in the series.























-Make it a good one
Randy "Dr. Randle" Marr