Jimbo_N's Blog Posts

This post relates to: Point and Click, Vampire, The Curse of Monkey Island, A Vampyre Story

As an old school Monkey Island PC adventure gamer I´ve been anticipating the upcoming game from the creator of "Curse of Monkey Island", called "A Vampyre Story". Just now, from nowhere, the demo is out for download and just like that, the full game is out this friday!! I had almost given up hope on this game ever getting a publisher but it seems the time has finally come. For the first time in 10 years I will play a Monkey Island esque PC adventure. The only game Ive tried since 98 was the fairly recent Runaway 2. That was just pathetic. My hopes are super high for Vampyre story. So to all of you out there who are like me and grew up with Guybrush Threepwood on Melee Island. Go download the demo and try it out. Then hurry up and preorder for this Friday ! Suddenly im 13 again, getting Curse of Monkey Island for christmas. Im so excited!

*UPDATE/EDIT* Demo can be downloaded here ! And I just finished the demo. It wasnt really much of a demo but I already knew I needed a boxed copy of this game for the collection so I just pre-order my copy for friday.

This post relates to: Epic Games, Unreal Engine 3, Unreal Tournament, Jazz Jackrabbit, Gears of War 2, Gears of War, Cliff Bleszinski

..let it be this one. The best and most interesting one Ive seen since 1up did one with John Carmack some months back. Theres quite alot of background noise in the Suhsi resturant but it dosent matter. Cliff´s words of wisdom shines through it. Personally I already knew most of what he´s saying in the interview since I´ve been following this guy like a stalker since Unreal 1. But its still as interesting to hear it all again. He´s still up there as one of my rolemodels and favorite designers ever. Hes one of the main reasons I am so interested in whats going on behind the games. I´ll let the video say the rest. Get something good to drink and sit back. And oh, if the player says something like "You need the latest version of Flash" just press cancel and it should load fine anyway.

This post relates to: DICE, Faith, Mirror's Edge

Picked up my copy today and I´ve played the first two chapters. The initial impression is that this is a real trial and error game. You´re pretty much constantly on the run from something or someone or chasing something or someone and you only have a split second to figure out where you´re supposed to be going. And whatever you might think its not always as clear as the color red. Sometimes there is no red and you´re forced to think for yourself. This often results in many many falls into the abyss. The thing is tho. This is neither fruistrating nor boring. Theres pretty much a checkpoint before each tricky climb or jump and you always feel like its your own fault when you mess up. Even more common is that you WANT to do that last failing jump better. Mirrors Edge is a game about platforming perfection. When you nail a long perfect stretch with cops breathing down your neck its a fantastic feeling. The game makes you feel like you really accomplished something.
The core gameplay is also so fun that at least I dont mind replaying bits of the stage over and over. It will be interesting to see if it will pass the line and go from "I really want to try that jump again" to "this is just frustrating" but I actually doubt it.

I am completely in love with the graphical direction they decided to take. Its all clean bright colors with a sense of style and crispness to it. It feels very stylized and it fits so well with the games futuristic controlled, "big brother sees you" utopia setting. It feels extremely focused. Not one single thing goes outside of these stylized, brightly colored textures. Even animated cutscenes, loading times, the menu and the overall design of the main character Faith. Big props to the art direction at Dice. This does NOT, however, mean that all the levels feel the same. I´ve already seen the inside of an office building, the rooftops, stormdrains & big underground sewer complexes. Ive been running streetside aswell as 40 floors up.

The sense of momentum is unlike anything else before it. When you´ve built up maximum speed and time every jump and slide right, the sensation of speed and skill in this game is something special in my book.
The same goes for the audio. It dosent throw alot of ruckus or ambience in there. Its your own heavy breathing and moans, cops screaming from another rooftop where you left them and the sound of your own footsteps on different surfaces. When jumping or falling you can hear the wind blowing into your ears. Theres often some pretty minimalistic electronic beats playing in the background that picks up to become a bit more of a technotrack when there´s something hard coming up. It helps you build up that adrenaline needed every time you have to retry that section.
Alright. I´m not gonna spill it all at once. I´ve only played for maybe 1-2 hours so its very fresh impressions. Overall it feels very focused. It knows what it wants to do and every little bolt in the machinery is adjusted to merge with this vision. Its refreshing and unique and it feels like a big, bright beacon in this holiday season of games.

Oh. One more thing that is important to realize. This is not a shooter by any means. This is a one of a kind platformer. There´s an achievement for completing the game without ever firing a bullet. I totally feel that is possible so far. The sensation of running past the cops in some acrobatic way is way cooler than shooting them. Sometimes they kill you but hey, I really dont mind trying that again and leaping over them in another fashion. Also, theres alot of achievements focusing on the Speed Run part of the game. I have no doubt that I will be spending alot of time in that mode once im done with the Story. Oh the Story? Its actually better than I thought it would be so far. An important politician is murdered and your sister is framed for it. I guess i´ll leave it at that to avoid any epic spoilers.

Finally. Took about two weeks to ship from USA to here. But its finally here. My Angry Video Game Nerd T-Shirt. Awesome! This reminds me. Has someone created the AVGN page yet? If not I might have to do that. James Rolfe is the man!

This post relates to: Rock Band 2, Rock Band

Probably the song I want to play the most in Rock Band right now. Awesome guitar riffs, a booming baseline, heavy drum patterns and both powerful and very memorable lyrics. I´d play this on any instrument any day. After listening to their new album for over a month now I can safely say that this song still beats that whole album.