See: Rowr's Let's Play! thread.

Iji is the story of a girl who was experimented upon to use nanomachines to fight against an invading race of aliens. Iji being the main character, a young girl suddenly weighed with a "save the world" mantra, to whom moments ago the world had been a peaceful place where no one had died, when in reality she had actually been asleep for 6 months with a war going on outside.

There's a lot of backstory that helps support the game, based on the first five levels I've played more and more information, monsters, music, and shooting fun pop up at me making this appear to be so far a very fun game to play. The initial story is surprisingly well done. Despite the obvious anti-immersive science fiction and overall simplistic art design, human emotion factors in quite well and caught me mostly off-guard when I was expecting a very simplistic shooter.

The gameplay is mostly a platforming shooter. You can upgrade weapons by acquiring nanomachines by defeating enemies. Enemies that you can understand because of your nanomachines, and a conflict exists between your character's morals and the fact that she has to kill to survive, which creates an interesting dynamic, yet has no real effect on gameplay, which is very much a blow everything to hell approach. Once enough nanomachines are collected the player levels up and can upgrade various stats at various stat stations. If the player upgrades an alien weapon stat three times they can hold newer weapons of alien types, but that creates a conflict because there are so may other things the player could choose to upgrade which makes for some strategy.

I'm looking forward to beating this game, and you should try it out.

I was reading an article on steampunks, about how they love their pocket watches and have a sort of girlish setting with giant robots and steam-powered tech, and then I started to remember how possibly hilarious a steampunk protagonist could be. Then I started to think of myself in a suit, top hat, monocle, blonde handlebar mustache, and a jet pack from which I'd be flying around the neighborhood I grew up in. Randomly I'd fly to bars, where I'd annoyingly point out that I have an American accent wherein people expected a British one, and then I'd awkwardly leave quickly without a word. I started to roll my marbles around, thinking how that wouldn't be most humorous to the particular audience I would be conveying myself to in the particular medium I was attempting to perform in -- and then considered the possibility of randomly rick-rolling people while dressed in that fashion. But rick rolling isn't all that great anymore. Perhaps instead I'd randomly perform this. Then while somewhat conveying my incoherent thoughts in IRC, Random_Hero proposed the stealing of my monocle, and then dankempster said that could be the premise for Jonathan Blow's next game. Which, is of course, like all thoughts involving Braid, deep!

Then I started considering making a video game for a steampunk character... hmmm... Platforming involving massive gears, advanced pocket watch comparable to a watch from Goldeneye, or wait... X-Com UFO Defense Steampunk style? Steam tanks instead of hover tanks, and all the rookies wear brown suits and bowler hats compared to the higher ups with their black suits monocles and top hats. Perhaps there would be a beard stat...

So since I've set up my PS3 with my TV I've been playing Metal Gear Solid 4, Uncharted: Drake's Fortune, and I'll probably fit in some Ratchet and Clank Future: Tools of Destruction.

So far Metal Gear Solid 4 has been really interesting. If you haven't played it, you might want to skip this paragraph. Basically the game starts out with what seems like TV programming, and you choose the channels and such. I was completely freaked out at first, "What the hell? I CAN'T GET OUT OF THIS!", so by the time I realized I was just supposed to sit and watch it was already over. Hideo Kojima managed to put his name on just about everything, which kind of surprised me. I think those Hide-chan noodles are in-reference to him as well. I also noticed it's very easy to die in the game, although it is also very easy to put everyone to sleep. Otacon has screamed "Snaaaake!" dozens of times by now, but if only Meryl would scream it...

*ahem*

Uncharted: Drake's Fortune was a huge surprise for me. The game's cinematics are not as intrusive and extensive as Metal Gear Solid 4's, and the controls are just dead on. Going into cover and taking shots is reminds me of Gears of War, except it seems like I'm getting flanked a bit more and I'm having to run away from grenades and basically find new cover. The platforming in this game is madness! How can "one ordinary man" perform all that shimmying and long jumping? He should have been named Nathan Mario instead of Nathan Drake!



I'll play some Ratchet and Clank: Tools of Destruction later and write up some of my impressions.