An Update?
By loopy_101 7 Comments
I guess I should swing one around, so here we go.
1) Duke Nukem Forever (PC)
I'm nearly at the end of this one, I bought the Balls of Steel edition for £30 and it seems to have remained the same price since I bought it close to a month ago. I have to say the hate is undeserved for Duke Nukem Forever. If you know me well, you'd probably expect such an analysis - I have a taste for mediocrity, as my interest in budget games might of shown in the past, yet I didn't get that vibe with DNF. I like that it stuck it's foot in the old school platforming and puzzle elements of a first person shooter, a feature strangley absent in most games of it's type. In general, the design and humour of the game pays homage to the original in many ways too with many comical pop-culture references the series is famous for. Certainly the visual and presentation quirks are something that leave more to be desired and there are a few technical shortcomings from the engine in that the levels are perhaps a little too compact and spread out between lengthy loadtimes. Although I look positively at the variety and scope of the weapons, the pacing and the general depth of interactivity correspondent in Duke's world. These all make it above average as far as I'm concerned. I will probably give a full verdict once I've completed the game.
2) Brink (PC)
If you didn't know, recently there had been a free DLC update and a weekend trial for Brink available on Steam. I believe the DLC is also available freely on other platforms, as I recall seeing it on PSN of no charge. This is yet another first person shooter that has seen a somewhat aggravated responses from fans and critics, which arguably is deserved. What gets me is how demanding the game actually is. I haven't a powerful computer by any stretch of the imagination, but I tell you now, my PC happily executes Crysis 2 on hardcore settings - playing Brink shouldn't be a problem. Yet weirdly the game runs around 10-15FPS on default settings. Now bearing in mind Brink runs on a seven year old engine, this is unacceptable. Fortunately I found a work around by disabling the shadows and ambient effects which greatly enhanced my frame-rate. Brink is a multiplayer centric shooter like Splash Damage's previous game, Quake Wars. The levels on Brink are laid out on class specific objectives with sizeable upgrades offered through character growth and customisation. The story is told via in-game cinematics before each level. I dig the parkour elements to Brink's gameplay. Mirror's Edge and Crysis show exactly what these manouvers add to a shooter in terms of accessibility and fluidity in combat, Brink coins in on those qualities quite boldly. The objective wheel and buff system are also flawelessly intergrated into the game - providing a points incentive to make players work tactically. Brink was reportedly said to have lag issues also but this wasn't an apparent issue for me. Maybe the lag has now been fixed. Whatever the case, I'm curious if the game is worth it's admission. It's fun, don't get me wrong, but lacking in any true depth. I'll go into more detail on this perhaps another time.
3) Ivy the Kiwi? (Wii)
I actually finished this game last night. It is a delightful and original 2D platformer by Yuji Naka's new development team, Prope. One of the reasons I love playing games on the Wii is that you come across the most creative and unique games of this generation of gaming only on that machine, atleast at home anyway. I've purposely avoided many new releases on 360 and PS3, despite the praise they might have, because I simply don't want another matured rated Gears clone on my shelf or have an experience dominated by flippant online functionalities. Ivy the Kiwi? is a classic though. The art style plays on the cutesy look of the previously successful Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island but your character is controlled only through your manipulation of the vines in the environment. The result makes for a simple but gradually difficult game. Towards stages 8,9,10 I found myself raging a number of times I had to start from scratch on a level in order to obtain all the hidden feathers in the game. Although something tells me the game was intended mostly for portable devices, and I have a number of nitpicks about the way Prope designed the interface and rules of play I think I can safely assure platforming fans, or even those casually intrigued by puzzle elements in games, that this one is worth checking out.
And so this concludes today's blog... Hopefully I'm capable of producing some more original content rather than copying and pasting whatever I've written for Gamespot. It's amazing to think how much I've contradicted my old bio on Giant Bomb. I think a change is in order.
...
On second thought, screw that.
Thanks for reading.
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