So, all of the ads for Fallout 3 made me want to get some retro-futurism going. This led me to playing through Bioshock again. Since on my previous trip, I had been good, this time I decided to be evil. It turns out that the game isn't particularly different, though it is very easy to purchase whatever upgrades you want. Since the whole game can be beaten without ever really using much more than the lightning plasmid and firearms, I suspect that it would be possible to even try beating the game while being ambivalent to the little sisters. If I ever play again, I will save exactly one and kill exactly one little sister and see what ending it gives.
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Ninja Gaiden Sigma is excessively difficult. The game is hard on easy mode. The difficulty of the game is not the main problem, however, it is its completely unforgiving nature. Gameplay wise, it is quite similar to the Devil May Cry games. Unlike the DMC games, NGS makes gameplay decisions the explicitly frustrate. Example 1: In DMC, if you die you can (usually) start from the beginning of the room that you're currently in. In NGS, you can continue, but you reset to the last safe point you used. Compounded with the relatively rarity of save points, there is much backtracking. Example 2: In DMC, there are enemies that do a fair amount of damage. Single enemies may do up to 10% of your health per hit, but you're given temporary immunity after being hit so that you can recover and counter attack. In NGS, basic enemies that show up in chapter 3 (of 19) can take 1/3 of your health or more in a single attack. Enemies are also capable of juggling you successfully while you are generally incapable of juggling them. Example 3: DMC has almost universal access to the in-game store. In NGS, there is no access to the store for the last 6 or so areas unless you're willing to backtack through a huge distance. This is bad gameplay design.
I beat NGS so that I could say that it didn't beat me.
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Dead Rising is an amazing game. It turns out that running headlong into a swarm of zombies swinging a chainsaw does not get boring. Neither does picking up a bunch of orange safety cones and stuffing them on the head of zombies. Driving a car through an underground tunnel filled with zombies? Always awesome. Shooting a zombie with a nerf gun is also awesome unless you intended to stop it from biting your face off. And of course, the best thing is to pick up one zombie and then use it as a missile weapon to destory a small crowd of zombies. If you have a 360, you should have this game. It is essential. Also, the plot is rather interesting too.
Apparently there is also a Wii version. I can't vouch for it as I haven't played it.
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Lost Planet: Extreme Condition is the archetype of the average game. Its story is average. Its gameplay is average. Hell, even its acting is average. On the PC, the controls are lousy (due to it being built too cross-platformy and not really being optimized for keyboard and mouse). It has several of the major flaws that show up in the more "Japanese" action games. Most noticable of these is its tendency to explain things to you (with a narrator and everything) rather than allowing interesting things to be revealed in more natural ways. It also commits the sin of having a plot that is wholely divorced from the levels being played.
It is like PN03 only less fun and with no RPG elements. It is like Oni only without an interesting plot or fun shooting/fighting elements. It is just plain mediocre.
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Crysis: Warhead is more Crysis. The game doesn't particular add anything, but it is more fun in the Crysis universe running around and shooting people in the face with a shotgun while cloaked. I could spend a fair amount of time doing that without getting bored. It also ran somewhat better than its predecessor on the same hardware which I consider a nice added bonus. I could barely get 30fps during the outdoor winter scenes in Crysis, but was able to get somewhat near that in Warhead.
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I'm now playing Uncharted: Drake's Fortune. The most interesting thing about the game so far is the realism in characters' facial gestures. This game probably has the best facial movements that I've seen since Half-Life 2 and may well be significantly better.
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