Insignificant Gamer

Truely Scary *#&@ – F.E.A.R. 2: Project Origin

insignificantgamer — Mon, 02 Mar 2009 06:07:55 +0000

As a life – long PC Gamer I have played many “Scary” games, but nothing rivals the F.E.A.R franchise. The sense of timing combined with a downright creepy atmosphere allows this game to really make you think twice about going through that dark room (the school in particular). F.E.A.R. follows up the original very successfully delivering everything you have come to expect from Monolith, intense action, deep story and of coarse Alma.

The storyline is told out through short cut scene sequences but a lot of the back story and many of the details are delivered through pieces of in-tel collected throughout the game. If you are not taking your time going through the game and exploring through the nooks and crannies you will miss out on many of the important details. Graphics are superb, and environments are partially destructible when they need to be; backed up by the Havok physics engine allows the game to feel quite realistic.

In the PC version of this game your going to notice that the game stutters when saving which can pull away from the immersiveness of the game. There are a few issues with the volume levels of the game particularly the voice to the ambient sounds of the environment, I found myself going back a few times to listen closer to what was being said. Depending on your skill level in shooters, you might find that the gameplay is rather easy with few tense give it everything you got fight sequences, a lot of people are going to want to turn up the difficulty to hard to get a really thrilling experience from the game. While the game fails to innovate in any way shape or form you would be doing yourself an injustice in not playing F.E.A.R. 2: Project Origin, if not on the PC, at least on the Playstation 3 or the Xbox 360. And please: don’t forget to turn out the lights and crank the volume knob to the right!

Cheers!

Nvidia in 3D – Bleeding Edge CES Technology – Day 1

insignificantgamer — Fri, 09 Jan 2009 01:17:03 +0000

CES (Consumer Electronics Show) is well known for interesting and new technologies that hit the market and Nvidia’s technology in 3D is no exception. I stumbled upon Nvidia’s booth at CES and this technology is nothing short of amazing.

When you first look at the screen you see a blurred image of the game your playing, but put on the 3D glasses and your immersion factor skyrockets . This technology is personal, nobody without the USB connected glasses will see what you do. These glasses look like the sporty version of Oakley sunglasses and will cost you just as much – $199 in fact. When you put them on the game your playing miraculously changes into a three dimensional image, perfect down to the pixel. The real magic of this technology is the fact that it works with HUNDREDS of games, and ones that you already own!

These glasses are able to be bought from the Nvidia website: http://www.nvidia.com/object/product_GeForce_3D_VisionBundle_us.html

I have always been an advocate for the technology behind Nvidia and its GPUs as compaired to ATI and this has just solidified that belief.

The Gravy on your Mashed Potatos – Bioshock 2

insignificantgamer — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 03:55:29 +0000

Today is a very good day for anyone into well made Computer games. Bioshock 2 Trailer was released today on the Game Trailers website. Called Sea of Dreams, what can be told from the video, the little girl has grown up a few years… early teens perhaps. From the looks of the title banner water will be a major feature in the second game as it did in the first.

Tid-bit Fact: Bioshock hired two game designers/programmers for two years to work on nothing but the water effects for the game. That is dedication!

If Bioshock 2 is anything like the first we are going to have an editors choice from big names like PC Gamer Magazine and Gamespot as well as (enter game any reviewer here). But you already knew that didn’t you?

Game Trailer: http://www.gametrailers.com/player/41897.html

STALKER Clear Sky – More Like a Rainy Day

insignificantgamer — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 02:11:47 +0000

I have been anticipating this game for months now, and finally got my chance to put my sweaty little palms on it. Great! I load up the game for the first time and start playing. The first thing you’ll notice is how fantastic the graphics are on high settings, the bushes look so real, so much texture to everything its great. The sounds are stunning in 5.1 surround sound thanks to proper EAX support.

You’ll start off in a Clear Sky camp (Clear Sky is one of the factions that you can work for) and quickly make your way to the swamp area where you slowly take over objectives. And thats when the cloud comes in to rain on your day and damn does it pour. My game crashed 2 hours in and did so constitantly. Thats when I frantically rushed to the internet to get the latest patch. Great! I thought, game is patched and ready to go. Nope, your saved game will be incompatible and you will be forced to start over again. Long story short, even after patching the game up it is still so buggy that you’ll want to write it off as a loss.

So that being said, I’ll make a humble recommendation to you: Give this game a few months for the developer to fix the bugs with more patches. In the meantime, go play Shadow of Chernobyl if you haven’t already then come back to this one if you like what you see in the first game.

This is one franchise that does deserve a second chance… just not now.

Alone in the Dark – Did they get it right? – Not Quite

insignificantgamer — Mon, 07 Jul 2008 02:34:15 +0000

Well, I have been playing the new Alone in the Dark game that came out a little more then a week ago. First off the plot line is very well developed and includes many tense moments and gets 5 stars from me. The thing that has got me in a rough is how the game play is executed. This game plays a lot like the original Alone in the Dark, which is a bad thing. It has been well over a decade and they are still using an inferior playing style, and at many points it can be downright frustrating. But Eden games realized this and put in a first person mode. (If I had my choice I’d play the entire game in first person) the bad news is the game will switch you out of first person mode without your consent which was enough for me to slam my keyboard a few times! (I don’t condone keyboard abuse or will be held responsible for what you may do to your computer if you play this game.) To add to the annoyances often you will get stuck in your inventory screen, which causes you to start over from your last save or restart the entire events sequence. (2nd Keyboard broken)

Complaining aside, the things that I can think about this game that are good, include a good storyline, an original soundtrack and the most cinematic experience I have seen yet in a game. You will likely be happy to know that if you get stuck on one part in the game, you are able to fast forward the game to the next series of events, which can be very helpful at times. (keyboard is safe for now). If you have been looking forward to playing this game go ahead and get it. If your not sure if you should get this one, go to your local Blockbuster movie store and rent the game on your PS3 or 360 (in truth this game is probably better played on a console.)

And that readers, is my Insignificant opinion.

Diablo 3 Announced and Why Blizzard Blows

insignificantgamer — Sun, 29 Jun 2008 10:38:43 +0000

So, a couple days ago Blizzard (known for such games as Starcraft and the epically successful World of Warcraft) has decided to go ahead and announce a new Diablo game. This has gotten the attention of everyone who has ever played the Diablo games and the ratings on Game Trailers.com have been getting 9.0+/10. The fact is Blizzard makes successful games, but the reason why they are successful is because they bring all these franchises back over the years, and give the loyal followers more of the same. Innovation is non existent from this company. Starcraft 2: more of the same and the way this new Diablo game is shaping up its still going to be a top down hack and slash with nothing new to bring to the table. You want an example of new and innovative games that are driving this industry check out what Nintendo has done with the Wii and the DS. Check out games like Mirrors Edge, or the Tom Clancy’s End War, where the battle field is controlled with your voice. Its these games that are providing for our future, as for Blizzard they are just money sucking leeches.

Bam!

To see the Trailer for Diablo 3 – http://www.gametrailers.com/player/35667.html

Scare Your Pants Off!! Survival Horror – Dead Space

insignificantgamer — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 07:31:55 +0000

Well, the survival horror genre is the latest craze. There is Bioshock, Left 4 Dead, Fear, Project Origin. But the latest one to come to the PC around Halloween (go figure) is Dead Space, and its looking crazy creepy and they are promising nothing less.

Check out this Trailer:
http://http://na.llnet.cdn.ea.com/u/ea.com/deadspace/Game_Media/trailers/trailer_dateannouncetrailer_videoanddownload_1_022708.mp4

One Spectacular Space RPG – Mass Effect PC

insignificantgamer — Sun, 01 Jun 2008 21:16:07 +0000

Well after the months of waiting for Mass Effect to come to the PC, it finally has! Mass Effect was in stores on May 29th and within 5 minutes of it hitting my local Eb Games, I had it in my sweaty little palms. I have had the chance to play around 20 hours of it so far and it is spectacular! This title is every geek and nerds dream who ever wanted to command his own star ship and live in the life of a Trek type universe.

There has been several different changes from the original title that came out on consoles a number of months back. First since this is the computer version of the game we PC gamers have access to a keyboard with well over a hundred keys, and so all your tech and biotic powers are mapped to hotkeys 1 thru 0 and can be set by the user. This has created a more fluid combat experience for the player, as he does not need to pause the game each time he wants to use a new ability. The other differences from the original game on the console is how the Mako is controlled, the movement is bound to your WASD directional keys while your mouse is used for shooting as opposed to the mouse being used for steering. This allows you to better be able to avoid damage from slow shooting weapons, by making it easier to dodge and fire the main guns. Also if you pick up the game on PC you will also get access to the extra content (Titled: Bringing down the sky) available online for free, where as your console buddies will be paying for it. As of this post it is not yet available, but should be shortly.

On the downsides of this game (the few there are), you will notice that your elevator rides are slightly longer (the elevator serves a loading screen for the game). Also the short loading pauses in the game are more frequent.

If you haven’t played this game on the consoles yet, and enjoy a excellent RPG this would be one to pick up. The game has picked up several editors choices from around the Internet. Also remember that Mass Effect will be a franchise, so expect a sequel to come in a few years, and it is a good story to experience the beginning to. Enjoy! I’m off to go for another 10 hour playing session of this one!

The Gothic Franchise Makeover

insignificantgamer — Sun, 18 May 2008 23:06:43 +0000

To those who played Gothic 3 or any of the earlier Gothic games (those of which are few and far between), know that Gothic is a RPG with the potential of games such as Elder Scrolls: Oblivion. Unfortunately their latest release Gothic 3 was so plagued with errors and poor programming that the game was never given a chance to shine.

Here however is the deal: The developer has been changed from Piranha Bytes, to Spellbound Entertainment, and the game is being called Arcania: A Gothic Tale. This was needed to facilitate a change in the way the franchise was going, which was the way of the dodo bird.

Work has already started on the game and from Gamespots preview of it, it is looking like the beginnings of a stellar game. I’d think that the majority of the players of the third Gothic game felt that there was a lack of magic as well as a lack of weapons and armor to customize your character. The developer wants to include a more magic aspect to the game and we can expect that to be the case. As with the magic aspect, the increased amount of armor and weapons will make for a better game.

I’m currently hoping the game will include an in depth combat system to go along with the pretty graphics they currently have. I think the ideal combat system would include location style attack, where your mouse movements dictate what part of the body hit when you swing.

The game is still early in development, and is slated for a 2009 release date. Also be sure to check for an expansion pack for the Gothic 3 game, coming soon, which should bridge the story gap between Gothic 3 and Arcania. For a more in depth preview check out the GameSpot link below

http://www.gamespot.com/pc/rpg/gothic4/news.html?sid=6191191&mode=recent

Mirrors Edge – The Future of FPS?

insignificantgamer — Thu, 08 May 2008 16:58:00 +0000

I seems like all of the game genres are being reinvented these days. RTS are taking on a new perspective using 3d by changing the camera angles to make these games more visually appealing. And so it seems that the first person shooters are under a change too, and so far it looks pretty good.

Yesterday during a press conferance the developers of the Mirrors Edge game released an all new trailer demostrating some changes in the first person shooter genre. The game itself looks fantastic visually, but the real candy is in how the game is played. The game is set up to use your hands and feet as the main weapon. In this first person game, guns are your secondary weapon. The developers claim its about the person in the game, not just the gun as. You will see your feet and hands as you jump around onto ledges and interact with the enviroment.

Seeing the short video that was released yersterday, it looks as if mirrors edge could spawn a whole new type of FPS, where instead of having your typical side scrolling fighting games (Mortal Kombat) you fight from the first person perspective. When this type of action is combined with engrossing combat scheme (Mixed Martial Arts style) I see a very exciting prospect for the industry on the horizon.

Check out the two trailers below to see what I mean:

HD Run-Thru Trailer (Gametrailers.com)
Developer Diary (Gametrailers.com)