Wow — five months since a post, and I have a backlog of notes on the games I’ve played during that time. That’s pretty intimidating, which makes me think there’s no time like the present to write my take on GDC and the themes for games going into 2013. So, without further ado, here are my big takeaways from the 2013 Game Developers Conference.
Day#2 of Spec Ops is how I’m spending my time while trapped in the hurricane. (I was thankful to still have power, and I feel for those who don’t. Stay safe.) The game continues to be interesting subversive. It’s a very pretty game to start, in the sense that the level layouts are regularly new and striking.
So long travel hiatus from console-style games; planes are only conducive to things such as Super Hexagon and hotels are for web games mainly. But I’m back now and back on it. I will get back to Uncharted, but I decided to go for a shorter game first and picked up Spec Ops: The Line.
Hey there. You may have noticed a conspicuous lack of posting from me lately. Again, I fell into a television black hole. This time it was for Lost. I did this purely because I felt that it was too important a show for me not to have seen. I think I was right that I should have watched it, but it’s an uneven series overall.
So, another long time away due to travel, work, prolonged illness, general life chaos, and frankly, boredom with Arkham City, but we’re back with a vengeance with Uncharted 3.
Day#7 is just solidifying my opinion of the game. On the plus side, the core fighting and predation are good. On the minus, the narrative continues to scrap along the bottom of stupidity, this time by introducing things that the player hasn’t been prepared for at all and expecting you to buy it or care.
I had a long time away from games as I watched all of The Wire recently (very good, by the way), so it’s a return to Batman with fresh eyes. Verdict so far is still the same: great moment to moment gameplay, awful boss battles, and dumb dumb narrative.
Day#5 is probably the most reminiscent of Arkham Asylum so far and that’s a mostly good thing. There’s a nice setting in the middle surrounded by an OSSIM predation scene and a couple of boss fights — one decent and one stupid.
Day#4 is I think the rhythm of this game, for better and for worse. I have to do a LOT of running around the world, and while it is less annoying than I found it in the first session, it’s full of tons of distractions that pull me off of the plot. And the plot itself is just nonsensically stupid.
Day#3 is a return to form for Batman, and I like it. In the constraints of a limited environment (i.e. not wandering around the city), the brawling and predation really come to the fore, and it shows off all of the strengths of the franchise. I also get my first taste of Catwoman play, and that too is good.
