I’ve had a good bit of time to get my teeth into Fallout 3 now, and I’m loving it.

Having spent a bit of time in Megaton wandering round (and acquiring a house. Very handy ) I’m now starting to head more into the Washington DC part of the game. At the moment I’ve been sticking to the main quest to guide me through the game, and not really exploring much, but I’ve had a few random quests come up (investigated The Family attacking a town in the Wastelands, and another town under seige from giant Fire Ants).

Moving into Washington has shifted the landscape though. Kicking around Megaton etc, felt very much like the Wastelands they’ve called. There wasn’t much to see outside of the odd town. When you get to Washington though, they’ve captured the ruined city feeling well, as you constantly find yourself working your way around debris and surrounded by ruined buildings, as opposed to the more open terrain of the wastelands.

Its nice that it doesn’t take too long before you start picking up a variety of weapons as well. The very initial stages of the game were pretty dangerous, as I was very underarmed compared to most threats in the Wastelands. However after my first run-in with a group of raiders I picked up an assault rifle and a hunting rifle, and from there things started to get a bit easier.

The V.A.T.S. targetting system is a nice concession to those players who miss the turn-based style of combat, versus the FPS stylings of combat in this game. As long as you’ve got action points stored up (they regenerate reasonably quickly over time), you can engage the system, which lets you target specific areas of your opponent’s body, and then get a cinematic of you taking those shots. Its very handy for quickly disarming or crippling enemies.

Its also given me a good look at how gory the game can be. Raiders don’t tend to last long when I’m targetting their head with my combat shotgun, as their heads explode with a satisfying (if “urgh”-inducing) squelch. However, there’s also plenty of severed limbs and the like on display should you happen to step on a landmine or the like. Unlike Oblivion, which wasn’t bad (if at all) on the gore factor, this game doesn’t pull its punches. I’m slightly surprised there’s no option to turn it down or off. The game is 18 rated though so people can’t say they aren’t warned.

I’m now looking forward to exploring the ruins of Washington DC properly tonight.  The only real problem I’ve got with this game so far is the sleep I’m losing playing it…

Last week saw the release of the latest in the Fallout series of RPGs.

I’ve got Fallout 1 & 2 in the house, but I’d never really played them much (should really dig them out), however when I saw the hype for Fallout 3, I was very excited.  I’m a huge Oblivion fan, so the idea of an Oblivion-style, post-apocalyptic future-set RPG was very interesting.

And so far, the game is living up to expectations.  I’m not far in, having just completed the introductory level where you define your character, and run a couple of quick quests for the first town, but its off to a promising start.    Starting your character from birth and then jumping to various events in your childhood (10th birthday party for example) is quite a nice way to break you into the game, and build a bond with your character.

The feel of the game is very similar to Oblivion so far.  Graphically, its obvious this is a souped up version of the same engine (or at least, that’s what it looks like), and the introductory level being used to define your character and establish the main plot reminded me a lot of the prison break sequence at the start of Oblivion.

Visually however, the landscape is very different.  Whereas Oblivion was lush landscapes, woods and mountains, this is the world after an atomic war.  Outside of the vault you are greeted by what’s left of the town where the vault was located, only most of it has been reclaimed by the desert, with only a few shells of buildings remaining.  The main feature you quickly find is the town of Megaton, recognisable by its town walls, welded together from various bits of sheet metal.   The whole town has the feel of something thrown together from scavenged materials (which it is), which is in sharp contrast to Oblivion’s towns, which felt like great care had gone into their construction and layout (especially the likes of the Imperial City).

Atmosphere is also added via the radio stations your wrist computer (Pip-Boy) can pick up.  From the start, the main radio station setup by survivors is only static (there’ll be a quest there I imagine), however you can listen to the Enclave Station and have the sound of President Eden (Malcolm McDowall) to keep you company as you explore the wastes.

So far the feel of this game is spot on for me.  The immersion and everything I loved about Oblivion, but the post-apocalyptic setting is a sharp contrast and well-realised.  I’m looking forward to exploring this game properly over the next few weeks and getting to grips with it.

Well, it was the announcement we’d been waiting for.  Lucasarts are teaming up with Bioware for another crack at the MMO market.   

I’m glad to see Bioware having another go at the Old Republic era.  Since I’d pretty much given up hope on ever seeing Knights of the Old Republic 3 it’ll be great to at least have the chance to revisit that era in game format once again.  From the sounds of the storyline, the Knights of the Old Republic plot will be touched upon within the MMO, so at least that should give some closure.

I’ve enjoyed playing Star Wars Galaxies, so it’ll be interesting to see what this new game brings to the table.  Of course, it’ll have the advantage from the outset of having the experience of what worked and didn’t in SWG, not to mention knowing what people liked about the KotOR series.

Is there any chance we could meet a descendant of Gryph in the game?  It’d rock to get some henchman quests from him

And HK-47 is a must, of course.

Well, last week saw the release of the hotly-anticipated new Star Wars game, The Force Unleashed.

I promptly picked it up for the Nintendo Wii, and had been looked forward to it. I’d also picked up the novelisation (as it turns out, a good move, since sections of the story have been cut or replaced in the Wii version of the game). While not boasting the next-gen graphics or physics engine of the 360 and PS3 versions, the Nintendo version at least finally offers us the chance to control a lightsaber with the wiimote, and get a pretty fair approximation for the next-gen version of the game.

Speaking more generally (spoilers ahoy), I can’t help but be dissappointed.   To be honest, it first went wrong when I read the novelisation.  The idea of Vader having his own apprentice was interesting (especially since it was a direct contradiction of the rule of 2).   I liked the character of Proxy and the idea that Vader had an unwitting hand in starting the rebel alliance is interesting, although it does paint a picture that most of the would-be rebels (ok, Bail Organa has a good reason for wanting to keep his head down and Leia off of Vader’s radar) spent a fair chunk of the dark times not doing much to combat the Empire.   Of course, perhaps I should just take the events of the game as the first time the rebellion became official and overt.

Sadly what annoyed me were just some of the really odd bits.  The Star Destroyer sequence is probably being debated to death, so I’ll just say it struck me as too fanfic-y, but the whole issue of Starkiller’s death and rebirth is really left far too vague for something that’s actually quite a big plot point.  I mean, Vader stabs him right through the chest, smashes him off a few walls, and then spaces him.  Frankly, I’ve seen it both in the novel and the game, and I’m still unsure how he could’ve possibly survived.

As for the game itself, its deeply flawed.   As a Star Wars fan, I’m always going to get a good amount of enjoyment running around hacking up Storm Troopers with a lightsaber.  And there’s no doubt that the implementation of the force in this game is a lot of fun (pushing with the nunchuck etc).  I can’t wait to play the next-gen version in that aspect.

However, in other areas, the game is really let down.  Again, most of these are common complaints.  The camera’s awful.  If you’re mobbed by enemies (frequently the case), then the on-screen action becomes a hopeless jumble, and you’re frequently being shot from somewhere off-screen with no clear idea where.   In one-on-one boss fights, similarly, keeping track of the boss is difficult.

The basic gameplay is also another issue.  While offing Storm Troopers Jedi-style is a lot of fun for me, even I can’t fail to notice that the gameplay consists of running in a straight line, killing wave-after-wave of enemies.   There’s a definitely repetative feel to it.

Controlling the lightsaber with the wiimote I’ve also found a mixed bag.  I love the lightsaber noises coming from the wiimote’s speaker, but I frequently find myself flailing the wiimote around in the vague hope that whoever’s infront of me will die from it.   I don’t really feel in proper control of the onscreen action, and the idea of me investing in any of the “do a 3-hit combo then press C” type powers just seems laughable at the moment.    I remain unconvinced as to how good the Wiimote actually is in action games.

One plus however, is that the Wii version doesn’t contain the infamous (and previously mentioned) Star Destroyer sequence.   As well as pushing believability, its my understanding that its a hellishly frustrating and buggy part of the next-gen version of the game.  Glad I dodged that bullet at least.

I recently replayed Jedi Knight 2 on my PC and to be honest, it beat the pants off of this.   However, if they sort out the camera issues, and make the gameplay a lot less linear, The Force Unleashed 2 could be something pretty special.  As I say, the way they implemented the Force is fun, and I’m intrigued to see what the PC version ends up like.

As controversial as it is hotly-awaited, I picked up Spore the other weekend.

The latest game from Will Wright, it finds you guiding a new civilisation through all stages of its development, form the primordial ooze, through to its mastery of intergalactic travel.

Taken on their own merits, each of these five stages (cell, creature, tribal, civilization, space) could be viewed as a bit simplistic (although I’ve only just gotten onto the space stage, and my feeling is that its a very different, much more in-depth beast to the other four). However this is a game that’s more than the sum of its parts. While the gameplay might be simplistic in some regards, I’m not sure that’s where the focus is. Instead for me, its simplisity is part of the appeal, and guiding a creature up from being a single cell organism is incredibly satisfying, and really helps you bond with your creations.

A huge part of this game’s appeal is the level of customisation.  From the evolution of your creature in the cell and creature stages, to customising their buildings and vehicles in the civilisation and space ages, there’s a lot of fun to be had with the very flexible in-game editors.

I’ve only just started the space stage, but I’m really enjoying the game.  And there’s an added level of fun to be had knowing that the creatures inhabiting the game can be created by other players, all sharing their creations via the online Sporepedia.

The thing I find a real shame though, is that this otherwise great fun game is picking up a lot of negative publicity due to the draconian DRM restrictions EA have placed on the game.  Regular readers will know that I’m no fan of these kinds of methods, as they largely have no use, other than to punish those who’ve legitimately purchased the product.

In this case, Spore seems to be no exception.  While the box cover makes no mention of the fact, the story is that the game only allows you to install it 3 times.  After which you need to contact EA support to get the key reset to allow you to install it again.

This is frankly just rubbish.  I know I’ve got many games that I regularly uninstall, then reinstall to free up disc space for other things I’m wanting to play at that time.

According to Wikipedia, Spore is fast heading towards the honour of being the most bittorrented game ever.  Says a lot for the draconian DRM restrictions.  They’ve clearly not prevented the piracy of the game, so you have to wonder what the point was.  All its done is resulted in the game getting some really bad press.  Not to mention, you wonder how many of those downloaders would’ve bought the game legally, if not for those restrictions.

At the end of the day, its the devs I feel sorry for.  They’ve crafted a really fun game, only to see it crippled by the studio.

I’m a sucker for buying new games for my mobile phone, and so I was pleasantly surprised this week when I checked the New Games section, and found a G1 Transformers game available.

Its a cracking wee game. Its a turn-based strategy game, whereby you have to use your Autobot units to complete a set objective which could be capturing power stations, or freeing your comrades from a Decepticon prison cell. You’ll have different units based on G1 Autobots (Bumblebee, Ratchet, Metroplex, Optimus Prime and more), all of which have different stats for moving, combat etc.

I’ve been having great fun playing it. And the good news is that there’s a demo available online here.  If you’re interested, then check it out.

I picked up Assassin’s Creed the other day when I was in Zaavi killing time before my train.

I caught a gameplay trailer for it a while back and was intrigued, so its been sitting on my wishlist.

In the game you play the part of Desmond, a bartender who’s been kidnapped by a shadowy organisation and strapped into a scientific doodad which accesses his race memories. Told that his race memories contain a secret they’re after, he must relive the memories of his ancestor Altaïr, an Assassin during the third crusade until he unlocks that specific memory.

For me, the real fun of the game comes when you get into one of the main cities as Altaïr. The game takes the form of a sandbox, with you free to explore the city as you see fit. There’s a real free-running feel to the game, as you can scramble up walls and across rooftops to escape the marketplace crowds.

The developers have done a great job of building a real bustling atmosphere to the cities. The streets are largely cramped, and throughout them you can be pestered for money, hide amongst clerics, or help save innocent citizens being shaken down by the local guards. There’s a real feeling of immersion here.

I’m not the far into the game yet, but so far the main drag tends to be the scenes with Desmond. While there’s a good air of mystery as to what’s actually going on, I much prefer getting into the action as Altaïr and exploring a city. I’ve played through the first assassination in the city of Damascus so far, and it just felt like I was just getting a feel for the gameplay when suddenly I’d killed my target, and was being dragged back out again.

But despite this, I’m really enjoying this game so far. Definitely one worth checking out.

There’s been a lot of discussion regarding the advertising mechanism EA included in BF2142, however, overall I’ve found it to be pretty unobtrusive, and hadn’t really noticed any of the ads.

Until tonight. Pretty much every billboard in the game seems to have a Clone Wars poster splashed on it. Fortunately, it doesn’t bother me too much, but I imagine the EA Battlefield boards are melting down about now

Just been watching the trailer for the upcoming game Battlefield: Heroes

It looks like its going to be a lot of fun.   I imagine the Hardcore BF2 players are probably going to hate it, but it looks like it should be a good laugh for light players like me.

Its a pity that Battlefield: Bad Company has fallen victim to the console market.  No PC version for that one I see

Well, after some faffing around, I seem to have the Northern Strike issue sorted (there were only 3 servers running with patch 1.4).

Basically, I installed the game, then patch 1.4 (full, not incremental for all patches).

Then I installed Northern Strike, then patch 1.4 again.

Finally, I installed the full version of patch 1.5.

As I said, a faff, but so far it seems ok.   Fingers crossed the issue’s resolved.