Life is learning to traverse the difference between what we need and what we receive.
It’s the most wonderful time of the year, when I get to make arbitrary lists with my peculiar tastes and then years later some of you will make fun of me for them. Ah, the bonds we have. It’s amazing how today’s treasure is tomorrow’s trash. Sometimes I regret my own choices even as I type them, but I’m drunk with power, so what can you do.
Note: If you would like to skip the review, you can go straight to the “fun moments” section below. The review itself contains very few spoilers, and any such spoilers would be considered “minor.”
Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim opens with your character sitting in the back of a wagon. Your hands are tied and you’re with three other prisoners. One is the leader of the rebellion, one is a horse thief and one was caught crossing the border into Imperial territory. You can look around as your wagon rides into town and towards your execution. Your name isn’t on the prisoners list, but you’re a prisoner just the same and so sentenced to death. After one prisoner is beheaded, it’s your turn. My first real thought about Skyrim, other than “the scenery is pretty” or “I like the Nord guy” was “At least pull out that guy’s head from the basket before you behead me.” Clearly my character was not going to be beheaded, or Skyrim would be a very expensive three-minute non-interactive game. Fortunately for my character, a dragon attacks the town and does to it what my character in Fallout normally does to… well every town. Your life saved, your adventure begins. (more…)
Warning: The following is chock full of spoilers. Also, you’re welcome.
What do you get when you mix Speed, Independence Day, Blackhawk Down, and Navy SEALs with the writer of Dark Shadows? You get Battle: Los Angeles. By the way I never watched Dark Shadows but I assume it was melodramatic. There were probably more capes in that than there were in Battle: Los Angeles. And no, Battle: Los Angeles is not about Rage Against the Machine. It’s more like Rage Against the Machines. (more…)
Before I begin describing my experience getting to level 20 in Rift, I should offer some background information. The World of Warcraft is a fine game, and had it not been for personal reasons, I would have mostly fond memories of playing it. My issues with WoW have nothing to do with game design, Blizzard or any other attributes of the software or the players. I say all of this because Rift was clearly inspired by WoW and even Trion’s ad slogan for the game points to the fact that the game developer is trying to get a hold on the World of Warcraft audience. Unlike other recent MMOs, such as DC Universe, Final Fantasy or Star Trek Online, Rift is taking direct aim at the champ. So comparing Rift to WoW is a natural thing to do, and I believe Trion wants people to make the comparison. (more…)
The average age for video game players is well above 20. Many people of my generation grew up on Atari, the Commodore 64 and Colecovision. Some members of my generation have stuck with video games even after they became adults. I am a member of that group. Why? Because video games are not meant simply for children any more. The stories, events, actions and decisions are often geared towards an adult audience. (more…)
Bulletstorm is not going to win an award for writing. It’s not Shakespeare. It’s not even an episode of Full House. If you’ve ever opened up a plank of Bazooka gum and read the comic, whatever you read is probably higher on the Pulitzer Prize nominee list than Bulletstorm would be. And that, is the brilliance of Bulletstorm. (more…)
Note: The following review contains spoilers for those who have not played the original Dead Space. As a necessary aspect of relating the storyline in Dead Space 2 there are references to events in Dead Space. However I will try to avoid spoilers in regards to Dead Space 2.
“What do you mean I cannot move and shoot at the same time?” is a question I asked the other day while playing Resident Evil 5. I asked this because I’m not very familiar with the Resident Evil franchise, which is a good indication that I do not play a lot of survival horror games, because anyone that plays those, certainly plays the series that is considered by many to be the cream of the crop. Normally the genre does not appeal to me. There are a few oddball exceptions, but without those, I can dismiss them as easily as I avoid stealth games (never again Splinter Cell). (more…)
I was talking with coworkers about a new program at work that will save us time and effort (supposedly) and naturally that conversation ended with, “That’s what your next story should be about, unicorns killing your family.” Sadly that first sentence is 100 percent true. What you are about to read is the result of that story. It’s weird, and kind of dark. You’re welcome, I’m sorry, happy holidays, and this is dedicated to K and S. To paraphrase Mark Twain, if you’re looking for a plot in this, someone will shoot you. And now… “Unicorns Killed My Family.”
I woke up to the awful sound of metal scraping against ice and occasionally against cement. It was a klaxon to announce winter in Pennsylvania had arrived. Yesterday’s thaw had become the night’s rink and today’s sidewalk hazard. I propped myself up onto my elbows and craned my neck to see out of the foggy window. Long streaks of ice framed the bottom of the panes. I pressed my face closer only to find the weak rays of sun lighting up the black and brown snow banks lining the road. The world looked like topping on an old, forgotten coffee cake. (more…)
Welcome friends, travelers and botanical gardeners. I don’t know why the phrase “botanical gardeners” popped into my head, but I’m rolling with it. It’s time for me to pick my choices for the best things of the year and time for you to ignore them, or mock them come 2011 when it turns out what I picked wasn’t very good after all. (more…)
The presence of Orion in the sky, hockey on non-basic cable, the slew of jewelry ads, the Oscar-worthy movies and the shrinking daylight all mean one thing: the year is drawing to a close. Though we personally mark time by our birthdays, it’s the shared experience of getting ready to write a new year on our checks and buying a new calendar that causes us to reflect on the year that was. (more…)