Thursday, April 30, 2009

Stuff. And Junk

Well, I've been wallowing in a failed mire of inarticulate thoughts and miserable misanthropy. Maybe that means I should write something. Anything.

I don't care if it's a random collection, but I'm going to get into these things anyway. So, here goes.

Far Cry 2

I bought this game on the recommendation that it was gorgeous and had some excellent gun-play. It is and it does, and I love it for both. However, it's very much like another game that I played. To many, that might seem like an unfair comparison, but when one leads to flashbacks of the other, I think it only right.

That's not to say the game isn't good. Both games were unexpectedly fun, and believe you me, after a long day at work, there's few things I enjoy more than shoving a Carl Gustav round into the radiator of some south-African technical. That said, the dialogue at the beginning of the game is terrible. Unsympathetic characters lambast you with egregious run-on sentences in ham-fisted accents, tossing you from job to job with little richness or care. There are exceptions, indeed.

But for a large part, I found that myself, and most players like me, actively avoid doing missions so that we can enjoy the rich visual presentation without it being marred by verbal diarrhea.

Zeno Clash

I... really don't know where to start with this one. It is a video-game, yes. But it feels a lot like I've stepped into someone else's acid-dream, and now I'm expected to fight for survival.

For being a first-person fighting game, I took to it quite handily. I mean, I've always wanted to virtually bust someone's face in. There are firearms too. Though not in the sense that you'd think of in something like Far Cry 2 or Half-Life. All of the game's weapons seem to be a mish-mash of bolts, screws, and organic components such as horns, bones, spines, and sinew. Intriguing, to say the least.

The story is convoluted, but in this case, it gets clearer as time goes on. I wouldn't have minded if it had stayed a little vague. It would've suited the bizzare artwork of the world much better. Every region you visit has a distinctive artistic flavour, both visually and psychologically.

There's so much else about this game that I like, but I'm finding that I don't have the words for. Obviously it's short, which was kind of a heartbreak, but it was neatly done up and didn't pull any stupid cliffhangers (aside from the obvious one) like some other games we know.

Phase Two: Qosmio

This one isn't a video game. It's a laptop. It's phase two in my master plan, regarding launching my own business. I'm not even sure if I should still go ahead with it. But the demand is there, and so I should probably tap into it to make a bit of money.

Because I won't be getting a bike otherwise.

2 comments:

D. said...

you comparing Far Cry to Gun makes me want to give it another try...because I had so much fun with Gun back in the day, I just couldn't get into Far Cry though.

I probably would have had more fun with a mouse/keyboard, maybe I'll get it one day when it is cheap.

Zeno Clash is awesome though. Worth just looking at for its insane art style. I love that stuff.

Also, explain more about this laptop stuff. Also give me some of the profits.

Geoff said...

Well, I doubt there will be much profit. At least, not initially.

Anyway. I compare Far Cry 2 because it is a lot like Gun. I spoke to a guy who worked on Far Cry 2 and he was insulted that I made the comparison, but really, it's more of a complement.

I've sunk more than 20 hours into both games. Far Cry 2 was definitely the harder one to get into, largely thanks to its unforgiving moments. And malaria. Because malaria's just a hoot.

The laptop is one of these.

I'm using it as a portable photo station that I can also rig up to my printer. It's quite handy for showing customers their photos and letting them pick which they'd like before going off and printing them.

Also. It runs games like a hot damn.