Kaz Archive

Welcome to America: Land of the free and home of the First-Person Shooter. Let’s face it – if you’re an American gamer, you’ve probably played an FPS in your life. You know the deal, grab the gun, go for the headshot, lob the grenade, “Terrorists Win!” At a rudimentary level, the genre seems crude, overly-violent, and twitch-heavy. These are “gun games” made for “gun fans.” Is it really a surprise that we see so many shooters like this, especially living in a country where you can buy a gun at Walmart?

As someone who doesn’t play a lot of FPS (I’m pretty awful at Halo, and haven’t owned one since Goldeneye), I’m kind of sick of seeing one mindless shooter after another being crapped out of western game studios. The angsty inner teenager within me’s“why should I care?” attitude was quickly taking over my thought process. Then a little game called The Orange Box (you might have heard of it by now) came out, and for the first time ever I stepped into City 17.

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2007 was the year of games that you start playing casually and end playing like a cocaine addict. Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare was no exception.

I spent a good part of the summer addicted to the beta of the online component, in spite of the fact that I would have to do it all over again when the game came out proper. Surprisingly the part of the game I thought I would play the least of is the part I could not put down.

The single player story gripped my attention for three days the way the multiplayer had when I first downloaded the beta. The campaign did all the things you’ve read in reviews elsewhere–it was immersing, intense, vividly realistic at times and didn’t lose momentum from start to finish. What was most impressive about the game is it was the first shooter in a while where I’ve felt for the characters in your squad. Something about the representation of soldiers felt more real in this game than in any game prior.

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At first I thought the title of the game was a utilitarian way of describing the game as a rudimentary dual stick shooter that was made for the working man.

After playing it, however, the title appears to be creator Jonathan Mak’s way of telling everyone he does drugs every damn day.

He describes this “game” as an album of games that examines “the expressive power of abstract shooters.” Which isn’t helping his case; were you to play his game and have him standing behind you as you groove to the abstract guitar noises and tell you about the expressive powers the game had…you would most certainly know he was on heroin.

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Note: I experienced all Half Life 2 and Orange Box titles via a gaming PC and Steam. Opinions may vary based on the quality of the version being played.

The first reason that I would list for wanting to purchase The Orange Box is the last component I ended up playing. I went after Portal almost immediately, in spite of the game being an afterthought in the package. Then I transitioned to Team Fortress 2 having played a lot of the beta on my steam preorder. Finally I got around to cracking into Episode 2.

As a testament to its fantastic quality I beat the game in two sittings. For my own record I refer to these parts by two different names: Part 1, “The really good part” and Part 2, “The effing mind-blowing portion”. No amount of telling myself to stand up and walk away from the monitor could tear me away. Especially once I had gotten into the really effing mind-blowing portions.

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Warning: Some people may consider seeing screens of a puzzle game spoilers, I do not think this simple puzzle ruins anything, but if you are spoiler sensitive then you might want to play Portal before you read this review.

How do you get that box onto the switch in the center of the room? With Portals of course!

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Pretentious use of punctuation in a game title aside, I can’t stress enough how much skate. made me smile while playing.

Somewhere between the 10th and 30th time I tried to nail a certain trick off a ledge onto a rail the game did cease to be fun in a traditional sense. But fun in a strangely satisfying way. Hitting a spectacular trick wasn’t common like it is in Tony Hawk, wherein you routinely bust out crazy tricks jumping a 200 ft. gap between buildings, but instead a rarity that seemed to be reward all it’s own.

I stopped trying to beat the “story” mode on several occasions and began idly skating around Vanelona looking for interesting ways to test my skill and the game’s limits. It wasn’t until much later in the game when you unlock the mega ramps that the realism of the game breaks down, until then I found myself trying to constantly test the game for when I would see a sign of the old Tony Hawk style automated gameplay.

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10:30am Tuesday, August 21.: Recieved Limited Edition Bioshock from local Gamestop.

10:43am: Tore open package to get a gooey gamey goodness inside, immediately used EP soundtrack for Tuesday’s podcast. Moby is on the soundtrack. Why?

10:59am: Looked at included big daddy figurine while uploading podcast, upon inspecting the feet I noticed a “Made in China” sticker. Fear of poisoning on the rise. Note to self: don’t lick big daddy…

11:13am: Began playing Bioshock

5:00pm Wednesday, August 22: Finished single player campaign of Bioshock.

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Pac-Man CE is the best version of Pac-Man out there right now.

Okay, admittedly, to most young gamers that doesn’t mean much. It should.

I fondly recall playing Ms. Pac-Man in my orthodontists’ waiting room while my sister was being tortured. Whether or not I fondly recall the game specifically is uncertain. At any rate, you can feel the charm of the original arcade Pac-Man titles in the new XBLA download. This is probably due to the fact that the original creator of the series, Toru Iwatani, was involved in making this new version.

High score addiction has made a triumphant return as of late. Games like Geometry Wars RE and virtual console titles have brought back the spirit of the late eighties early nineties gaming culture. The new Pac-Man surely stokes this fire. Getting the all important high score is making a comeback. I’m even competing with Justin on Pac-Man CE, I’m gonna beat his high score and then he’ll beat mine and we’ll both get better.

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I hate simulation racing games. I hate them with a passion. When you race in a game you should leave the acceleration button firmly smashed into the controller and the developer shouldn’t even include a brake. The ideal track has gentle bends in it and has multiple jumps, speed boosts and, if possible, a point at which the track goes upside down. The last time I accidentally purchased a sim racer was Gran Turismo 3: A-Spec. That said; I love Forza Motorsport 2.

Somehow, between the time I played GT3 and now, I’ve developed a love of boring games. I enjoy fiddling with sliders in menus. I love laboring over color scheme decisions. I love comparing horsepower and torque curves.

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