Monday Report [July 7-13]

Wii Games
Wii Fit

1.5 hours

Bought this on Friday. So far have used it three days. I don't really have much to say about it. The quality of the balance board itself is good. It feels solid and sturdy. The "game" itself is well designed and has a pleasing aesthetic. I wanted to get it as a motivational tool to working out and tracking my weight. I don't have the time or money to spend on a gym membership, but I don't have the motivation by myself to research, design, and maintain a workout regimen. Hopefully Wii Fit will provide a source of direction and motivation as it tracks my progress.

PC Games
Beyond Good & Evil (via GameTap)

2.5 hours

The second assignment hasn't been posted yet. Although I figure that it will be somewhere after the second mission (the one in the Nutripils Factory). So I played some of the side-stuff, collected a few more pearls, and had the game crash every time I tried to go into something called "Vorax's Cave". I'll have to look into that. I'm part way into the mission, and taking my time to collect all the extra animals and pearls I can.

Flash Games
You Don't Know Jack, Episodes 78 & 79

7 minutes, each

This week brought back a personal favourite type of Jack moment. It's called the Bring Back. Or rather, the lead-in and follow-up. The full games did this sometimes, and The Netshow used it extensively. It's where it'll set something up, a joke or a clue to another question, and then follow through. Appropriately mocking if you failed to listen to the advice given. Monday's show was the lead-in and Friday's had the follow-up on the last question.


Totem Destroyer

30 minutes (complete)

This is a fun little physics game. You have to remove block from the (often unstable) towers while trying not to drop the golden idol on the ground. Challenging, but not too hard. I on;y got stuck on one level until I started to really pay attention to how the tower was swaying. The game's graphic design is simple and elegant, staying out of the way for the gameplay. the music also works nicely with the theme and doesn't manage to get too annoying. I'd recommend playing through. Also, the game has achievements. While some of these are just for filler (play for X amount of time) some do provide a sense of fulfillment.

Open Doors

30 minutes (incomplete)

This is an interesting game about movement. Draw as a blueprint, this game has you moving around a grid trying to get to the exit space. Doors are in your way, and are designed to only operate in certain directions. You can push doors open only certain ways and passing through an open door will close it behind you. I'm pretty sure that I was playing mostly on intuition. Eventually I got stuck and frustrated, maybe you can do better.

Real Games
Arkham Horror

About 3 hours

If you play board games at all seriously, there is a good chance you have heard of Fantasy Flight Games. They make the World of Warcraft, StarCraft, and upcoming Gears of War board games. They make games with ridiculous numbers of pieces and whole buckets full of miniatures. Arkham Horror is based on Call of Cthulhu, and the whole Lovecraft Mythos in general. Played over several hours, the game is a cooperative effort as the investigators (from 1 to 8 players) try to stop a Great Old One from awakening and killing them (and everyone else). This is not an easy game. Lots of bad things can happen, and you only have a short time to stop it.

This was my first time playing it, and I had a blast. There were four of us, and only one (the game owner) had actually played before. Fortunately the rest of us were familiar with many of the game conventions used in Arkham Horror, so we were able to pick it up easily. Part RPG, part miniature-style combat, and part open-path board game; you pick a character, get some stuff, and start wandering Arkham trying to close gates to other dimensions and killing (or evading) the monsters that emerge from them.

We all died. We were unable to seal any of the gates and prevent them from re-opening. This meant that we were constantly moving towards awakening the Old One and our doom. He woke up and promptly devoured us all. It is the most fun I've ever had losing a game. It's not like you go in expecting to come out whole: it is a Cthulhu game after all. I can't wait to play this again (maybe with expansions) and I hope to get it for myself.

Game Club - BG&E Discussion 1

I mentioned in the Monday Report that I'd try to post something about my thoughts during and after playing the first assignment. You can go and view live discussion that Kotaku had (link). I didn't get a chance to participate but I have a few thoughts of my own.

The game starts off by throwing you into an action sequence. I found this interesting for two reasons: it doesn't spend a lot of time on exposition, and fighting is only a minor mechanic. It is wonderful to have a game that doen't give a lot of lead in. With many games providing near half-hour intros it is refreshing to be button mashing right from the start. This initial fight sequence also serves as the fighting tutorial. The action doesn't stop, but you are given pointers and are forced to use your charge-and-hold attack to defeat the mini-boss. Extraordinarily this works: combat is simple button mashing with dodging, and the sequence introduces emotional stakes (saving the kids) and character relationships (Pey'j).

As for the combat not being a major mechanic, I like it. Combat is context sensitive, and relatively easy to handle. Only a few moves are possible (attack, charge attack, and paired attack). With dodging, this gives you three buttons to manage, and keeps much of the combat context sensitive. Which is good, because having to manage too much with the clunkiness of the camera would have made the fighting parts eye-stabbingly. Besides, I'd rather explore, snap photos, and find out what is really going on than have to wade through endless baddies.

That's the other thing that the intro allows for: coming to your own conclusions. Initially there are the Alpha Sections, the protectors (who Pey'j shows some antipathy towards), the DomZ (the bad guys), and the IRIS network, portrayed as the subversive group. Everyone is using propaganda.

Actually, I don't even know who to trust. The story quickly heads in the direction of the good guys being not-so-pure, while the underground is trying to reveal the truth. I can see that, although it feels like it is too obvious, and certainly cliché. There is something up with the Alpha Sections, and the totalitarian overtones of their protections don't sit well at all. They obviously have the major media in their pockets too, as all the broadcasts are controlled by their spin.

However, the IRIS network doesn't sit well with me either. Underground networks that depend on secrecy to survive tend to have dark secrets. I've played ahead a bit more since Monday and I dislike the amount of counter-propaganda that seems to be coming from them. I'm worried that any info I send to them is going to come out skewed.

And I still don't know anything about the DomZ. The Alpha Sections claim that this is a war, and the DomZ are attacking us. There has been no indication of motive, so I don't know why. The IRIS claim that the Alpha's are in league with the DomZ, but they give no reason. I have yet to see any sentience, or intelligence, surrounding the DomZ attacks. I've fought monsters, but nothing that seemed more than beast. Even the attacks seem off, coming from some sort of portal in the sky. Nothing adds up and no one seems to have any motive. This appears to be a war, but it feels more like a distraction.

So, one mission in and I'm confused. I don't know who to believe, and no one is giving me anything but the party line. Even Pey'j is being cryptic. He knows that there is more going on than meets the eye, and he doesn't want me involved. I keep wondering what he knows that he isn't telling me.

Worth a Thousand Words
The picture taking mechanics do wonders for the game. It acts as an exploration tool, a collection too, a way to provide currency and upgrades, it provides maps to locations, and it works as character motivation. The pictures tell the truth of what is happening, and through your camera you can find out what is going on, and tell people.

My favourite part so far has been wandering the areas and trying to spot all the animals. The locations are detailed, and all the life feels organic. Nothing feels forced or out of place.

Pictures can also be misleading. I learned this at the end of the Black Isle Mines. You take the picture of the mating pair of creatures that you have been sent to find. Then you learn that it's really just one creature. The picture tells a different story than the truth. Trying to capture everything through the lens will be harder than it seems, I think.

Week One Final Thoughts
I like the game. There are a few quibbles with the camera and the controls (usually related to when the camera becomes fixed), but most of that can be overlooked. The combat is simple, and has stayed out of the way most of the time. The rest of the game feels good and has certainly done a lot in the first mission to make me think about the characters, and about everything that hasn't been said. I want to find the truth, but I really have no idea who, if anyone, has it.

Monday Report [July 1-6]

PC Games
Beyond Good & Evil (GameTap)

2.5 Hours

Played the first section needed for the Game Club. I forgot how relaxed this game is, or at least starts. There are action-y sections, and the hovercraft races for those adrenaline moments. Mostly it's just exploring interesting locations, and taking pictures of the wildlife. This goes well for me because I like to take my time and methodically explore everywhere I can. The map works well for this, showing you where you haven't been by shading it slightly. The controls for the fighting are pretty simple, and let you (mostly) just button mash for some butt-kicking action. I'll post some more thoughts tomorrow.

Flash Games
You Don't Know Jack, Episodes 75, 76, and 77

7 minutes each

Had to play a bit of catch-up. Did pretty well on all three.

Game Club: Beyond Good & Evil

Brian Crecente at Kotaku has (re)started a Game Club. Much like a book club where everyone reads a book, a section at a time, and gathers to discuss it. Only for, you know, video games. This month he's kicking it off with the under-appreciated UbiSoft platformer Beyond Good & Evil. Truth be told, I'm interested.

Details and rules can be found here [Link]. The goal is to have the Black Isle Mines section completed by Monday's discussion. Don't play ahead.



I actually started playing the game sometime mid-last year. I got past the first couple of sections and then got trampled by number of other Real Life things. I think that I'm going to make some time to play along with the Game Club, as I'd really like to be able to see more of the game.



As he's posted, the game is available on Xbox (not backwards compatible), PS2, GameCube, and PC (via Steam or GameTap). I'll be playing through GameTap.



I don't know if I'll be able to take part in the discussion times, but I'll try to post my impressions and any comments and responses to the recorded discussions that I can think of. If you'd like to join in some smaller-scale discussion with me, just drop me a line.