Journal

Bioshock 2 -> Review

Adam Standing — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 20:29:09 +0000

Originally posted on Game People.

Bioshock 2's essence feels somehow diluted by returning such a hallowed location. Although the atmosphere and environments conjure up the same rich experience, the story and revelations regarding Rapture's continued demise were not nearly as powerful as they could have been.

The most fascinating part of the original Bioshock for me was the journey through Rapture. The slow descent into this failed utopia, unearthing its brave vision and ultimate destruction, went hand in hand with the discovery of your own characters history and purpose.

The real star was Rapture itself and not the compelling personalities of Andrew Ryan, Frank Fontaine and Sander Cohen. In this sequel I found neither the new parts of the city or the characters sufficiently interesting enough to hold my attention.

Endless Ocean 2 -> Review

Adam Standing — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 19:58:00 +0000

Originally posted on Game People.

Endless Ocean 2: Adventures of the Deep brings a gentle and calming underwater adventure to the living room that, in spite of the Wii's awkward motion controls, succeeds in transporting you to a serene world.

Mass Effect 2 -> Review

Adam Standing — Tue, 16 Feb 2010 09:20:58 +0000

Originally posted on Game People.

Mass Effect 2 is one of the greatest video games that I have ever played. The subtle links to the first game, the standard of character writing and the universe detail gave me an experience I quite literally fell in love with.

What's more, recruiting old and new crew-members and the development of these characters made the journey of my Commander Shepard all the more special. I felt like I was interacting with proper people and meant the final act of the game was a brutal roller-coaster that left me drained and exhausted.

Dark Void -> Review

Adam Standing — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 19:10:00 +0000

Originally posted on Game People.

...There's a moment in Dark Void when the mythos of the Void world, the history of the Bermuda Triangle and the shadow of World War Two come together and create a brief instant of epic storytelling. Unfortunately, that fleeting moment is buried under generic gameplay and a lurching narrative that led towards an unsatisfying and disappointing end.

Bayonetta -> Review

Adam Standing — Wed, 20 Jan 2010 20:15:00 +0000

Originally posted on Game People.

...As a result each boss fight that concludes a chapter has a pace and pleasure that’s akin to another stage in the process to a world-ending sexual climax; Each fight has its own stimulating ending but each minor encounter becomes a tease, a deliberate delay to the ultimate climatic conclusion that leaves you breathless with pleasure.

Does this sound fanciful? The kind of fantasy that's 'typically Japanese' and 'bat-s*** crazy'? That would be a clichéd and lazy appraisal of a game that doesn't just pour insanity around merely for the sake of its own visual effect. The world of Bayonetta is fantastical, like the inside of Terry Gilliam's head, but it makes sense within its own extraordinary boundaries.

Explaining my hatred for Darksiders

Adam Standing — Wed, 20 Jan 2010 11:45:26 +0000

Over the past few years I've noticed, along with other old-man stuff, that I've grown increasingly more intolerant towards certain mechanics or designs that games use. It started with the tendency of Halo games to make you replay a level backwards or put you through ever-increasing waves of enemies - for no reason other than to lengthen the experience of the game. Back-tracking is one of my pet hates and I feel it’s a hangover from ages past - a dinosaur of design that should be put in its coffin and buried six feet under.

Fallen Earth -> Review

Adam Standing — Tue, 12 Jan 2010 15:03:13 +0000

Taking a familiar setting and building a compelling world around it is just one of Fallen Earth’s many successes. I was blown away by the depth and attention to detail this post-apocalyptic MMO portrayed and the manner with which I was drawn into its world. For a long time I have argued that online games cannot give a deep and meaningful experience due to their very nature - but there’s more heart and soul here than in many other recent games. Whether I was delving deep into the crafting system, following the story or simply taking in the haunting environments, Fallen Earth took me on a journey into a world I’ll never forget.

Aion: Tower of Eternity -> Review

Adam Standing — Thu, 07 Jan 2010 21:11:34 +0000

With the promise of a visually beautiful online experience and the unique ability of flight enticing me into its world, Aion: Tower of Eternity looked like it could be the MMORPG to bring me back into the fold after a two year absence. Unfortunately the excruciating banality of the first 25 levels meant that any promise of uniqueness was crushed under exasperation and boredom.

Adventures in Aion - Easier to pull teeth

Adam Standing — Wed, 30 Dec 2009 15:06:22 +0000

When I first dived into Aion I had hoped to keep a journal of my time there to best explain its world and the mechanics behind its operation. I'd also hoped, above all things, that Aion would actually be a good game. Sadly both of those hopes of mine turned out to be false as Aion is anything but a good game and writing about dull and boring experiences would be just as boring as every moment I spent in the game.

Twenty five hours of my life I put into the MMO and it's hard for me to be anything but negative about my experience with it. I will say that the visual quality of the game is exemplary and the vibrant colours it brings to the screen certainly give it a unique style that helps to cover the poor gameplay. But that gameplay is woeful and the thought of logging back into the world makes me shiver in repulsion.

Aion takes all the systems, all the mechanics and all the structure I despise so much about the MMO genre and happily presents them as if I'm to expect and enjoy such things. The opening areas for both races are structurally identical and the grinding procedure is so painfully obvious that I wondered if the game was missing some part of the front-end to conceal its dull inner workings.

I'll save my specific complaints for the imminent review, but Aion fails because the first 25 levels are so excruciatingly dull that I couldn't care less about the world, characters or poorly executed narrative that held it all together.

The winged combat and the thrill of getting wings at an early stage was quickly shut down by the game's needless constrictions. It doesn't do anything remotely interesting with the unique aspects it has and lacks the finesse I was expecting and hoping an Asian MMO would deliver. Even the free to play MMOs of Shin Megami Tensei or Free Realms offer a much more coherent experience in their less-than-stellar looking worlds.

This experience showed me that I was right to stop playing MMos two years ago and I can only hope that Fallen Earth, my next review project, will offer something different to take the sour taste of Aion out of my mouth.

Adventures in Aion - Breaking my 2-year MMO absence

Adam Standing — Mon, 21 Dec 2009 22:47:42 +0000

Returning to MMO games after an enforced two year absence was something I never intended to do. But the ethereal nature of Aion and its Eastern aesthetics initially sold me on breaking my silent vow never to log back into a game after Lord of the Rings Online.

Yes, Lord of the Rings Online and not World of Warcraft. If there's any snobbery I have with videogames and fantasy settings then it’s how British they do (or don’t) feel - Turbine did such an excellent job with Lotro that I couldn’t stomach the more American-influenced nature of WoW.

This is what drew me to Aion in the first instance – the way it would be different from both of those games in its setting and environment. It seemed from the marketing that its Eastern roots would give the game an exotic air, reminiscent of Guild Wars and I hoped that this would mean Aion was something unique with a richness and individuality of its own.

My thoughts so far aren't that positive though. Bear in mind that I have barely begun to get out of the starting area and I'm well aware that I've barely begun to scratch the surface of this game. That being said it's pretty clear that the starting area in Aion is a very traditional take on the genre. Most of the quests are simple fetch or carry variations with a large amount of rat-killing strewn in-between to assist with the levelling up of my character. The way the game presents its story and the environmental minutiae feels really generic at this stage and I have to confess that I wasn't disappointed to log out of the game at the end of the night - coming across the Ent-like beings in the started forest were a bit of a breaking point for me.

It's slightly disheartening as the immediate premise of Aion, with its light and dark sides and the Abyss in-between them, sounded great before I started playing. Part of my problem has to be the baggage I carry over from Lotro and once I get over this maybe I'll find Aion opening out into its own unique experience. At the moment though, Aion simply doesn't have a rich heritage or a sufficiently interesting back-story to hold my interest even though the stunning visuals and verdant landscapes are pretty impressive.

Despite my negativity I'm still looking forward to seeing what lies ahead in Aion (honest!). The promise of wings and the aerial combat is still something I'm very eager to see and get firsthand experience of - as long as I keep my finger away from reactivating my Lotro account I'm sure I'll be fine.