Mad Max

MAX MAX

So, I haven't written in a while.  

         I had planned to keep up at least mildly with posts on the games I was completing as I was completing them.  But work and other projects, not to mention actually playing the games got in the way.  I was looking forward to writing about the games right after I had finished them, while they were still fresh in my mind and the emotions were still running strong alas FarCry 4 was the only one to receive that treatment.  Even then, I lost my first post and ended up rewriting it weeks later without the original fervor involved.

         However, I recently completed the newly released movie tie-in game Mad Max for the PS4, borrowed from a friend at work.  (No game purchases this year, remember?)  In finishing this game I was left with that feeling; that feeling you get when finishing a great book or completing a tv series.  The story is over and reality comes crashing back, leaving you thinking about the world you delved into the past few weeks, months or years.  Writing about it seems like the best way to expunge that overflow of feeling out of my system.

         You see; Max Mad was, for me, was one of the most engrossing games I've played since Far Cry 4.  (Ok, that wasn't that long ago, but I digress.)  I love cars, I love driving, but so few games that aren't of the racing genre focus on cars so well.  Grand Theft Auto comes close, and so did Saboteur; but the cars feel so disposable in those games.  In Mad Max your car is yours and it's as much of an important part of the story and the gameplay as Max himself.  Even though Max may not seem connected to anything or anyone, the Blackfinger Hunchback who fights alongside you the whole game makes it clear that your Magnum Opus is a beloved and dear soul who deserves nothing but to burn guzzoline and pave your way to Valhalla.

       And so, after weeks of me playing the game's side quests, driving around every element of the dune covered freeways and flame spouting encampments I started to realize there was a story being pushed alongside all of this.  It comes up quick near the last portion of the game but when it hits it hits hard.  Suddenly Max has more going on than just trying to get revenge for a stolen car, more than just trying to drive away from his memories of the past.  The unfortunate part is that although it was written quite well, it used some standard gaming tropes.

**spoilers beyond**

      You see, although it doesn't ruin the game for me, the use of the Women in Refrigerators trope which is a common use of the death of a women/girlfriend/wife in order to progress the main character's storyline.  Here, when Max meets a girl, starts begrudgingly helping her out and eventually rescuing her daughter; I thought for sure they were going somewhere with some writing that involved more than just Max killing his way to silence the voices in his head.  Now don't get me wrong, some of the characters near the end, the acting and the writing is amazing and I loved it.  But when Hope and Grace are murdered in what seems like an attempt to just fuel Max's revenge even further, it worked, but felt like cheap writing at this day and age.

     Nevertheless, the emotion in the final chase and the murderous rage in Max's eyes felt real and Mad Max's ending felt like a real one.  Solid and without a push for a sequel.


      In fact, in writing and thinking about the ending I realized something.  In the end, you 'sacrifice' your car, your Magnum Opus as the blackfinger hunchback (Chumbucket) calls it, in order to drive Scrotus (the final enemy) off a cliff.  Chum is distraught, the Opus is his life's work and in his mind his partner, his wife.  In a sense, since the car is almost as big a character in the game as Max, the Opus made the ultimate sacrifice and Chum couldn't take it.  He refuses to leave the car and follows it to their ultimate death.  The Opus and Chum were almost written better than Max and Hope, not to mention less mysogynistically.  In their story, the girl sacrifices herself to save the land and refuses to leave her.

    Anyway.  That was somewhat of a rant, but I had to get all my thoughts out on paper, as it were.   It just goes to show you that a game is more than just that anymore.  They are thought provoking and push your imagination, not to mention your feelings.

   By the way, if it wasn't clear, Play this game.  It's extremely enjoyable.  And for a full set of screencaps check here

Far Cry 4

FARCRY 4  

    For two weeks I immersed myself in the gloriously beautiful and dangerous world of Ubisoft's fictional Himalayan country Kyrat.  Not initially on my list, but since it's release late 2014 I presumed I was going to end up playing it sooner or later in the year; what with my love for the previous two installments.  As it turned out I got it as a Christmas gift and so low-and-behold it was a game I immediately set into my new PS4's disc slot and marched forward unto.

        From the moment I first took control of Ajay Ghale I realized Ubisoft had managed still to perfect a game that was, as far as I was previously concerned, already perfected.  Not only is the game beautiful beyond belief, providing screen captures of photographic quality; but the story and it's characters are actually worth investing in.  Which is a real step up from the previous games where the protagonist wasn't really that great of a human being.  Instead, each decision you make in the game reflects itself.  When you're sent to kill someone and you sit for a second and think, 'Is my gun the only solution in this game?  What's the need to kill this person?'  You soon realize you simply don't have to.  Spoiler alert, but the ending allows you to stop, not shoot the main antagonist and instead listen to his words of wisdom.  How much of the killing you've done along the way mirrors his own and then allow him to fly off because "I've given you Kyrat, but I'm keeping the helicopter!"

      Far Cry is the kind of game that appeals to me over and over in a way I find hard to explain.  I never tire of exploring the geography, collecting new weapons and finding newer and smarter way to take over enemy bases.  Far Cry 4 adds the benefit of being even more polished than ever before and for those who've enjoyed the previous installments but have yet to try this one, there is no better time than now.  I could go on for a while about all the minutia the world of Kyrat and it's story; about how you assist in the rebel uprising against a self-appointed king who is both mad and brilliant at the same time.  Not to mention, offers some of the best lines of dialog througout the way.

     All I can say is this game is brilliant.  I love it from so many angles and I will make sure to make time for it again sooner than later.  In the meantime, I suggest you all take a peak at my gallery of screenshots from this game.  In case you aren't convinced of it's beauty.

Six Months in..

So as it stands,  I should have been posting regularly about each game as I've gone through them.  Each day I told myself I'd do it.  Then I told myself I'd spend a week or so posting about each game.  Now half the year is gone and I've done none of that.

     However, so far as the project of completing a list of games goes, I've certainly chewed through quite a few.  At about 26 games set to play, I've gone through 12.  So almost half.  The only kicker is that a few of these games were not on my list.  Games that I figured I'd probably end up playing, but the goal was not to purchase any new games.  The games I did add to the list were given as gifts, or purchased on the cheap.  Either way, I've been doing a lot more playing and a lot less buying.  Which was the goal, right?

   Well, the goal was more or less to play the stockpile of unplayed games I owned before moving onto new ones.  Nevertheless..

I do plan on making some posts on each one.  And for those interested, since the start of the year I've powered through the following:

FarCry 4 (PS4)
Need for Speed:  Rivals (PS4)
Ico (PS3)
Red Dead Redemption (Xbox 360)
Uncharted 3 (PS3)
Tomb Raider (PS4)
Borderlands 2 (PC)
Brothers (Xbox 360)
Grim Fandango (Re-release on PS4)
Lara Croft and the Temple of Osiris (PS4)
The Order: 1886 (PS4)
Metal Gear Solid: Ground Zeroes (PS4)

     I'm currently playing through both Assassin's Creed Blackflag on the PS4 and Psychonauts on the PC, but I've been stalled a bit since I recently grabbed Starcraft II on the cheap as well as started giving Heroes of the Storm a try.
 
     Nevertheless.  Plan to see a few posts from me regarding the prior listed games.  Most all of which I loved.  Especially Borderlands 2, which was a real surprise for me since I was bleh about part 1.

So far, so not-so-great..

A Slow Start


      For those interested in my second project, you'll be interested to know that it's off to a slow start.  Of the list I mentioned earlier, of which two games I should have completed by now, I have touched none.  Now, part of this is that I picked up some side work which has kept be busy.  The other part of this is that I put two weeks into FarCry 4, which I knew was going to end up on that list one way or another, so long as I didn't purchase it myself.

   Beyond that, two weeks I spend playing Need For Speed Rivals and Grim Fandango instead of games on my list since I just couldn't decide which game on the list to start with.

    Partly because my PC is dedicated to work right now and is not a comfortable gaming machine.

  So I'm going to put it to a vote, for whomever reads this, which game should I start first?  I'm going to pick a few and go with what gets the popular reaction.

   From the list:

  Psychonauts

  Tomb Raider (2013 reboot)

  Ico

  Red Dead Redemption

  Uncharted 3

  Killzone 3


  Popular choice wins, the above is a random mix from the 90s to recent.  I've also wrote a big post on FarCry 4, which I adored but the post got deleted somehow.  So I have to redo that, sadly.

  In the meantime, I'm going to play the crap out of the Grim Fandango HD remake which I highly recommend.

A New Year a New Project?

A New Year a New Project?

      

        As the year drew to an end, I began to consider whether or not to continue my blog.  And if so, in what form?  365 games seemed like a feat to most and I certainly haven't played 730 games in order to continue another year.  (At least, I don't think I have.)  But I also didn't want to stop this project flat.  I'm certainly not going to spam everyone's Facebook for another year of posts, (I know it's not for everyone.) but I would like to continue posting every week or so.  

      As I've told a few people this year I have a 'gaming plan'.  Over the past few years I've collected, both physically and digitally, a number of games I planned to play but have yet to do so.  This list has grown quite a bit and I really felt the need to play these games before buying any new ones.  No matter how enticing it is when a new title is released, or I discover an older game I didn't know about.  This list is upwards of fifty titles, some of which are small indie game and some of which are massive AAA titles.  I decided to prioritize particular titles and quelled it down to about 26 games, at that number I can dedicate roughly two weeks of spare time to each game and finish within a year.  I know that some new titles will pop up here and there and my plan is far from exact, but I'm excited to go through and pare down this list until I've finally played all these new and old games that I've continued to set aside.  In some cases for almost 10 years.  

THE LIST:

Tomb Raider (2012 reboot)

Beyond: Two Souls

Remember Me

Deadlight

Assassin's Creed 3

Assassin’s Creed 4

Psyconauts

Trenched

Dragon Age

Borderlands 2

Red Dead Redemption

Assassin’s Creed 3

Fear 3

Uncharted 3

Killzone 3

Max Payne 3

Metro Last Light

Torchlight II

Telltale's Sam and Max

Tomb Raider Anniversary

Gone Home

Spec Ops: The Line

Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic 1

Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic 2

Ico 

Silent Hill: Downpour

Bioshock Infinite: Burial at Sea DLC

Chronicals of Riddick: Escape from Dark Athena

Brothers

Earthbound

Child of Light

Valkyrie Chronicles

    So this is my Year in Gaming 2015.  Some of these I've already started, a couple of these I still need to purchase and I know a few will be added in.  But I will most likely be blogging about each title as I make my way through it here and there.  Nothing major, and input about games to add and other things are more than welcome.

   Thanks to all who commented and rallied me on this past year and sorry to those whom I spammed on Facebook!

DAY 365 / GAME 365 Mass Effect 3

DAY 365 / GAME 365

Mass Effect 3

      Three-hundred-and-sixty-five games later and I still haven't covered all the great games I've played.  But I certainly covered the vast majority of them.  Some games I didn't feel I played enough of to warrant a post and some games were sequels so close to the originals that they didn't need to be written about.  Nevertheless, the 365th and final game of the year is the final piece to a trilogy of games who's characters are as close to me as some of the best novels I've read and the best movies I've enjoyed.  Mass Effect 3 was the ending to one of my all time favourite pieces of sci-fi fiction I've ever played.

        A trilogy of games that spanned a five year release date, Mass Effect, from Canadian developer BioWare, is a series that has touched a huge audience.  An inventive sci-fi third-person RPG shooter, it's gameplay allowed you to developed relationships with characters across space in an attempt to end what is revealed to be the cyclic demolition of the universe as we know it.  As this massive war, full of in-fighting amongst races, your crew helps band together all intelligent life from the great to the small in what culminates in a last stand against the Reapers.

      By the end of this journey, you've met and hopefully made a difference in a number of different characters.  All from different backgrounds, with different hopes and dreams, beliefs and pasts.  BioWare wrote these characters with depth; you aren't meant to like all of them, or hate all of them.  When you make you decisions they become less logical and more heartfelt as you progress through the game.  At least, if you played it anything like I did, which sounds like the consensus amongst gamers.

    Mass Effect 3 is like so many other great titles in that I could sit here and write about it for hours.  But at this point I'm sure you've either heard it from me or someone else, it's simply a fantastic series and an amazing game.  It's visually stunning, has an incredible score and with the right sound system, incredible audio cues.  The writing is top-notch and the gameplay is both engaging and solid.  Mass Effect is a series I do plan to play through from the start again soon, just to enjoy it all over again.

    

    That's it.  I've covered a full 365 different games from the day I started playing games to as recently as yesterday.  This are 365 games that I honestly enjoyed and many of them I still own or have re-purchased while writing this blog.  There are many more games I could discuss and there are many more I plan to play.  In fact, next year is the year where I play what I own, and don't buy anything new.  That will be over 30 games.  Quite a feat.
    Shortly after this post, I'll post a summary.  Kind of an addendum, covering what didn't make it in, and what I plan on doing for next year.  I'll also try to post a little infographic on which games were covered this year.  Until then, thanks for sticking with me for this project, it was one of the bigger things I've completed.

DAY 364 / GAME 364 Never Alone

DAY 364 / GAME 364

Never Alone

      Never Alone, or Kisima Innitchuna  is a real first in gaming.  At least, so far as I am aware.  I stumbled across Never Alone while browsing games on the Humble online store and happened across it on it's release day.  (Just about a month ago.)  I was attracted to this game instantly for it's beautiful visuals, but was especially excited for what it offered alongside.  

        Never Alone isn't simply a game; it's a game combined with a documentary alongside a story from ancient Inuit folklore.  You see, Never Alone was created by a small team of Inupiat Inuit from Northern Alaska in association with an American publisher.  Based on Inupiat artwork, scrimshaw and tales from tribal elders; Never Alone represents one of the few games which is a game first and yet is equally informative.  I guess you could compare it to Assassin's Creed 2, where you can read up on any major piece of architecture as you wander renaissance Italy.  But Italy isn't so hidden away from us as the Inuit are.

      As you progress through Never Alone, you follow the story of a young girl who gets lost trying to find the cause of a blizzard which is burdening the village.  She quickly gets lost, but is guided by a snowy arctic fox.  At this point you can switch between either character and often need to in order to complete most puzzles.  Likewise, each character can be controlled individually if you have two controllers (and players.)  As you make your way through the game, you unlock short pieces of video which form a much larger documentary.  Exploring everything from the history of the Inupiat people, to their involvement in the game, their culture, survival in the harsh wilderness and their connection with the world around them.  

      There's so much to enjoy about Never Alone.  The Inuit perspective is unique and refreshing, (Though not too indifferent from other native american cultures.)  the artwork is beautiful and the game makes great use of the Unity engine.  The documentary alone is engaging and informative, a real eye-opener as so many of us are consumed in our 'modern' lifestyle.
        Never Alone is an inexpensive indie title sitting at about $15 and I highly recommend it.