"Consoles are more convenient than PC"

I have a couple of friends who prefer console gaming to PC gaming. They tell me it's because console gaming is so much easier - all you have to do is pop in the disc and it works, no optimizing settings or fixing weird startup crashes or whatever.

True enough... unless you don't play your console very often.

I never really planned to buy a 360 because there weren't very many games on the system that appealed to me. The reason I have one is because a generous friend passed it on to me for free. And since I own it, I naturally picked up a few games for it.

The inconvenience comes from playing one old game at a time with months between games. When I boot up the 360 to try a new game, it has to update, which takes a few minutes. Then, since it's been so long since I last used it, it usually has to update again. Then I put the game disc in and the game has to update. So rather than toss in a disc and play, it's more like toss in a disc and go do something else for twenty or thirty minutes until the console and game are done updating.

I know this is mainly a quirk of how I use my 360 and that anyone who uses their console more regularly won't have this issue.

But it's still annoying.

Top 10 games 2014

It's time once again for a look back at another year of gaming!

I went through a period early this year where maintaining the weekly review schedule felt like a chore instead of fun. But I got over it - especially when I picked up my fancy top-of-the-line laptop in September, when you may have noticed increased quality in my screenshots and some experimentation with video reviews (now that I have a PC that can handle running a game and capture software at the same time).

As always, this is a list of my favourite ten games I played this year, not a list of the best games that released this year. Well, actually, this year it's eleven, because I just couldn't bring myself to cut any of those games off the list. So here we go - top ten eleven games, in (I think) the order I played them.

My biases

I was doing some reading and saw that some sites do (or did) build a factor for reviewer slant/style into the final score. I don't do scores here at Post-Launch Reviews, but it did make me think a bit about my biases, and I realized I haven't talked about them extensively here before. So read on to learn about how biased I am!

Well, actually, it's mainly two biases. 

I'm not being paid to do these reviews. I don't have a rigid pattern or guideline I use to choose games. The reason I started this site was because I played a lot of games and figured I could do something with that. This means I buy games that catch my interest, not games I think I should review.

My main bias is that I buy and review games that I already think I'll enjoy. My favourite fiction tends to be science fiction with some fantasy and horror, and I gravitate towards games with those kinds of themes and stories.

Not only that, I want to enjoy the games I play, so my outlook tends to be optimistic. If you've been reading for a while you might remember a few games I recommended that were reviewed poorly elsewhere. Off the top of my head, Legendary is one example. I've also reviewed a few games I wanted to like but just couldn't finish, like Dragon Age: Origins. So sometimes my conclusions are less objective and diverge with the consensus because of personal preference. I never claimed to be objective but a reminder can't hurt.

My secondary bias is that I'm a little prejudiced against indie and mobile games.

I've played a lot more AAA than indie or mobile games because I find that a lot of smaller games have too narrow a focus for my taste. I have reviewed some indie games very positively, but if you look at the ones I got into the most, you'll notice a trend: they have a larger scope and more depth than your stereotypical retro sidescrolling plaformer. Examples: Minecraft, Trine, The Banner Saga.

If you ever disagree with one of my reviews, remember that I'm biased, but so are you. We're allowed to disagree!

Thoughts on Facebook + Oculus

(before I get into this, here's a disclaimer: I haven't been following development of the Oculus Rift super closely, so I may be lacking in detail. Also, a lot of this is pure speculation and might be crazy or completely wrong. If that's the case, feel free to rant in the comments.)

I've had a bit of time to think about Facebook's acquisition of Oculus, and here's where I stand.

If I had pre-ordered a Rift headset, I would cancel it. Of course the worst-case scenario is that the Rift will be tied to your Facebook account and every time you play a game you'll face an apocalyptic rain of advertisements before you get started and between levels, but that's not really what's important right now.

Top 10 Games 2013

Welcome to Post-Launch Reviews' look at 2013!

Since I don't really play new games as they come out, this is not a list of the best games that released in 2013. Instead, it's a look at the best games I played in 2013 - many of them came out quite a while ago, and I only got around to them this year (there is one exception, but that's because I'm a sucker for the franchise).

So, in no particular order, these are my favourite games I played in 2013! Links will take you to the full review if you want more info.

Top 10 Games, 2013 Edition

The Walking Dead

This game was quite the surprise hit. The point-and-click adventure game has all but disappeared from mainstream gaming, and TellTale is (to my knowledge) the only major studio that still produces them. Their previous efforts have tended to be solid games that flew under the radar due to the genre (with one stinker, Jurassic Park) but they really knocked it out of the park with this one. The Walking Dead is a dark, mature, and emotional story where you play as Lee, a survivor of the zombie apocalypse and accidental guardian of a little girl named Clementine, where the player's job is mostly to make some really hard decisions. It's not as interactive or difficult as most games, but that can actually be a very good thing: it's a great intro for non-gamers who like The Walking Dead comics or TV show. It does a great job of making your choices feel really difficult and impactful, though if you play the game a second time it becomes apparent that you can't really affect the story that much. But with only one playthrough the illusion is excellent.

My favourite game element is when you make a choice and you're informed that "Clementine will remember this". The Walking Dead does a very good job of making you care about Clementine and wanting to make sure she's raised right and protect her from the harshness of the world.

Shadow of the Colossus

Whenever the question "are video games art?" comes up, Shadow of the Colossus is unfailingly the first game that's mentioned. While I didn't enjoy it quite as much as all the rave reviews seemed to - there were definitely some flaws with the controls and the explanation thereof - I totally get where people are coming from with the art comments. Shadow is just dripping with atmosphere. The world is empty: there's no sign of life in the wide open fields or the quiet shores; all you can hear is the wind in the grass and your horse's hooves. Most of the colossi don't even acknowledge your presence until you start attacking - they're just these huge uncaring forces of nature. Which you brutally destroy in the name of love. For a game that's all boss battles with monsters the size of apartment buildings, it manages to be very atmospheric and contemplative, and will probably make you feel bad for some of the colossi and wonder if you're actually doing the right thing.

Max Payne 3

I don't think a sequel made by a different studio ten years after the last game can reasonably be expected to perfectly match the tone and feel of the last game. Max Payne 3 is not completely identical to Max Payne 1 & 2, but if you're okay with looking at it as "Rockstar's Max Payne", you're in for a great game. While the sunny tropical environment is a big departure from the gritty noir city of the first two games, the tone and character carry over very well. Max is a screwup who carries a lot of guilt, and that personality is very well written. There are also flashbacks to when Max left the city, which replicate the noir feel of the older games much more closely. Shooting is refined and extremely fluid, with smooth animations for everything - even spinning around while prone. If I had one complaint it would be that the elements of Norse mythology from the original games were dropped completely, but other than that omission, the feel of the game is very faithful to its predecessors.

SSX

 The only sports series I've ever liked got a refresh, and it's pretty cool. As an SSX series veteran, this is probably the game on this list that I'm the least enthusiastic about - a lot of features and style are missing compared to my favourite games in the series, SSX Tricky and SSX3 (in particular, gear is a bit of a random mess). That said, there's still enough flair and silliness to differentiate this SSX from the more realistic snowboarding games: the goofy, physically impossible ubertricks are still here, and you'd have to be insane to run these tracks in real life (lava tubes in a volcano, an abandoned oil pipeline, etc). The Deadly Descents add some cool twists, and the online play is pretty great, something you can't do in the old games. Despite my complaints, I had enough fun with SSX to put it on this list!

Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords

The oldest game on this list is one that I'd been meaning to play for a long time but had avoided because of the negativity I'd heard surrounding the ending - that the game had been rushed for a Christmas release, and as a result a bunch of content was cut and the ending was unsatisfactory. Well, I played the game with The Sith Lords Restored Content Mod that fixes bugs and restores cut content, and it was pretty great. What I liked most about this game is the much more nuanced shades-of-grey look at the Force - in most Star Wars stories the Force is black and white, good or evil. KOTOR II's core plot grapples with the Force's inherent nature, the dangers of blindly committing to light side or dark side, questioning whether actions can really ever be fully good or evil, and pushes the player to fully consider the consequences of their actions. I really appreciate this look at the Force, and it's all wrapped up in a well-built Star Wars world and a D&D 3.5 gameplay system (like Neverwinter Nights).

Pokémon X&Y

Like SSX, Pokémon is a series I've been playing for a very long time. Pokémon has had a curious history compared to most games: for casual players, picking up XY is just like playing Red/Blue, but more refined and with more options - for these players Pokémon has hardly changed at all over the years. For the hardcore players who know all the systems, there have been tons of huge game-changers over the year. X & Y's new Pokémon are fantastic and the visuals are better than ever, but what makes X & Y really interesting is that they do a great job of bringing those two play styles closer together. Breeding and advanced training have been made much more accessible, and it's easier to catch strong Pokémon. The result is that new players have easier access to powerful stuff, and competitive/hardcore players save time. To be completely honest the story is a little too simple and there's not much to do at endgame, but I still loved it.
Maybe one day Pokémon's formula of catching and training monsters will get old. BUT IT IS NOT THIS DAY

Uncharted series 

Drake's Fortune, Among Thieves, Drake's Deception

I had a hard time picking a favourite, so I cheated and picked all three! I love the first as an intro to the franchise and characters; the second is probably my favourite game, having the best flow and action setpieces; and the second half of the third game is my favourite overall because once you hit the desert everything is amazing. The Uncharted games are basically playable action movies with amazing writing, characters, visuals, and a very Hollywood style. I usually have a hard time picking favourites, but I think that the Uncharted series is easily one of the very best of the generation and has earned a place at the top of my list of recommendations.

Demon's Souls / Dark Souls

These reviews haven't gone up yet, and in fact I'm still working on Dark Souls at the time of this writing. But as a bit of a sneak preview for those reviews - holy crap I love these games. I avoided them for quite a while because I was intimidated by their reputation as the hardest games. After completing Demon's Souls and getting partway through Dark Souls, I definitely think they're not for everyone - dying over and over again is not everyone's idea of fun - but if you have the patience and tenacity you'll find an excellent pair of games. The worldbuilding is phenomenal. You're almost never explicitly told anything, but all the clues exist to piece together the stories of the many locations NPCs. The RPG systems are pretty easy to pick up, but incredibly deep, with a ton of different options and hidden secrets that reward you for experimenting, exploring, and trying crazy things. There's a ton of replayability centered around a stacking New Game + mode, and you'll still be discovering and trying new things on your second, third, or even sixth playthrough. Dark Souls is a little more refined and intuitive than Demon's Souls, but the earlier game does have a few features I miss in the successor.

Tiny Tina's Assault on Dragon Keep (& Borderlands 2)

Borderlands 2 / DLC part one / DLC part two

 Borderlands 2 is a great, hilarious game with some very memorable characters and outlandish guns, but the Dragon Keep DLC is what really pushed it over the top for me. In the DLC you play as the vault hunters from the first game, who are playing a game of Dungeons & Dragons Bunkers & Badasses as the vault hunters from the second game, with the unstable thirteen-year-old explosive expert Tiny Tina as the game master. Not only is Dragon Keep absurdly hilarious and packed with all kinds of nerdy references, it also serves as a surprisingly emotional and touching epilogue to the campaign.
And it has a gun that shoots swords that explode into more swords that explode. So that's cool.

Post-Launch Reviews' Game of the Year:  

Spec Ops: The Line

The actual game mechanics are somewhat average and unspectacular, but the visuals are great and the writing is absolutely top-notch. The Line is both an unflinching look at PTSD and a vicious critique of military shooters. There are all kinds of scenarios that question the most basic gameplay of shooter games - for example, very early on there's a case of mistaken identity that results in American soldiers shooting American soldiers, and you have no choice but to kill the very people you came to save. It's self-defense, but in this scenario it seems completely irrational and pointless. And without saying too much about it, the white phosphorous scene is a pivotal moment that will probably stick with you for quite a while, and drastically affects the characters. There are small but impressive touches to the writing, like how the characters' dialogue changes over the course of the game: they start out professional and efficient, and as the situation gets worse their voices get progressively more angry and expletive-laden, to the point where you can hardly recognize them as soldiers. You're also always descending through game environments, which maybe doesn't necessarily make sense physically, but it's a subtle yet powerful feeling that mirrors the psychological descent into darkness.

The stellar writing - the examination of the psychological effects of warfare and difficult decisions, and the criticism of the ubiquitous military shooters - is what makes The Line my game of the year.

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Honourable Mentions

Here's my traditional cheating section, where I mention the games that were cut from the list or that had particular standout features.

Guild Wars 2

This MMO has had a great year, with free content updates every two weeks, and tons of tweaks and improvements. The biggest criticism of the Living Story update method - that returning players have nothing new to see because all the new content is temporary - is starting to be addressed. Some events have left been major, permanent changes to existing zones, and ArenaNet is starting to experiment with allowing players to re-play some of the removed content by adding the temporary dungeons to the Fractals of the Mists. The current Living Story "season" will wrap up in the first few months of 2014 and it looks like things will only improve.
Really the only reason Guild Wars 2 isn't on the list is because it was on here last year and I felt like something new should take that spot.

Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon

One of the funni
est games I've ever played, Blood Dragon is a laugh-out-loud parody of 80s action movies and games. Even though it's short, it can get old if you shoot for 100% complete, but if you mostly stick to the main story you're in for a roller coaster of hilarity.

The Darkness 2

This game didn't come together as a whole well enough to make the list, but it has some of the coolest gameplay I've ever seen. Your character, Jackie, is bonded with a demon called the Darkness, and you control both of Jackie's arms and the Darkness' two arms independently - two guns and two hungry tentacles, each bound to a different button. It's actually kind of hard to get your brain used to operating the four limbs separately, but once you do the gameplay is beautifully fluid and intense and violent.

_________________________________________________________________________

So that's it for this year! I've already picked up enough games during the last couple of Steam sales that I'm pretty much all set for 2014 - all I have to do now is play them. Maybe Dark Souls will sneak onto next year's list - since I'm not done it yet, I'll technically still be playing it in 2014. We'll see.

Happy new year!

Why Medal of Honor Scares Me

I posted my review of the 2010 release of Medal of Honor yesterday. I mentioned that it creeped me out and briefly talked about some of the reasons, but didn't want to go on for too long about things that weren't super important to the conclusion of the review. But here I'll go into detail.

Review Fairness

When I write a review I try to be fair and consider all elements of a game. I can't say that I'm perfect, but I try my best not to miss or overlook positives or negatives because of bias, one way or the other. One thing does still bother me, though:

If I start playing a game and I don't like it, will my review be fair if I force my way through that game?

Most recently this has come up with Ghost Recon: Advanced Warfighter 2. I picked it up for $2.50 during a Steam sale, and eventually got around to trying it. I played through the first mission and realized I don't really like the game. There's some cool stuff there - having a real time overhead of the mission area is pretty neat, and being able to use it to issue squad commands is even better. I wanted to be fair so I continued playing, but I didn't like the second mission either.

So what should I do at this point? Do I write a review of what I did play and explain that the game didn't hook me enough to keep going? Should I not write anything at all, to avoid being unfair towards a game that seems well put together but that I just don't like? I have done the former once or twice, most recently with Dark Void, a game that I wanted to like but couldn't finish due to completely game breaking bugs.

What do you think? Is there a minimum amount of game a critic should play before posting a review? How much game would that be?

How to speed up Steam's web browser

If you've used Steam for any length of time, I'm sure you've noticed that the web browser can be very slow.

Here's a tip that Spyder810 recently posted on reddit:

close steam and navigate here

C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\config (or wherever you have steam installed)

delete the following folders

• cookies
• htmlcache
• overlaycookies
• overlayhtmlcache

Steam doesn't delete the cache files, etc which slows it down significantly. (ccleaner misses these files)

Once done, you should see a signficant improvement in speed.

For me those folders included 5336 files and occupied 667MB of space. Clearing out the folders immediately made Steam's browser run faster.

If this helps you and you have a reddit account, click that link and upvote Spyder810!

Random Encounters: Why They're Bad, and When They're Done Right

You're walking through the grass. You're low on health and you need to heal. You can see the town. You're almost there! And suddenly a pack of monsters leaps out of the bush, right in your path.

I hate random encounters in RPGs. In most games, they serve only one purpose: padding out the game. Sure, random encounters show you that the wilds are dangerous, but there are other ways to do that than throwing random monsters at you. They also typically give you experience and/or loot, but the designer(s) could just as easily compress the levelling curve and remove those random encounters entirely.

But there are examples of games where they're done right.

Top Ten Games, 2012 Edition

Another year of video game blogging has come and gone - actually, my first full January-to-December year doing this. Fifty-two weeks in a year and one review per week (skipping last week) means I've played 50 games to completion this year. But wait, that's not quite true - January was indie month at 3 games per week, and I played some games I didn't review, so that puts me well over 60 this year.

Anyway, if you remember my list from last year, the purpose is not to talk about the best games that came out this year. I don't play games soon enough after launch to do that kind of a list. No, this is simply my 10 favourite games I played this year.

And so, with no more ado, and in alphabetical order, here we go!

State of the FPS

I'm a big fan of shooters. A significant portion of my favourite games are first-person shooters: Metro 2033, the Half-Life series, Team Fortress 2, Metroid Prime, etc. Some of the worst games I've ever played are also FPS games. There are entire sub-genres I hate with a passion, and plenty of games that miss the point entirely.

In my opinion, the best FPS games are the ones that understand the strength of the first-person camera. A well-built first-person game is one of the most immersive entertainment experiences you can have - one that can make you feel the most like you're actually part of another world, rather than looking in or playing the puppet master.

State of the RPG

Modern Western RPGs are conflicted. Philosophy and mechanics are at odds with each other. A roleplaying game is ostensibly about shaping the characters and the story as a function of your choices, but the freedoms and limitations of many RPGs are shaped in such a way that they weaken the story or focus too much on the wrong elements to tell their story.

Don't get me wrong, I love a good RPG. I like building a character and seeing how different choices affect the story and the world. I have dozens of D&D characters and Guild Wars 2 builds I may never get to play. But I do feel that the RPG genre as a whole is having a crisis of focus.

The main issue I see is that many players and developers equate "freedom of choice" with "the ability to do anything you want at any time". I find it odd that a genre so focused on choice and consequences would make your choices so meaningless overall. If you can go anywhere at any time, you're not making meaningful choices. You're simply ticking boxes off the checklist.

Women and Gaming Culture

Comments are moderated. If your post contains any sexist or pro-harassment sentiment it will be deleted before it even hits the page, and no one will ever see it at all.

A few months back I was sadly not surprised to hear that women suffer a lot of abuse and harassment in the gaming world. What did shock me is that this abuse was widely defended as "part of the culture", and the chorus of "if you don't like it you should just leave". 

This is a subject that hasn't gone away and pisses me off more and more every time I hear about it. I have female friends who refuse to talk to me in-game because they don't want to deal with all the crap they get just for opening their mouths.

I'm going to address the second common argument first because it's marginally less moronic.

Mobile Gaming

Mobile gaming has become kind of a big thing recently. And I finally have a phone that will let me play those games. So I'm all over mobile gaming, right?

Well...

Here's my problem with mobile games in general. They're designed to be played in short sessions on the go, and have only the touchscreen for control input. Designing for short sessions means quick, relatively simple levels that don't hold my interest in a longer session. Touchscreen controls mean either you're obscuring a large portion of the display just to be able to play the game, or very simple controls that require little or occasional input.

So when my favourite games are rich, long, and complex, you'll see my problem with mobile gaming in general.

Mechanics and Narrative: MMOs

MMOs are a bit of a special case in how the game tells a story. Most MMOs are also RPGs, so I won't retread that ground. But one area where MMOs excel is telling the story of a world, rather than a handful of characters.

MMOs tend to have absolutely massive worlds to explore, with hundreds or thousands of non-player characters to talk to and hundreds of locations to visit. With all the effort that goes into creating this kind of world, you end up with enough lore to fill several books.

Of course, most people wouldn't actually want to read those books. Most people just don't have the interest or the attention span to read an entire history of a world, with very little to relate to in terms of personal stories. It's the same reason why most people wouldn't sit down and read a history of their own country.

Mechanics and Narrative: RTS

As a disclaimer before I start, I don't play many RTS games. I played Star Wars: Empire at War extensively, but only against the AI. I've played Heroes of Might and Magic III. I've tried Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War, Starcraft, Achron, and a few Command and Conquer games. That's pretty much it. So this article won't be extremely long or in-depth.

But there's a reason for that. I like games with good stories, and as a genre, RTS games are terrible at telling stories.

Mechanics and Narrative: RPGs

I've covered horror and FPS, so now let's take a look at mechanics and narrative in RPGs.

Roleplaying games typically work a lot harder to construct a complex narrative than other video game genres. They also typically tend to focus a lot on the player's choices and how they affect the characters or story. But there's a balance here: giving the player too much freedom weakens the narrative, while not giving them enough makes a game that's supposedly about freedom and choice feel pretty restrictive.

Personally, I have a lot of problems with how many big RPGs handle choice - I find that they simultaneously offer too much and too little freedom. The very principle at the core of the RPG genre is the root of almost every issue.

Mechanics and Narrative: FPS

Last time we looked at how narrative and mechanics are intertwined (or not) in horror games, and today we'll take a look at first-person shooters.

At first glance the mechanics of FPS games don't seem to be terribly linked to the narrative except for the fact that you shoot things, which means that the story tends to be about shooting things. That's pretty much a given - they are called first-person shooters, after all. It's kind of like saying that horror games are about scary things.

The interesting thing about FPS games is the camera angle. 

The FPS camera simulates your character's eyes. You see what the character sees, from their perspective, and control where they look. The strength of this camera angle is the sense of immersion it can provide - you're not following some guy around, you are that guy. So, generally speaking, the FPS mechanics that have the greatest impact on the narrative are the ones that affect your sense of immersion.

Mechanics and Narrative: Horror

Horror games face a tricky conundrum: how do you make the player feel vulnerable and scared - and how do you do it without making the game seem unfair?

The most obvious method is to use darkness. Most people are scared of the dark at some point in their life, and for many people that fear takes a long time to fade. For some, it never does. The reason is simple: we can't see in the dark. Our intelligence and imagination are a weakness here: when we can't see what's there, anything we imagine could be there. For this reason, most horror games put you in the dark and give you a limited source of light - a flashlight or lantern, for example. 

Of course, just because everyone does it doesn't mean that everyone does it well.

Mechanics and Narrative

Yesterday I looked at how video game genres are defined, and how those genres tend to depend on the game's mechanics first and foremost. But game mechanics aren't just tied up in genre - they're also related to the narrative itself.

Video games are often used as an interactive storytelling medium. Granted, they don't have to be - see Tetris, Solitaire, etc - but the vast majority of games that are being produced now are intended to tell a story that the player is a part of in some way.

Given that storytelling is a major or even primary focus of modern games, it's important to have the game's mechanics - how it plays - reflect the story or themes of the narrative. If you link mechanics to narrative, you can tell a much stronger story by amplifying the content.

If that's a little abstract for you, here's a more concrete example. When you watch a horror movie, much of the story takes place in the dark. There are exceptions, of course, but the point is that just about every human being has been afraid of the dark at some point in life. Even if darkness isn't directly important to the story, it's still used to make you feel claustrophobic and nervous, reinforcing the scary elements of the plot by trying to make you feel what the characters feel.

A good video game plays the way a movie looks, if that makes any sense. A game about choices should offer the player a lot of choice: character customization, branching dialogues, and alternate endings. A game that explores themes of morality should include a way to track the player's actions and alter the story accordingly. A horror game should include systems that make the player feel vulnerable, claustrophobic, or isolated.

For this segment of Industry In Review, I'll have a few articles on a selection of game genres, discussing if and how they integrate storytelling with their mechanics. First up will be horror!