Saturday, September 19, 2009
Thursday, July 23, 2009
Sinister
I hated Resident Evil 4. It felt clunky, and featured far too many quick time events. Resident Evil controls have always been clunky, but I never felt it was to their detriment until that installment. I could list a hundred reasons why I didn't like it, but it just came down to feeling wrong.
I'm really enjoying Resident Evil 5, which is strange because it is very nearly the same game. Sure there are fewer quick time events, but the controls are the same. At first I thought this was because RE5 has cooperative play, and playing with a friend is a lot of fun, but RE5 doesn't feel wrong the way RE4 did, and I've enjoyed playing it alone as well.
Tonight it dawned on me. I started off playing the game in cooperative online mode, and I have been playing the secondary character Sheva while my friend controls Chris. Tonight when I switched over to Chris things felt clunky just like in RE4.
Sheva is left handed. I'm looking over her left shoulder in the game. Chris is right handed. Leon from RE4 was right handed. I'm left handed. When I play as Chris, and when I played as Leon I felt as if a major portion of the screen was being blocked. It was like driving with something obscuring my vision, and it drove me nuts. Hell I hated the demo for RE5, and in it I played the right handed Chris.
Weird.
I'm really enjoying Resident Evil 5, which is strange because it is very nearly the same game. Sure there are fewer quick time events, but the controls are the same. At first I thought this was because RE5 has cooperative play, and playing with a friend is a lot of fun, but RE5 doesn't feel wrong the way RE4 did, and I've enjoyed playing it alone as well.
Tonight it dawned on me. I started off playing the game in cooperative online mode, and I have been playing the secondary character Sheva while my friend controls Chris. Tonight when I switched over to Chris things felt clunky just like in RE4.
Sheva is left handed. I'm looking over her left shoulder in the game. Chris is right handed. Leon from RE4 was right handed. I'm left handed. When I play as Chris, and when I played as Leon I felt as if a major portion of the screen was being blocked. It was like driving with something obscuring my vision, and it drove me nuts. Hell I hated the demo for RE5, and in it I played the right handed Chris.
Weird.
Friday, May 15, 2009
At what point does game difficulty cross the line into bullshit?
I've been playing X-Men Origins: Wolverine, and up until last night I was really enjoying it. Then I came to a point where I died 32 times attempting the same jump.
Someone at Raven got 3D platforming in my brawler, and unless you work at Nintendo you're not any good at 3D platforming.
I'm not sure who came up with the idea for a fixed camera in a 3D platform game, but I know this person is a sadist.
In the old days of 2D platform games the camera was fixed at a 90 degree angle from the action, and it made it a simple thing to judge the placement of your character and where and when to jump. It worked in Super Mario Brothers, and it worked in Mega Man. Even when those games became fiendishly difficult the precision of the controls and simplicity of the view kept things from getting out of hand.
In Wolverine the camera is not at a 90 degree angle in the platforming sections. It is closer to 80 degrees, which makes judging distance, angle, and placement difficult. This problem is exacerbated by the game having depth. Caution must be thrown to the wind because this particular section of the game features a helicopter that shoots at regular intervals, and the platform on which I'm standing is rapidly collapsing beneath me. So there is a lot of trial and error that brings this particularly fast paced portion of the game grinding to a frustrating halt. A few times the jump didn't even register when I pressed the button, and Wolverine simply walked off the edge of the platform. And that is the point where the game crossed into bullshit territory.
Despite the fact I was really enjoying the game I might not pick it back up. There is a line between a difficult challenge I will rise to, and bullshit I will not endure. This is bullshit.
Seth from Street Fighter IV is also bullshit.
Someone at Raven got 3D platforming in my brawler, and unless you work at Nintendo you're not any good at 3D platforming.
I'm not sure who came up with the idea for a fixed camera in a 3D platform game, but I know this person is a sadist.
In the old days of 2D platform games the camera was fixed at a 90 degree angle from the action, and it made it a simple thing to judge the placement of your character and where and when to jump. It worked in Super Mario Brothers, and it worked in Mega Man. Even when those games became fiendishly difficult the precision of the controls and simplicity of the view kept things from getting out of hand.
In Wolverine the camera is not at a 90 degree angle in the platforming sections. It is closer to 80 degrees, which makes judging distance, angle, and placement difficult. This problem is exacerbated by the game having depth. Caution must be thrown to the wind because this particular section of the game features a helicopter that shoots at regular intervals, and the platform on which I'm standing is rapidly collapsing beneath me. So there is a lot of trial and error that brings this particularly fast paced portion of the game grinding to a frustrating halt. A few times the jump didn't even register when I pressed the button, and Wolverine simply walked off the edge of the platform. And that is the point where the game crossed into bullshit territory.
Despite the fact I was really enjoying the game I might not pick it back up. There is a line between a difficult challenge I will rise to, and bullshit I will not endure. This is bullshit.
Seth from Street Fighter IV is also bullshit.
Monday, March 30, 2009
Holy monkey that was fast!
Last Tuesday I shipped my broken Xbox 360 to Microsoft. The guy working at the UPS store immediately recognized what I was shipping after glancing at the box I had under my arm as I walked in the door. I thought that was pretty sad/funny.
Today I've been notified my 360 is repaired, and on its way back to me. It appears their turn around time has improved significantly. Now I just have to be around to sign for it when it arrives. I'm betting the first attempt will happen while I'm in class on Wednesday.
Today I've been notified my 360 is repaired, and on its way back to me. It appears their turn around time has improved significantly. Now I just have to be around to sign for it when it arrives. I'm betting the first attempt will happen while I'm in class on Wednesday.
Friday, March 20, 2009
Victory!
So I finally was able to initiate the repair process for my Xbox 360. At some point in the future I will return to Live. I have no idea when that will be, but the major hurdle has been cleared.
Oddly enough the first person I spoke to may have cleared up my problem, but I have no way of knowing. He told me to create a Windows Live account. At first after I did that it didn't help me at all, but today I logged in with my new hotmail address instead of the yahoo one tied to my gamertag, and voila! It let me in. Then I put in my serial number, and it successfully registered whereas before it told me the number was already being used. I still have to pay $100 for the privilege of getting my Xbox repaired, but c'est la vie.
I saw the hilarious misspelling of my email that led to this whole mess once I actually got in the system. It was a nice bit of closure. Now I just need to remember to back up all of my saved games. I doubt they will return to me intact.
Oddly enough the first person I spoke to may have cleared up my problem, but I have no way of knowing. He told me to create a Windows Live account. At first after I did that it didn't help me at all, but today I logged in with my new hotmail address instead of the yahoo one tied to my gamertag, and voila! It let me in. Then I put in my serial number, and it successfully registered whereas before it told me the number was already being used. I still have to pay $100 for the privilege of getting my Xbox repaired, but c'est la vie.
I saw the hilarious misspelling of my email that led to this whole mess once I actually got in the system. It was a nice bit of closure. Now I just need to remember to back up all of my saved games. I doubt they will return to me intact.
Wednesday, March 4, 2009
Perspective and Prestige
The recent kerplunk of my Xbox 360's disc drive at first filled me with incoherent rage. Just check out my last couple of posts for proof of that. My Saturday sucked. Oddly enough I woke up in a terrific mood on Sunday. In the hours after my anger subsided I gained perspective.
I put too much importance on gaming. It is a form of entertainment. So I was denied entertainment on Saturday. Big deal. I resolved to sell many of my games, and I may still do that, keeping only those I play online with my friends. That's the biggest disappointment. I can't get online, and shoot some face, or kill zombies while bullshitting with friends who don't live down the street anymore. Does it really matter that I couldn't continue running people over in Saint's Row 2? Of course not.
Before my 360 gave up the ghost I started prestige mode in Call of Duty 4. While I was making my way to level 55 I couldn't understand why anyone would start all over. Why would someone want to give up all their hard earned perks, and weapons? I said at one point that I would never go prestige. Then I got to level 55, and there was nowhere left to go. Oh sure I could unlock red tiger for every weapon, or try to get the gold weapons, but they're all ugly anyway. I discovered boredom sets in when you have nothing to strive toward. I had previously considered people with the gold cross next to their level 55 to be tiresome obsessives who just want a bigger e-penis than the next guy. Now I kinda feel bad for them. It's boring at the top. It will take me a while to go through prestige ten times, but it is entirely possible when I hit 55 again I'll start all over.
I put too much importance on gaming. It is a form of entertainment. So I was denied entertainment on Saturday. Big deal. I resolved to sell many of my games, and I may still do that, keeping only those I play online with my friends. That's the biggest disappointment. I can't get online, and shoot some face, or kill zombies while bullshitting with friends who don't live down the street anymore. Does it really matter that I couldn't continue running people over in Saint's Row 2? Of course not.
Before my 360 gave up the ghost I started prestige mode in Call of Duty 4. While I was making my way to level 55 I couldn't understand why anyone would start all over. Why would someone want to give up all their hard earned perks, and weapons? I said at one point that I would never go prestige. Then I got to level 55, and there was nowhere left to go. Oh sure I could unlock red tiger for every weapon, or try to get the gold weapons, but they're all ugly anyway. I discovered boredom sets in when you have nothing to strive toward. I had previously considered people with the gold cross next to their level 55 to be tiresome obsessives who just want a bigger e-penis than the next guy. Now I kinda feel bad for them. It's boring at the top. It will take me a while to go through prestige ten times, but it is entirely possible when I hit 55 again I'll start all over.
Some good news
My 360 is still broken, but I discovered something else. Remember how I ranted about not being able to remove payment methods from Xbox Live a while back? It turns out Microsoft added that functionality to their Xbox website. I was astounded. I was also able to cancel my Live subscription fairly easily after providing the customer service rep with my DNA, and birth certificate.
I was also able to make a customer service rep understand I need to re-register my 360 before I can initiate the repair process. Of course this was through email, and he couldn't help me. I still have to call the tech support line back, which I'm dreading since I already tried that once, and was unhelpfully told to get a hotmail account.
Outsourcing customer service doesn't strike me as the most logical thing in the world. Sure it saves money, and I can't blame some guy in India, or wherever for not speaking English as a first language, but the entire process is based on communication, and it has been put in the hands of people who at best have very heavy accents. Par for the course for giant corporations though. Only small businesses need to have great customer service. Companies like Microsoft can kick you in the nuts over, and over, and still make money.
Of course if I sold all of my 360 games right now I would have enough money to buy a PS3. There is some appeal in crossing over to the dark side, and giving MS the finger, but it isn't like they will notice. Also I don't really want a PS3, seeing as all my friends are on Xbox Live, and I despise the Metal Gear Solid games.
I was also able to make a customer service rep understand I need to re-register my 360 before I can initiate the repair process. Of course this was through email, and he couldn't help me. I still have to call the tech support line back, which I'm dreading since I already tried that once, and was unhelpfully told to get a hotmail account.
Outsourcing customer service doesn't strike me as the most logical thing in the world. Sure it saves money, and I can't blame some guy in India, or wherever for not speaking English as a first language, but the entire process is based on communication, and it has been put in the hands of people who at best have very heavy accents. Par for the course for giant corporations though. Only small businesses need to have great customer service. Companies like Microsoft can kick you in the nuts over, and over, and still make money.
Of course if I sold all of my 360 games right now I would have enough money to buy a PS3. There is some appeal in crossing over to the dark side, and giving MS the finger, but it isn't like they will notice. Also I don't really want a PS3, seeing as all my friends are on Xbox Live, and I despise the Metal Gear Solid games.
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