So it's come to this, Alex and I spend way more time playing games than we do writing about games that much is very certain. We've both been playing Fallout: New Vegas...well to be fair, I've played for about 25 minutes. Alex on the other hand has put the game through the ringer since getting it Tuesday this week.
Therein lies the problem. The game is seriously buggy! Currently he's well over 25 hours in and for some reason all of his save files are now corrupted. He can't load a single one due to a downloaded content issue. Needless to say he's a tad crestfallen (read that as seriously pissed off) that he's invested a lot of time into a game and he realizes he might have to start over. In fact he just stomped upstairs to do just that :(
Sadly it's ruined our faith in Bethesda and Obsidian to produce a playable product. Sadder still we bought two copies so we could both play independently and not have to worry about setting up a sharing schedule so we're out over $150 (one of our copies was a collectors copy). I've followed the Fallout line since the beginning, matter of fact I still have my original Fallout and Fallout 2 PC disks, not to mention Fallout Tactics, Fallout: Brotherhood of Steel, and three copies of Fallout 3.
I can't bring myself to get attached to this brave new world given the problems he's had (apparently according to internet forums he's not alone). And I so desperately wanted to jump in next week once I had some time in my evening schedule after work. Now it looks as if I will just study towards my upcoming CISM exam instead.
Regrettably at this time we can't even begin to recommend this game! It's been years in the making and it's using practically the same game engine as Fallout: 3, how the development team can't seem to get their act together is beyond me. Most anticipated game of 2010? Perhaps. Biggest #fail game of 2010? Certainly!
Saturday, October 23, 2010
Saturday, October 2, 2010
Grading Criteria
To be objective here's a simple scoring table (expressed as a number between 1 and 100) that we've come up with to rate what we feel are important aspects of any game:
Story/Plot: Games are like stories, and the best ones draw us in and make us feel like we're part of the action. For a brief amount of time we can suspend our disbelief and be someone else and do things never possible in real life. The worst ones make us wish we could be watching a lounge act where second rate performers dressed like Elvis cover Justin Beiber and Hannah Montana songs.
Gameplay/Controls: Let's face it some games just work better than others. Granted Alex really seems to take to Real Time Strategy (RTS) games on any controller, while I grew up playing those sorts of games on the PC and believe that playing them on a game console requires 4 hands. That being said, for a game to score high in this category the controller needs to feel like an extension of ones body. Realization and reaction need to be instantaneous and the controller is the interface that makes that possible. If you can't make your character on the screen do what you're thinking, well...that will earn some awfully poor marks indeed.
Graphics/Sound: We have a variety of platforms around the house including seven X-Box 360's, two original X-Box's, a PS3, a PS2, a Wii, a Gamecube, several DS's and a few PSPs. Not to mention eight PCs including a monster Alienware system (Quadcore i7 3.33Ghz, 12Gb RAM, 3Tb hard disk, dual ATI 5800s). Most of those systems are hooked up to Bose speakers. So we take this category seriously...very seriously! The top scoring games here will have dazzling graphics and positional sounds that make us feel like we're in the game and that the bad guys (be it Nazi's, zombies, or the dreaded Nazi zombies) are breathing right on the back of our necks.
Overall Score: The bottom line. All we're offering with this is a suggestion as to if you might enjoy the game or not. In the next few posts we'll be posting more about ourselves to give you an idea of our gaming backgrounds so you'll know whether or not you trust our judgment.
Story/Plot: Games are like stories, and the best ones draw us in and make us feel like we're part of the action. For a brief amount of time we can suspend our disbelief and be someone else and do things never possible in real life. The worst ones make us wish we could be watching a lounge act where second rate performers dressed like Elvis cover Justin Beiber and Hannah Montana songs.
Gameplay/Controls: Let's face it some games just work better than others. Granted Alex really seems to take to Real Time Strategy (RTS) games on any controller, while I grew up playing those sorts of games on the PC and believe that playing them on a game console requires 4 hands. That being said, for a game to score high in this category the controller needs to feel like an extension of ones body. Realization and reaction need to be instantaneous and the controller is the interface that makes that possible. If you can't make your character on the screen do what you're thinking, well...that will earn some awfully poor marks indeed.
Graphics/Sound: We have a variety of platforms around the house including seven X-Box 360's, two original X-Box's, a PS3, a PS2, a Wii, a Gamecube, several DS's and a few PSPs. Not to mention eight PCs including a monster Alienware system (Quadcore i7 3.33Ghz, 12Gb RAM, 3Tb hard disk, dual ATI 5800s). Most of those systems are hooked up to Bose speakers. So we take this category seriously...very seriously! The top scoring games here will have dazzling graphics and positional sounds that make us feel like we're in the game and that the bad guys (be it Nazi's, zombies, or the dreaded Nazi zombies) are breathing right on the back of our necks.
Overall Score: The bottom line. All we're offering with this is a suggestion as to if you might enjoy the game or not. In the next few posts we'll be posting more about ourselves to give you an idea of our gaming backgrounds so you'll know whether or not you trust our judgment.
A first post...
My 15 year old son and I decided to get our heads together and publish a blog based on reviewing things we enjoy, in the hopes that you might find some insights into things you might be wanting to try yourself.
Typically there will be two sides to every story...as such there will be two sides to our reviews here. We might not always agree, but hopefully you will enjoy our posts.
A few of the things we will be offering thoughts on in the near future:
Dead Rising 2
Fallout New Vegas
Typically there will be two sides to every story...as such there will be two sides to our reviews here. We might not always agree, but hopefully you will enjoy our posts.
A few of the things we will be offering thoughts on in the near future:
Dead Rising 2
Fallout New Vegas
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)