A Wolf Among Us

 

I have spoken before about my love of Telltale Games.  Their point and click creations are as intriguing as some of the best books I've read.  A Wolf Among Us is one of their typical five episode games that came to the Xbox 360 back in 2013.  It's based on the comic book series Fables, the stories of classic fable characters like Snow White, Ichabod Crane, trolls, ogre, princes, etc who have chosen to live in the non-magical world.

I am not much of a fan of fairy tales or children's stories.  I personally much prefer a dark, adult plot with lots of realistic characters.  But the Fable comics and the Wolf Among Us game made we want to dive deeper into these old, classic stories.  Any game that makes me want to watch a Disney movie is pretty amazing.

The game follows Bigby Wolf (Big Bad Wolf) as he attends to the residence of Fabletown, a small community in the Bronx full of creatures glamored to look like regular humans.  What made this game/story so interesting is that there is murder, romance, prostitution, magic, cut throat politics, and even a bit of fetishism.  I don't want to go into too much detail because it's really hard to not give things away.

I just wanted to take this opportunity to express my love for this bizarre, complex game.  I encourage you to play it if you haven't already.  You will be pleasantly surprised.

Pneuma: Breath of Life

 

Pneuma: Breath of Life is a puzzle game with a charming, protagonist.  The player solves the puzzles in first person as the protagonist entity.  While bodiless and nameless, the voice of the playing entity is constantly talking.  As the game progresses, the voice goes from believing he is a god to believing he has no control in the world.

The game takes on this super bizarre, ultra meta feel.  The voice begins to speculate and even panic that the player is the real god.  He feels like he has no control and accuses the player of manipulating him.  At one point, the voice ends up at a lone tree in a colorless world as the player reaches for what is implied to be the apple of Eden.  There is a good chance I'm not smart enough to understand why the game goes so far as to vaguely reference the Old Testament.  I'm not a theologian or a philosophy major, so the whole concept is just too far out of my wheelhouse. 

The voice itself is really charming until the end when he loses his mind.  Between the English accent and quirky comments, it reminds me a lot of Wheatley from Portal 2.  I began to feel bad for him as he slowly loses his mind/realizes the presence of the player.

The game itself is short.  I completed all six chapters and cleared all achievements in about two hours.  The game looks amazing and plays really smooth.  With that in mind, it's hard to justify the $20 price tag.  It seems like a lot for something with almost no replayability that took two hours to complete.

If you have the chance to play it for free or at a reduced cost, it is definitely worth your time.  But if your only way to play is through the full $20 purchase, you might want to wait until it's on sale.

Telltale and Gearbox Give Me A Much Needed Break.

 
Tales From The Borderlands is one of Telltale Games' latest release.  It fits the typical description of any Telltale experience including an episodic narrative, point and click game play, and choice based storytelling.  Thankfully, Tales From The Borderlands brings a lot more enjoyment and lightheartedness.

One can easily say that they don't want to play Tales because they didn't like Gearbox's Borderlands or Telltale's flagship game, The Walking Dead.  I would argue, that Tales From The Borderlands is the perfect game for those people.  Don't like the fast paced yet somehow repetitive nature of Borderlands?  Tales is strictly story driven and doesn't require side missions or level grinding.  Don't care for the slow build and intense emotions that come with The Walking Dead?  Tales provides funny characters and almost as much quick button action as there is dialogue.

Do yourself a solid and buy the first episode.  Follow the ridiculous characters with their sophomoric humor on an adventure throughout Pandora.

Bastion

Bastion has been floating around on XBLA since last summer.  But only after it recently popped up on sale did I finally bite the bullet and make the purchase.  The only thing I regret is not buying this game sooner.

Bastion puts players in control of the main character known simply as "The Kid".  The Kid wakes up after a vague event called the Calamity which has left his world fractured into floating pieces of land.  The Kid must fight monsters to collect pieces of a monument that helps to rebuild his home world's sanctuary, The Bastion.  Most residents of the world have been turned into Pompeii-like statues, but there are a few that survived and help along the way, most notably the older character, Rucks.  Rucks also acts as the narrator of the entire game and his deep voice solidifies the sense of great story telling and helps to draw the player in.

The fighting is really easy to pick up on and pretty smooth.  There are plenty of fighting options that include guns and melee attacks as well as some minor magics.  The normal game setting was tough enough to keep my attention but easy enough that I was never stuck or overwhelmed.  For those who are looking for a more difficult experience, there is a shrine that can be activated to empower enemies or lower the players power.  For those who have younger kids or anyone that just wants the story with less struggle, there is a No-Sweat Mode.  This offers up unlimited lives and enough perks to essentially make the player invincible, the player still dies but there is no restarting the level or even going back to checkpoints.  Between the level of somewhat cartoon-ish violence and the ability to lower the difficulty, this is a great game for that age when young players are getting bored with petting animals or hanging with Dora, but aren't mature enough or skilled enough to play the adult games.

Yes, you can fall of the edge, but no, it doesn't kill you.

I thought this game was extremely charming and very engrossing.  Depending upon your skill, each level can take anywhere from 5 to 20 minutes to complete.  I don't think I spent more than 10 minutes on any given level so it fits great into short amounts of time like first thing in the morning or the 15 minutes of energy you have left before bed.  The graphics were detail and clear, the story was interesting, and the game play was fun.  I definitely recommend downloading Bastion.

Mass Effect 3

Mass Effect 3 has been out for awhile now, but I wanted to wait before writing a review until I had finished the game.  I took my sweet time absorbing everything the finale of this great space opera had to offer.  Here is the information I can offer you, spoiler free.

Starting with the basics, this game looks great.  There wasn't any huge advancement in the graphics that made my brain explode with amazement, but it still looks really crisp, nicely saturated colors, and there was no noticeable motion blur.  The music was generally appropriate although sometimes pushed the limit of being overly dramatic.  I appreciate some high octane music when I'm in combat to keep my pulse up, but some of the fight scenes were really long and listening the background tunes began to get annoying, resulting in me going into the menus to turn it down.

The game play definitely had a few quirks that took getting used to.  There were times when ducking into cover took a couple tries, but it was also problematic to pop up and take a shot on enemy and duck back down.  Occasionally, smaller things like getting the angle correct to open doors, pick up items, or highlight objects could be picky and frustrating.  Throughout the game, I became used to slightly awkward angles and habits of the controls and it was way more manageable by the end of the game.  I thought that this could be due to my adversity towards third person perspective, but after talking to friends and hunting around forums I found that I wasn't alone.

 

I was very disappointed to see the return of the stupid power wheel with no improvements, it's still just as annoying as it has been in the previous games.  Comparing weapons was better than it was in ME2, but I still miss the actual numerical statistics that were present in the first title.  I did like the weapon customization much better and the armor customizing was also much improved.

All of those things aside, the story is what we really care about and I thought it was great.  The fate and whereabouts of all major characters including squad mates from the previous titles were addressed.  The side missions were appropriate and all really contributed to the sense of impending galactic war.  There were no little missions where I was sent to find a battery or locate someones totally insignificant brother.  Everything really seemed important and added to the sense of urgency and severity of the situation.  From rounding up other races to help in the fight, to solving generations-long conflict between species, Commander Shepard has a lot to do.

Without giving away any spoilers, I really liked the ending of the game; it was almost everything I wanted it to be.  There were sweat inducing battles, jaw dropping cinematics, resolution/closure with characters, and an amazing grand finale to this giant story.  I know there has been negative feelings in the online community in that some players didn't like how the game ended, and Bioware has responded by saying that they will address the story's ending and possibly provide a new one.  There are no details as to when or how, but there is a significant chance that story altering DLC is in the works.  Whether I agree that I did or didn't like the ending, I love the fact that Bioware listens to their fans and is willing to make adjustments to continually earn their love.

If you haven't played the first two games, don't get this one.  You will be way behind in the story and that is the most powerful part.  However, you should definitely back track and play the first two.  They are both still relevant and totally playable.  If you have already conquered one and two, three is an obvious purchase that lives up to the expectations.  I liked the game play, loved the story, and tip my hat to Bioware on a job well done.

<3

Aaaaaaaand Here We Go

After a lengthy, relaxing, and joyous holiday, Linz and I are back in action here at Achievos.  During our break, we spent time with family, devoured some delicious holiday eats, and played all the new games left for us under the tree.  Starting off a brand new year, I had some major gaming victories.

First, my gamerscore broke 30,000.  Keeping in line with Lindsey's trend of blasting past milestones, I have added over 400 points to my score in the eight days since it happened.  While reaching that high number felt nice, it definitely didn't feel as amazing as I thought it would.  Hitting the 5,000 mark was fun and reaching double digits with 10,000 was great.  And I remember losing my mind when I hit 25,000; it felt like such a big deal.  But 30,000 just hasn't done it for me.  I took pictures, I let out a little brag, but I mostly just kept playing.

One of the major gaming events that did rock my world was reaching the final level in Age of Empires Online.  My Greek civilization final hit level 40 unlocking 100 glorious points.  Of those who know me, or better yet, have me on their Xbox friends list, can easily see that a huge amount of my 2011 was spent playing AoE.  I might be playing less in 2012, but it will still be on my to-do list.  I have already started my Egyptian civ and so far I'm sitting pretty at level 7.

The best was yet to come.  On January 1, 2012, the very first day of what is destined to be a wicked awesome year, I completed Skyrim.  I didn't just finish the main story line, I earned every single achievement that game has to offer.  The only other time I have felt this proud was when I completed the last Elder Scrolls game, and Fallout 3.  All of these were made by gaming behemoth Bethesda Software, and all three of the titles clocked me in at over 100 hours of gameplay.  There should be an achievement alone for dedicating 300+ hours of your life to one developer.

This is my 105 hour victory

All that being said, we have major things in the works for our personal lives, our gaming lives, Achievos, and for you.  Be on the lookout for more blogs, more misheard titles, and more free stuff !  We found a hidden cache of leftover PAX goodies and an OnLive console that are just dying to be shipped to a deserving reader.  With that, we here at Achievos wish you all the gaming best in the new year !

Kevin WK: Jus' Riffin About Saints Row: The Third

If you had told me last year that I would have access to amazing games like Skyrim, Battlefield 3, Modern Warfare 3, and Uncharted 3, yet only play Saints Row: The Third (SR3), I would have laughed and taken you off my friends list.  Well, I would've had to eat those words, because that is now my reality. 

I have never laughed so hard and felt as addicted to a sandbox game as I have with SR3.  I start to watch the city and how it reacts to everything, from random people getting pulled over by the police to Professor Genki, (a man in a cat suit with his own TV show), going on a random killing spree.  I could spend all day posing for pictures with people, performing wrestling moves on old women, and calling in airstrikes to a gang of Mexican wrestlers.

Even though this is a sequel, you don’t need to play the first two to get into the story; they refresh you from the beginning.  The Third Street Saints have gained a reputation as the best in Stillwater.  They have now taken the nation by storm with a great marketing staff and stores that sell their logos and likeness.  They are gangsta celebrities; when not taking over the streets, they are signing autographs or doing product placement in Japanese commercials.  They are both loved and hated the world over as other gangs get jealous and want a piece of the pie.  You can guess where that goes next. 

The first thing you do is bring your custom character to life.  There are actually a ton of different options; gender, hair, and clothes are at your disposal.  You can even change your characters voice.  I started with a Zombie voice that just yelled and mumbled, which was great until I realized I would like to know what he is saying.  Seriously, even the subtitles just say “mumbles” when he talks.  Once you have your character, you can upload them to the community and others can download your creation as well.

In case you somehow forgot what Kevin looks like in his boxers

The gameplay of Saints Row is very similar to GTA in the form of a living, breathing world.  When walking down the street, people will recognize you.  NPCs may even want you to pose for pictures, and what better way than giving a DDT to a helpless old woman.

The missions in SR3 are plentiful and include everything from survival missions to escort missions.  Even insurance fraud scenarios that were in the previous releases made it into this latest installment, and they are still super fun to play.  You can buy property and make money off of the businesses by the hour as well as get discounts for being the big boss.  You go on missions for all kinds of different characters like Ex-FBI agents, pro wrestlers, and a pimp with an autotuned voice (my personal favorite).  His intro to the game is one of the most outrageous moments I have ever had in a video game experience, yet so fitting to this game.  Warning: as the screen shot below indicates, this video is not safe for work or those easily (or even moderately) offended.  Language, sex, guns ..... you get the idea.

If you write this off as another Grand Theft Auto cash-in, I challenge you to give this game a try.  It will be more than worth your time.  If anything, GTA should take a cue from The Third Street Saints.

_______________________________________________

In the very remote chance that you have never read our blog before, Kevin WK has been a fixture here at Achievos, both in text and video form.  Below is his latest YouTube contribution. And don't forget that we are in the middle of a contest ! Comment on the blog or on the blog's Facebook page between now and Dec 5th for your chance to win the full game download of Fruit Ninja for FREE !  In the meantime, bask in Kevin's naked, hairy glory.

To Prestige or Not To Prestige ....

Every time a new Call of Duty game comes out, I play chicken with myself over prestiging.  I look over my weapons and think about how much I have grown to love them.  Do I really want to let go of my favorite gun?  Will I even enjoy the game without access to Dead Silence ?  And I promise you that my maniacal giggle will be absent without C4.

The only installment from the entire franchise that I have maxed out my prestige on was Call of Duty: World at War.  I tried to do the same with Modern Warfare 2, but I only cycled around four times before the next game came out.  By the time I was ready to prestige in Black Ops, they were announcing the next Call of Duty.  With that in mind, I never rolled over once.

Each time a new Call of Duty game comes out, the max level increases.  It started with level 55 in Call of Duty 4, and has increased all the way up to 80.  With progressive leveling up to such a high number, it feels like it will take forever for me to reach the top.  Sure, there are challenges and double XP to soften the blow, but I can't imagine wanting to make that super long journey again.  On a side note, I really hate this idea of getting double XP codes from stuff like Mt. Dew and Doritos.  Why does it have to be attached to the junkiest food on the planet ?  Activision makes more than enough money on sales alone, so can we please let go of this cross-marketing thing ?  It's annoying, expensive, and majorly unhealthy.

This year has been huge for single player games.  With my life dedicated to other titles, I just don't see myself having time to play nearly as much Call of Duty as I used to.  I know prestiging isn't a requirement, and I find the game totally fun without it.  But it would be nice to have something else to go for once I've reached the max level.  Maybe I will just obsess over stats and golden guns.

[Insert Call of Duty Pun Here]

I don't need to give an introductory statement about the Call of Duty franchise.  We don't need any witty comments or stupid little jokes where I pretend to have never heard of this monster series.  It's not clever or worth our time.  So jumping into it, Modern Warfare 3 is amazing and you need to own it.  While your temptation might be to stop there and rush out to purchase this game thanks solely to the last sentence, I encourage you to read on.  Right now, I'm going to just talk about the single player campaign. 

There have been some pretty memorable moments in past CoD games.  Players remember the first time they had a shoot out under a Ferris wheel, tore through an airport full of civilians, or realized that the main character is not quite what he seems.  But Modern Warfare 3 brings a whole new level of amazement with several scenes that will certainly find themselves solidly rooted in videogame history. 

MW3 takes us all around the world; New York, London, Sierra Leone, Berlin, Somalia, Paris, India, in the air and under water.  Each of these cities seems to have their own major event that took my breath away.  I can't describe most of the scenes since they would be huge spoilers, but I can say this without giving anything away; there was something wonderfully cathartic about shooting up Wall Street. 

The graphics are amazing, as per usual, and the game play and controls are pretty standard.  Sledgehammer didn't really break the mold with MW3, but they certainly brought some Jerry Bruckheimer entertainment to Xbox.  I am confident in my statement that this solo campaign is far better than the last three titles.  And for that I say, Thank You.

This game has some serious blood and touchy topics.  If you are a sensitive soul, you should probably walk away.

We're Back With Guns Blazing

After an unplanned absence, we have returned with more gaming knowledge to cram in your face.  First up, lets take a look at Battlefield 3 (BF3).  Even though BF3 is a sequel to the 2005 game, Battlefield 2, I am going to be throwing out a lot of comparisons to 2010's Battlefield: Bad Company 2.  There's a couple reasons for this; first, I never played Battlefield 2, and second, it doesn't seem fair to compare a game to it's six year-old predecessor. 

The solo campaign in Battlefield 3 takes place in the Middle East, and features a military rush on extremist rebels.  Following the token recipe for first-person shooters, BF3 is played almost exclusively in tight, urban backdrops with the occasional open area to romp around with armored vehicles.  One of the big differences between Bad Company 2 and Battlefield 3 is the super visceral feel.  Shooting weapons, jumping over items, and shifting weight while reloading are all expressed really intensely.  The graphics also give a very realistic feel with dramatic detail and impressive, natural lighting.  While all those features were great in Bad Company, they are that much more impressive in the newest title. 

I can't decide if it's harder or easier for me to review the multiplayer.  I have played the last two Bad Company games and spent several hours playing Battlefield 3.  With that amount of game play under my belt, I am far from an expert on this particular franchise, so this review will simply be some of my rookie observations.  As with the solo campaign, the multiplayer has great graphics; it looks great on the Xbox 360 and downright amazing on the PC.

Matches run a little bit longer than I care for, but that is probably due to my short attention span and Call of Duty preferences.  I noticed a lot of people camping, but that tends to happen more when a game is new and people are less familiar with the maps.  There is only so much hiding that can be done when players are allowed to control tanks, helicopter, and fight jets.  One of my big pet peeves with this game is that you can't back out of the lobby in between games.  Players have to wait until the game starts before they can go into menus to drop out; the only other option being to kick all the way to the dashboard.  It's a minor inconvenience but its a pesky thing I wish they would've changed. 

When the vehicles are not in play, Battlefield 3 seems to be more for the hardcore shooter fan.  It doesn't really break the mold of the genre, but it still makes for a great addition to your gaming library.



I was happy to see I could now go fully prone, until I spot guys doing this.

Can't We Just All Co-Op ?

Everyone plays video games in a little differently.  Here at Achievos, we usually speak in terms of single player or online mulitplayer.  I have spent a significant length of time this past weekend playing almost exclusively co-op, but is that really the best way to play?

Age of Empires has definitely been my recent favorite due to the ability to play while lying in bed and streaming some Netflix.  The entire game is designed to be played alone if you choose.  There are no missions that require co-op and even though some missions are more difficult than others, there is nothing that prevents someone from leveling up enough to conquer them all.

I bring this up because I received some unexpected flack.  I was hanging around in some chat rooms looking for a co-op partner when some random person questioned my gaming abilities due to my need for assistance.  This individual expressed that if I used co-op, then I wasn't playing the game correctly.

So the real debate is to co-op or not to co-op.  The developers of Age of Empires clearly expected and encouraged players to utilize the co-op function.  With the presence of chat rooms and co-op enable on over half of the quests, playing well with others was something they thought would be fun or beneficial.  Also, while looking at the general concept of Age of Empires Online, the key word here being 'online', what would be the point of having a multiplayer game if we are not expected to complete quests together. 

Looking at the views of the heckler in the chat room, does playing with others really mean I have less ability, or am I simply more social?  Does constantly playing co-op make the game too easy and keep me from truly experiencing the full scope of the game?

Luckily, I'm an adult that really doesn't care about what some random person says in a chat room.  But it does pose an interesting question and thus an interesting debate.  Is it better to go for the glory and knowledge by playing alone, or to have more fun playing with others while potentially missing small parts of the game?

My Spoiler Statue of Limitaions - Don't Worry, No Spoilers

There is nothing worse than sitting down to read a book when someone walks by, looks at the cover, and says "Oh yea, I read that.  I lovde when So-and So won the big case at the end".  Or when you have begged and begged your co-workers to not talk about the big game you DVR'd to watch when you get home from work, only for the bagel boy to come in and immediately announce the winner complete with score and detailed synopsis of how suspenseful the game was.  I've never been burned by spoilers from video games, but that has all dramatically changed.

I have never played the Gears of War games.  I'm not dishing out any hate, third person shooters are just not my thing; more importantly, I am awful at them.  While I admit to being shockingly, I aboslutely love a well constructed story.  So when I began hearing from grown men how emotional the game was, I knew I had to jump in.  I posted my new adventure on a social networking site only to have someone immediately reveal one of the game's most emotional, surprising, and pivotal events.  Thread ruined. 

The attack on this person from my friends for spilling the beans was immediate and intense, and I kind of understand why.  I watched the summary movie at the beginning of Gears of War 3 that explained what happened in the first two games, so I was more than ready and eager to see how it was all going to end.  Having this blown for me really sucked.  A lot of people I know had extremely emotional reactions to that specific part of the game and then when I played, my response was greatly diminished.  The person who posted the massive spoiler lashed out and said that the game was six days old so everyone should have completed the game by now.  That's when it struck me, how long before a peice of information is no longer a spoiler?

I can definitely say that six days is not even remotely enough time to drop those kind of bombs.  If the game goes on sale Tuesday, it is not reasonable at all to expect people to finish it by Sunday.  Most people have jobs or families that prevent them from playing substantially during the week.  Also, numerous people that I know played on the hardest difficulty so they could take their time and really soak in the final chapter.  Just because people are not hardcore fans that plow through the game, doesn't mean they don't deserve to enjoy it.

So having ruled out the obvious that less than a week is still a spoiler, what other time restraints are there?  I probably wouldn't consider saying anything about Gears 2 a spoiler because that game is three years old and there is a summary movie at the beginning of the latest title.  What about other story rich games like Mass Effect 2?  Its been one year since that game came out, which is a significantly less amount of time, plus Mass Effect 3 isn't out yet.  Is it safe to openly discuss that ending?  And what if a game doesn't have a sequel, is there a flat out time limit?  Maybe the amount of time one must wait depends on how significant the information is.

At the end of the day, be mindful when discussing games.  Even our super guest blogger Kevin had been careful about not reading spoilers when two guys ,who had both completed the game, began discussing pivot plot points right next to him.  Just because you already know, doesn't mean that others do.  What do you think the limit should be on spoilers?

Pick Your Sides

The debate is on for which version of Commander Shepard is better, the male or the female.  I argue heatedly for the female Shepard.  She is one of the few strong female characters in video games that isn't hyper sexual.  Well, at least not until the end when she turbo-bangs Kaiden Alenko.  I had my female Shepard tag that ass, twice.  I also think that she has amazing voice acting.  But I have started hearing that some people really think that male Shepard is better.  I'm open to the discussion.  Go ahead, internet, give me your best argument. 

Introducing Delicious Fillers with Extra Fluff !

Linz and I can't always find the time to write up full blogs every day.  We have decided to fill the gaps with fun tidbits.  We will post videos that we like, news bites, what we are playing that day, and anything else to keep up the flow.  We are also looking into guest bloggers.  So if you want to write something about topic we haven't covered, shoot us a line and let us know your idea.  

Sometimes, other people do stuff that is amazing and we just have to show you their genius.  With that in mind, I have linked a video below that I'm sure most people have seen.  If you like the game Portal, you are going love this short film interpretation.  Even if you have never played Portal, the clip is still hella cool.

PAX Skyrim Booth Renews My Faith in Humanity

After years of anticipation, the long awaited sequel to Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion is just a few months away from release.  Even though Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim won’t be hitting shelves until 11/11/2011, the creative and loving souls over at Bethesda let PAX attendees have a crack at the game early.  After standing in line for almost an hour (the shortest wait line for the game all weekend), I was allowed to play the game for 15 whole minutes.  Read and bask in the details.

Each attendee walked up to a monitor that had a saved game loaded.  We could choose the character classes and move into game play.  Everyone started in a cave and then they were allowed to leave and explore wherever they felt like.  Most people went into either a small local woodland village or a mine.  There was also plenty of general landscape to explore including snowy mountains, dense forest, and a large glistening lake.  All locations had plenty of enemies to fight and characters to talk to. 

Starting with just the looks and general feel of the game, it was beyond amazing.  The textures and environment were crystal clear.  The definition and depth of the surroundings were amazing.  Even when swimming under water, the bottom of the lake was full of rich detail.  The menus also took on a major upgrade.  They are far more easy to navigate and much less overwhelming.  All items in the inventory are displayed individually and quite large so all the intense detail can be seen with ease.  The stats for each weapon, spell, and piece of armor are clearly visible and easy to calculate.  The weapons and spells are dual wield.  Players can carry a two-handed weapon, two one-handed weapons, a weapon and a spell, or two different spells.

I think there might be dragons in Skyrim.  Call it a hunch.

One of the more advertised features is the use of the Creation Engine (developed internally by Bethesda) that helps facilitate random events.  Certain enemies like dragons or physics related elements like weather are completely random.  It was widely discussed around the convention, in panels, and online that even the developers were completely unable to predict certain events in the game while working through the testing phase.

Overall, this game looks amazing.  And the 15 minutes I played completely hooked me.  It was more than worth standing in line for an hour.  The toughest part of the game will be trying to wait two more months to get it.  In the meantime, don't forget to subscribe to the blog and follow us on twitter @achievos !

The Secret World Developers Give Intimate Demo

A giant display in the middle of the convention room floor advertised a game, The Secret World.  There was a barely noticeable black curtain that allowed convention goers inside to three rows of seats and a giant screen.  In there were two Australian men, developers of the game, talking about making and playing the game.  Here is what I learned.

The Secret World is an MMORPG.  Its based in real time but has a lot of "old world" elements.  Characters have modern clothes and use current language and diction.  The game has secret government agencies and exploring buildings and sewers.  They also implied that there may be some abilities to use or interact with helicopters at some point in the game.  But they wouldn't say more, they just smiled and said "no spoilers" over and over.  All of us in the audience could tell they were dying to tell us something but they managed to restrain.

The "old world" elements refer to some of the other skills that players have.  There are varying levels of magic and skills that are obviously not conducive to modern times.  They fall more in line with that sort of alternate reality medieval time that is seen in Oblivion.  Spells like fireballs and electricity are available but will naturally upgrade as the player upgrades. 

The developers repeated several times that "there are no classes or ranks".  Players will not be locked into or out of special abilites based on classes.  However, they didn't explain the factions.  There was a huge display of computers where convention attendees could take a quiz.  The answers of the quizzes determined if the player will be in the Templars, the Illuminati, or the Dragons.  I answered questions in a way that leaned towards knowledge and peaceful advancement which resulted in me being a Dragon.  The characters are not actual dragons, its supposed to be modern times, and they claim there are no classes.  So these factions and their significance in the game remains unexplained.

They were also really excited about the system they established for teaching players the games.  Each skill is taught and utilized through an area.  Mini bosses must be beaten before players can move on in the game and learn the next skill.  They focused on not only learning spells or skills, but making sure that players are able to combine them effectively as the progress.

The game looks like a lot of fun.  The style is not particularly new but the story line sounds intriguing and complex.  Even with the convention center's crappy WiFi, the gameplay still looked smooth as they tapped into their servers.  This game will definitely be one to check out in the future. 

Also, are you following us on Twitter ?  I have a ton of swag to bring back and give away.  Plus you don't want to miss out on any PAX tidbits and info.  @achievos

OnLive Takes on PAX Full Force

The game on-demand service provider OnLive took PAX by storm.  After at least a year online, the service is ready to take on the needs of the masses. When I say masses, I mean lines at PAX that were hundreds of people deep at any given time.  They were so long that event organizers had to cut people off due to fire hazard and c-blocking other vendors.  All those people were in line for their chance at a free OnLive console.  You can get one too.

First, a little more about OnLive.  As stated in my grand introduction, OnLive is an on-demand service for video games.  More specifically, it allows players to stream games to their televisions, PCs, and laptops.  There is no need to have an amazing graphic card or insane processor.  All games purchased are kept on servers and streamed to the user.  Customers can pay for games on an individual basis.  Most games are at a standard retail rate.  There are sales once a week where a not-totally obscure title can be purchased for five dollars.  The game might be a little older, but the price is still great.   Example: a couple weeks ago they had Borderlands with all DLC for $5.  Srsly.

The other pricing option is their PlayPack Bundle.  It kind of works like streaming Netflix where you can have unlimited access to more than 80 games whenever you want.  But just like streaming Netflix, you don't have access to the full catalog, and not a lot of major titles when they are first released.  To make up for this, OnLive members with the PlayPack option get an additional 30% off any additional purchase.  So that $50 game is now only $35.  And those five dollar deals I was mentioning earlier?  Yea, those get the 30% off treatment as well. 

The only problem that I found with the console is that it isn't wireless.  My apartment has a more intense wireless network than NASA.  We have everything linked up and passing back and forth.  But the OnLive console must be wired into the router.  A hardline Ethernet goes into one end of the device and HDMI comes out the other.   There is no wireless option whatsoever.  Even if we weren't addicted to our cord-free lifestyle, the router in my apartment is nowhere near where all the gaming takes place. 

So for a lot of people, this is still a totally viable gaming option with lots of potential savings.  And with my wireless dilemma, I am willing to part with my free, unopened, OnLive console to a loyal reader.  We haven't worked out yet how we will give away all the amazing things accumulated.  But keep a watchful eye on the blog to see how this $100 console and other super cool prizes could be yours.

My goal when taking pictures is to make them look as grainy and poorly lit as possible.  Mission Accomplished.

Age of Empires Online Blows Minds and Wallets

Growing up, a lot of people broke their PC gaming cherry on the game Age of Empires.  So when it was announced that there would be a new release for the franchise, it was kind of a big deal.  Despite the excitement, the game took a quiet roll out of the starting gate without much fan fare.  But now that the buzz surrounding this title is growing, its time to break it all down.

Age of Empires Online is a single player game with a co-op option.  The core objective of the game remains the same as its predecessor.  Build an empire through resource management in an RTS setting and completing quests along the way.  Instead of slowly building one giant empire, you are tasked to managed your capitol city while constantly going out and rebuilding small areas from scratch over and over again with different goals each time.

This game has an Xbox party function that allows you to chat with players while in co-op mode or otherwise.  It says that there is a voice chat but no one I have encountered has knows how to turn it on.  There is an option to type in an open stream but there are too many people to really keep up with any discernible conversation.  Starting parties to a restricted stream is pretty easy, but that's about it.

The real discussion point is the price.  As of right now, Age of Empires Online is free as part of a pay-to-play setup.  The first several levels and numerous quests are free, but there comes a point where progressing will cost you.  Players are asked to pay to access other civilizations, weapons, armor, and additional quests.  Booster packs are about ten dollars, quest packs are about twenty dollars, and a Season One pass is a full blown one hundred dollars.  The Season Pass does include all of the currently available content and probably any content release over the next couple months.  But I am curious about how soon Season One will end Season Two will begin.  And I assume that when Season Two starts, there will be an exorbitant amount of money that I will be expected to pay all over again.

Right now the game is free and a lot of fun.  It has achievements that link to Xbox LIVE accounts and allows you to play with friends.  While I am on the fence about how much content I'm willing to pay for, the game is still worth checking out.

The Queen of My Castle

I totally got hooked by a link the Frag Dolls posted on their Facebook feed about getting into a closed beta for a new game called Castle Empire.  I'm in it, and I have to say, I am loving it.

The game plays a lot like a simple, slower version of Age of Empires (AoE).  AoE was one of my original loves of gaming, and took many an hour/day/week of my time when I was in high school/college/post-college/right now.  The above screenshot is the main hub of my town.  The island you are on is split into 9 sections, and you start in the bottom left, each remaining section shrouded in fog and filled with bandit camps.  As you defeat them you can take over the sections and increase the size of your town.

As with AoE, in Castle Empire you must farm for materials like wood, stone, water, fish...  The type of supplies you need are organized by category based on level.  For example, I am currently level 19 and am up to the third category of supplies, advanced, and now have to farm not only fir logs, but also hardwood logs for building and upgrading different buildings in my town.  The system works, but it has been a trial trying to find that perfect balance for collecting goods.  Each building has a time frame that it takes to collect X number of resources, for example, a level 1 fir wood cutter takes 2 minutes and 22 seconds to farm 1 fir log.  A fir wood sawmill, which turns those logs into plants, takes 4 minutes and 28 seconds.  So you have a surplus of wood from plank creation - a good thing because you're going to be using those logs all over the place.  There is a fine balance to be found for supply and demand, and I have seen people in the chat talking about running spreadsheets just to keep it all straight.  I have far from perfected it, but that's part of the fun in my book.

The battle function when taking on bandit camps is simple, but has its own frustrations.  Soldiers are expensive and time consuming, and generally most get killed in battle so you're back to square one on building up your army to take on the next bandit camp.  The enemy camps are clearly marked as easy/medium/hard, and tell you the number of bad guys you're going up against, so you can prepare appropriately.

Obviously this game is in beta.  There have been glitches that I've heard other people talk about in chat, but have not experienced myself.  There are often people in chat that work for development that are getting the players ideas and suggestions, and I think it's a good method.  It's interesting to see how much other online games are influencing people's desires in Castle Empire - I've made suggestions based on AoE and Sim City, and have heard suggestions clearly taken from games as different as WoW. 

Right now Castle Empire is a really fun way to kill some time.  It is an interesting combination of a real-time strategy + Facebook game.  I say that mostly because of the time involved.  You aren't going to sit down and play this game through in a couple hours.  Collecting supplies and spending them on buildings and creating your army takes days sometimes.  You also have a friends list and you can help your friends out by gifting supplies or placing buffs on their buildings which make them work twice as hard for X amount of time.  It's a blast, and I love checking in on my little town a few times a day.  So far it seems like a game that can eat up as much of your time as you're willing to let it.  If you want to give it a go, send me a message at achievos@gmail.com and I'll send you an invite.  As of right now I think that's the only way you can get into the beta.

Rift in Review, Part 3

The final wrap up of Megan's extensive review of Rift. This is the clincher - the part where she...well, I won't ruin any surprises. We certainly enjoyed having her as a guest blogger! If anyone out there wants to post, please email us at achievos @ gmail.com and let us know!

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I’ll go straight for the throat now – why, despite enjoying this game, did I go back to WoW? There is no singular, big, unifying answer; more of a lot of small things that gave me the desire to head back to Azeroth. Keep in mind that most of these centers around end game complaints, which will never be an issue for many MMO players. One issue I had was each server, or shard, is not assigned a time zone. This initially didn’t strike me as too much of a deal breaker until I had reached max level and wanted to proceed into more end game oriented activities (the more difficult 5 man dungeons, and raids). It’s quite disheartening to put all this time into leveling only to realize that there are no guilds wanting to raid at the times you have available.

My major debilitating feature was the lack of add ons. Anyone who has actually seen my interface in WoW can tell I’m an add on junkie. Now don’t mistake me, the game is quite playable as is. It’s perfect for the beginning player, as anything that gives you more information or customization inherently becomes more complex. But, there are ways to do it so much better, and add ons are a great way for this to happen without having to waste developer time that is better spent on creating new content, or running the risk of confusing new or more casual players. My character is a cleric, and I wanted to heal end game content, and I didn’t want to heal it just any way, I wanted to heal it as a warden, which is a heal over time based healer. Healing on a character who relies on HoT spells is absolutely infuriating when you have no way to track what characters have your spells on them already without clicking on the person and searching through a massive buff list to try and locate what might be your spell. Possible? Yes. Makes me feel frustrated, annoyed, and incredibly inefficient? Yes, yes, and hell yes. And it is so much easier with a threat meter to tell as a damage dealer when it is ok to go all out or when you need to hold back, and tanking so much less stressful when you can tell how far ahead of your group you actually are. I could go on and on preaching about how much I love add ons, but this isn’t the article for that.

A heavily modified WoW healer UI, from WowInsider.  Rift has some basic UI customization in game, but add ons allow much more customization for you to tailor to your specific needs, whether you need easier to read health bars or just want something more aesthetically pleasing.

I’ll limit this to the big three of my complaints, since this post is growing to epic proportions already. Last of the three is how rifting tapers off as you get higher level. In the first few zones you quest in, rifts abound everywhere, and if you log on for three hours in an evening, you can count upon a zone invasion happening for you to participate in. I love the zone invasions; the entire zone banding together to force back the enemy, and a certain amount of tactics having to occur to be successful is exciting. However, the zone invasions suffered an abrupt drop off once you reached a certain point; I went from approximately level 30 to level 50 without seeing more than 1 or 2. Once I reached 50, the only time I actually saw any was when I decided to forgo my entire Saturday or Sunday, and then maybe I’d be online for one. For something that I enjoyed so very much, it was, to say the least, a disappointment for them no longer occur much at all.

With that said, I expect I will give it another go in a few months. Of my major complaints, I am quite aware the Trion is either in the process of fixing or has pushed some fixes for all of them (there have been numerous tweaks to try and get zone invasions to occur more frequently, there is some sort of free server transfer service for your character (though I’m not clear on the specifics of how it works), and support for add ons is coming soon). With these complaints addressed, I would expect my interest in the game would solidify much more. All in all, Rift is a sold game that shows all the signs of sticking around for a significant period of time, and I expect that most anyone that has enjoyed WoW will enjoy Rift as well, and I think it has some innovations built in that even Blizzard could learn from and adopt. 

The tentacles from beyond are going to get you!