'Yooka-Laylee' will be my kind of game

             Yooka-Laylee is looking like a dream-come-true game for me. I knew since its reveal on Kickstarter that it would be Banjo-Threeie in spirit, but now that I see the screenshots and videos, I really see just how much Banjo-Kazooie magic is going to be in this game.

            The look nails it. No surprise that Steve Mayles of Banjo-Kazooie designed the characters. The style of the characters and the world are totally Banjo-Kazooie. And I can glean transformations from the screenshots (that really takes me back. Remember all those cool transformations in Rare’s 3D platformers?). The soundtrack is composed by David Wise (Donkey Kong Country), Grant Kirkhope (Banjo-Kazooie), and Steve Burke (Viva Piñata). Chris Sutherland (voice of Banjo and Kazooie) will be voicing the duo as well (the voices will be B-K style murmurings).

            According to Playtonic’s website, Yooka-Laylee will have five worlds, special moves, puzzles and (of course) platforming. Yooka and Laylee collect “Pagies” (the new Jiggies) to unlock more areas, and throughout the game meet a cast of “oddball” characters and “hulking” bosses. The big bad guy is corporate overlord Capital B (who is, yes, a bee. In a suit.).

           Yooka-Laylee will release on April 11, 2017 for Windows, Mac, Linux, Xbox One and PS4. The Wii U version has been cancelled, but Playtonic plans to bring the game to the Nintendo Switch. Preordering the game on PC, Xbox One or PS4 gives one access to the “Yooka-Laylee Toybox”, a sandbox, demo-esque gameplay experience that samples what it’s like to move around as Yooka and Laylee (this had been available to certain backers as well).

The Steam and GOG releases have a “Digital Deluxe” option, a copy of the game that includes the soundtrack and a digital manual and artbook. The standard version of Yooka-Laylee is forty dollars; the Digital Deluxe edition is fifty.

Check out some screenshots and trailers below:

 

 

 

 

Overdue Update: 11-1-16

            I let my blog get away from me.

            Time for a new post…and a new post topic. This post topic, “Overdue Update”, is for when I allow much time to pass before adding a new blog post. For this first Overdue Update, I’ll list the games I’ve been playing and the ones next year that I’m anticipating.

            Since my last post back in August, I’ve continued multiple game replays. This includes, as usual, a lot of Thief fan missions, but also other game titles like Deus Ex. This one is special because I haven’t revisited the game since my first playthrough, so this is my first replay of the title. I’m playing it with the fan-made High Resolution Pack. It’s quite enjoyable!

            My new game rounds include dabbling back in DOOM every so often, continuing to wander the wastes of Fallout 4 (haven’t even gotten to the DLC), and continuing MGSV (just recently got to some new, really well done story bits in part two).

            Dishonored 2 comes out on the eleventh. I will likely purchase and download it in time for Christmas break.

            Next year will be great. I’ll list the main ones again: Zelda: Breath of the Wild, Persona 5, Luke and Laylee, potential Quake Champions beta, Prey, Resident Evil 7, The Bard’s Tale IV, and the System Shock remake. Sounds great!

            Another three months (or two and a half), another blog post.

            Coming up: more thoughts on Fallout 4 and MGSV, and summaries of a few Thief FMs.

Back in style.

Currently Playing, 8-10-16

          Half-Life 2 replay:

            I’ve replayed most of the classics to near death, but there’s an odd one here or there that I haven’t revisited much. One of those is Half-Life 2, a game that I love but, despite having replayed its predecessor thousands of times, have only replayed once or twice, and those times years ago. I’ve kicked around the idea of going back through it again for a long time, and recently, on a whim, finally started it up. As soon as the menu opened up to the City 17 plaza scene and I heard the Combine soldiers’ radio communications, I knew I was in for a treat and that neglecting Half-Life 2 all these years had been a mistake.

            The G-man intro and Dr. Breen’s welcome weren’t as mystically amazing as they were in 2004, but I was drawn in nonetheless and soon wanted nothing more than to live in Half-Life 2. It’s a great game.

            The pacing is just right. There’s no overlong intro, you almost immediately are moving around in the gameworld, the characters, classic Black Mesa staff and newcomers like Alyx, are introduced in timely succession, references to the first game and fan service are present but not overwhelming, and soon enough you’ve got a crowbar. From what I remember of my earlier playthroughs, and as I’m sure I’ll come to find out again, the pacing remains perfect throughout the game. This includes shooting, solving puzzles, experiencing scripted narrative sequences, and controlling vehicles. Each component is served up just right in good time, with nothing outstaying its welcome.

            The atmosphere is well done in that it’s Half-Life but also successfully dystopian city. I remember reading somewhere that part of the creative direction for Half-Life 2 was to create the Half-Life feel in a new setting by establishing the same elements from Black Mesa and placing them into City 17. Valve certainly succeeded. I’m in a dystopian city…but it’s definitely Half-Life.

            I appreciate more design elements now than I did back in 2004. This is the principle I’ve experienced of appreciating the finer aspects of art and entertainment—and I guess of everything—as we grow older. One such moment came near the end of Water Hazard when I took out the helicopter. The pesky thing that had been bothering me for much of the latter half of the level I was finally allowed to destroy—and just when the chopper’s destroyed husk crashed on the ground, a well-timed music cue played. Perfect! This little detail I had never noticed before.

            Speaking of music, I love the music, both new and original. The audio is another area in which Half-Life 2 has new content but also enough classic content to make it feel like Half-Life. My only gripe is that some loading zones can cut a music track short before its intended time to stop. A minor gripe, yes, and perhaps my only complaint with Half-Life 2.

            I want to post more on this fantastic game as I continue my journey through it. I’ll end this post by once again citing the pacing as this game’s greatest strength. How elements from the first Half-Life, and one unique to this sequel, are introduced is very well done on Valve’s part.

            Well, then, on to Black Mesa East, and then Ravenholm, and then the dune buggy, and then…ah yes, it’s all coming back to me!

Thoughts on the The Witcher III's Blood and Wine DLC

            The Witcher III is my favorite game of 2015, and Blood and Wine is my favorite gaming experience of 2016 so far. Blood and Wine gave me a new, beautiful land to explore, a solid main quest line, a good crop of side quests, fun characters, a wonderful soundtrack, and more great Geralt dialogue. There are each a good thing that all people need.

 

 

            Blood and Wine’s location, the country of Toussaint, is breathtaking. So much that I hesitate before fast traveling back to the other lands of Witcher III, though I am, as far as I can tell, finished in Toussaint. Though no more quests await, I can’t help but frolic through the fields, taking screenshots and delighting in the music. The rolling hills and valleys of Toussaint are some of the most beautiful game visuals one can see in 2016.

            Toussaint is based on France. It’s not too difficult to discern this, given the many vineyards, the accents of its people, and the look of its buildings. Toussaint offers a refreshing change of scenery and environment from the rest of Witcher III’s Temeria, much like France does, I’m sure, to northern Europe. I can’t say for sure as I’ve never been to France. (But I have been to Toussaint!)

 

 

            The soundtrack lives up to the quality of the base game’s, if not even surpasses it. The music that plays as you explore the world complements the beautiful, rolling visuals. The battle and dungeons tracks are great, and I loved the theme it plays when you are investigating a scene. Each track has a French sound to it. I’m not a music expert, so I can’t elucidate here on all the nuances of French music—but you’ll know what I mean.  

            The main quest involves a beast plaguing Beauclair, the capitol city of Toussaint. It has been killing prominent citizens in extremely violent fashion. Duchess Anna Henrietta, ruler of the region, summons Geralt and offers him a contract to slay the beast. Geralt finds out, soon after he has undertaken the task, that slaying this beast is going to be more difficult than it is for most contracts. This main quest line is enjoyable, if victim to some cliché plot devices that, honestly, most narratives fall to. There’s even a ‘secret background character that suddenly comes into the picture in a “did I mention” sort of way, at just the opportune moment to make you think “surely not…but of course!”…’. But the use of these ploys does not detract from the main quests’ overall quality. Like the major quest lines of The Witcher III, there’s excellent dialogue, a couple key choices to make, tough boss battles, and good set pieces. It’s more of what you loved from the base game.

 

            Ditto for the side quests. You’ll fight plenty of monsters plaguing vineyards, encounter a few anguished spirits, help a few folks with curses (like an unfortunate werebird), and meet colorful characters throughout. A new feature in this DLC is furnishing a home—one of the side quests has Geralt restoring a house given him by Toussaint’s duchess. All the quests amount to a hefty amount of content for a twenty-dollar DLC package. Even still, if you’re as Witcher III-crazed as I can be…you’ll be wanting more.

            This DLC comes along with an update to the base game that improves the user interface and makes other minor changes. One of these that I appreciated is that the game now pauses the action when you bring up the menu to change signs, rather than only having the game enter slow motion when you do so.

Blood and Wine has great quests, great visuals, a great soundtrack, and brings improvements to the base game. I loved it. It got me back into The Witcher III, after all, and got me psyched for a new-games-plus! (The option of a new-game-plus is one of the more recent updates around the time of this DLC.)

 

Thoughts on DOOM

Thoughts on DOOM (4) (called Doom in the review)

            No game is perfect, but id’s 2016 Doom reboot perfectly melds the Doom experience with present-day shooter design.

            My initial thoughts on Doom veered towards “This isn’t the kind of Doom I want.” My ideal Doom recreation would be built of labyrinths, with monsters placed throughout. Instead, Doom gives linear set pieces with demons spawning in combat-zone style a la Painkiller. “Once again, a shooter reboot fails to capture the real classic shooter design,” I thought. But I was quickly won over. Doom is a great game, and perfectly reboots Doom.

The core of the game is shooting and otherwise tearing apart demons. There is some simple strategy to be had, though. After shooting each demon for a while, and just before the next shots would fell them, each demon glows a blue or yellow color. This means you can perform a “glory kill” on them—a melee attack that has you finish off a demon in always bloody, sometimes creative ways.

One glory kill on the Mancubus has you tear out his stomach—or some other, apparently explosive, organ—and shove it in his mouth. You can then watch as he explodes and organs spill out. Delicious—but, not all are as detailed as this. Some just have you break a demons’ arm and knock it in the head with it. Others boringly have you just punch a demon forward. (Not everything can be a hit.)

These glory kills have the demons drop more health. Chainsaw kills have the demons drop more ammo. These gloriously gruesome attacks are one-hit kills, even for the bigger demons, but each chainsaw kill requires fuel. The bigger the demon, the more fuel you need. You could use bits of fuel each on a group of lesser enemies, or all of it on a big one. The big one will net you more ammo.

So as you go about killing demons, you’ll perform glory kills and chainsaw kills depending on how much health or ammo you need. You’ll probably be performing these regardless, as they are ceaselessly satisfying.

As I noted above, most combat in Doom takes places in “battle arena” like scenarios. Each of these have health and ammo pickups littered throughout, and a lot of them have jump-pads and teleporters. When demons start coming, battle music, metal in style, starts playing. Think of how Bioshock Infinite’s battle music worked, if you need a point of reference. Really, Bioshock Infinite’s battle scenarios are a good point of reference for Doom’s, as are Painkiller’s. But Doom is better than both of those for what it does.

All the shooting and killing takes place across surreal landscapes in the UAC Facility on Mars and the demons’ abodes in hell. The visuals are what really drive home Doom’s throwback nature. It was while firing rockets at a giant horned and hoofed demon, with a surreal hell landscape in the background, and while blasting my double-barreled shotgun at a Pinky demon as he charged towards me in a surreal research-facility hallway, that I thought to myself how much this game harkens back to the shooters of yore. There is great nostalgia here if you grew up with the original Doom and its contemporaries.

Extra touches keep the game from being a totally straight shooter. You can upgrade your suit, say to be more resistant to weapon splashback, and you can unlock and upgrade weapon mods. These are basically alternative fires. Think of an old FPS game with secondary fire, and then imagine being able to switch between multiple secondary fires and being able to upgrade them. Yeah, it’s cool.

There is some story here too. A few characters speak to you, the player, and there’s some backstory on all this UAC / hell / Doomguy stuff. The way id worked story elements in just enough, to keep them from hampering the run-and-gun Doom experience, is as near perfect as it can be. I was impressed by how lightly and neatly story bits were segmented in. What was there worked, and it didn’t dominate the experience. For that matter, there’s also a codex that you can gain entries to for each demon, weapon, character, and location. It’s interesting stuff, if you care.

Did I mention there are secret areas? And Quad Damage (among other powerups)? And a couple cool, classic-FPS-style boss fights? And red, blue, and yellow key doors? Well, there are all these things, and a whole lot more goodness, that I didn’t touch on. And I didn’t do Multiplayer or Snapmap. But, of course, I loved the singleplayer. Based on that alone, id’s 2016 Doom reboot is a fantastic game, that perfectly brings classic Doom to a present-day shooter design. I love it.

And now, id can focus all their time on Quake V.

Thief Mission Writeups Continued: "Songs of the Cavern"

Thief Mission Writeups Continued

Completing the work of my advanced project blog by writing on each Thief mission…see thiefdesign.blogspot.com and morethiefdesign,blogspot.com…

Thief Gold, mission 10: Songs of the Cavern

            My favorite Thief Gold addition to The Dark Project’s mission suite is the opera house level, or, “Songs of the Cavern”. It has one my favorite atmospheres and some of my favorite side stories. So put down your brochure, pop-up those pretentious spectacle things, and…no, I’m not going to keep up the opera house metaphor thing. I need to get to the writeup.

            To get the Talisman of Water, Garrett needs to navigate some underwater caverns where the Keepers set up some booby traps when they locked the talisman away down there. There shouldn’t be anything more than a few poisonous spiders, so it should be a simple job. Garrett even has an old pal, Giry, to ask for help. Giry, a has-been ticket-teller at the local opera house, lives in the caverns Garrett must travel through, and so can help Garrett navigate them.

            Things aren’t so easy for Garrett. The “few poisonous spiders” have wrapped up and sucked dry old Giry, and so Garrett is on his own. The cavern is also home to a few ravenous craymen, adding to the danger. Even still, the caverns, on their own, don’t make for a very satisfying Thief mission. There’s some watery tunnels, some craymen, a few booby traps…the Talisman of Water is nothing to get! But wait—the chest is empty! And there’s a note written by a certain “Lady V.”, dropped by a dead guardsman, that details how they, Lady V.’s guards, should procure a valuable artifact. And, off in the distance, there’s a man singing opera…

            Okay—the mission is just beginning!

            Raul is a crazy old hermit who once was one of the owners of the opera house. Lady Valerius, also of the opera house, cheated him out of it. Now he lives in a shack in the tunnels beneath the opera house. This much is gathered from his crazed singing. Raul sees in Garrett an agent of revenge. So he hands Garrett a map of the opera house and a key to several of its doors. He directs Garrett up a nearby rope that hangs down from an opening into the sewers that lead to a secret entrance in the opera house, sending him up to nab Lady Valerius’ newfound prized possession—the Talisman of Water. Garrett can avenge Raul and continue his quest in one swoop.

            Some of my favorite atmospheric moments in Thief come from Garrett entering the opera house. Just as you come up into it from the sewer tunnels, a heavy, deep ambient noise—a stereo version of the ‘indoor wind noise’—sets in, and the immensity of the opera house rises around you. This is just the basement you’re in, but it’s humongous, and large set pieces from different acts fill many of the rooms. String plucks and violin sound occasionally filter in, as if ghostly noises from the opera house’s past. The whole mood of the basement is ghostly, in fact—you feel this opera house has a few phantoms that could jump out at any moment. But, as it is, no such phantoms are here—or, at least, they don’t jump out.

            As Garrett ascends into the opera house above, different ambiances play. The heaviness of the basement dies down into a more subtle ambiance, and trumpet noises, suggesting a performance, filter in. Garrett may walk around the public areas upfront—with a beautiful fountain and décor—or duck into the private rooms and backstage area. He may also cross into the performance hall, and tip toe across the stage even—in full light—at which point he says, “I’d love to stay for the show, but I’ve got a feeling it’s time to move along now.” I always wondered what the audience thinks as they see a cloaked figure run across the stage (most likely they mutter “Is someone there? Hm, probably rats.”).

            A few of my favorite conversations can be heard in the opera house. There’s Benny and straight-guard-guy with the “cloak-check girl” conversation; there’s Cribs, the in-house playwright, tutoring a young singer, who proceeds to mutter the greatest insult in Thief dialogue; and there’s a couple of snobby upper crusts, one of whom lays out a cheesily funny insult to the other. On the topic of humor, I love how the map of the opera house, drawn up by Raul, exudes of his characters (“CRIBS!” marks Cribs’ room; similar for Lady Valerius’ room).

            The Talisman is simple to get once players nab the appropriate key. A secret passage, one which old Raul likely used, leads to Lady Valerius’ chambers, where the Talisman is kept. In typical Talisman fashion, it emits its element—water bubbles rise up from the chest. (What isn’t so simple is fulfilling the loot requirement, especially on expert.)

            Garrett’s opera house adventure is a fun romp with memorable characters and a ‘renaissance Phantom of the Opera’ vibe that melds well with the rest of Thief I’s dark medieval atmosphere. I think it, along with Guild and Mage Towers, makes The Dark Project a more complete journey. And who couldn’t love Raul?

-Thief as Noir

            It’s not rocket science to note that Thief: The Dark Project’s story is similar to the hard-boiled crime stories of classic noir films. Ken Levine, who worked on the initial story design for Thief: The Dark Project, acknowledged such in one of the Irrational Behavior podcasts. It’s akin to noting Half-Life 2’s story similarities to 1984—it’s an easy comparison to make.

            But, for fun, I will start here a series of posts drawing comparisons between Thief: The Dark Project’s story and those of noir films.

            This time, the film is Kiss Me Deadly. I recently watched it for the first time. Comparisons between its story and Thief’s aren’t across the board, but here are some (do note that there are spoilers below for both Thief and Kiss Me Deadly):

            -Mike Hammer is like Garrett: Both are the guy who comes upon a big opportunity, pursues it for the money, and ends up getting deep into something that is wider and graver. Both are also seedy antiheroes who are not scrupulous (Garrett a thief, Mike a crooked divorce investigator).

            -The cops / official investigators are like the Keepers: Both are shadowy organizations that work in the background and know more about what’s going on. In these cases, (spoilers) knowledge of the return of the Trickster (via prophecies) and knowledge of a… well, I won’t spoil that.

            -The Carver woman is loosely like Viktoria, in that she is a femme fatale who leads the Garrett / Hammer character further astray.

            -Don’t think there’s a comparison for the Trickster. The climactic moments from both could be compared, though…(won’t spoil them here)

            See? That’s all. I’m just having a little fun. I’ll be noting things like this with other noir films (as I already stated above). Next up I’d like to do The Maltese Falcon and then The Third Man—two films that I have seen, but not for a good while.

            Cheers! 

Me and Fallout 4

As Fallout 4 would not run on my PC, I was reduced to playing it on the PS4. At least I’m getting to play the game without it crashing after 10 seconds.

I’ve played a lot of it recently, and it’s great. Top-notch open world exploration: great visuals, sounds, locales, quests, and so on. I’d like to share some of my adventures from it here, and if I were playing it on my PC, with FRAPs, this would be easy. But I need to transfer all the necessary screenshots and videos from my PS4 to my PC in order to do that. That will happen…later.

For now: some more thoughts on Fallout 4.

The best thing from this game, for me, and same for Skyrim and Fallout 3, is exploring and discovering. The little adventures that just come up from me walking around, without necessarily following a quest. Recently, I headed towards the coast, and came across a lighthouse filled with Children of Atom (who are hostile in this game…). I then walked through the ruins of a quiet little coastal town. I even stopped at a church. The silence was broken by a Mirelurk Queen shooting up out of the ground. This scared me a lot, and, as is the case when I run into Deathclaws and Radscorpions, I ran for the nearest shelter. Here, it was the church. I ran up the stairs as I heard the beast stomping around below. Moments like this are some of the most memorable from these games. I feel a real sense of panic as I head for shelter, a colossal monster on my tail. Hearing it outside as I quiver in the shadows feels like something that was scripted, though it isn’t. It’s just something that happened as I wandered around. This is where these open-world games shine. My favorite ‘mode-of-play’ in Elder Scrolls and the recent Fallouts is to wander around and let adventure just happen: coming upon places, people (hostile or friendly), things, and so on.

Maybe I should just do a ‘Thoughts On’?

-Thoughts on Fallout 4-

With Fallout 4, Bethesda has created another fascinating world to explore, filled with adventure, characters, monsters, items, and stories. Like in Skyrim and Fallout 3, the visuals and audio are both excellent, and complement gameplay that gives players freedom to explore and discover as they wish, whether sticking to quests or not.

Unlike in previous open-world titles by Bethesda, Fallout 4’s player character speaks. The main storyline, which involves a missing person, a private eye, synthetic androids, and a shadowy organization, are more interesting than those in Bethesda’s other open-world games.

Even still, the greatest enjoyment of Fallout 4 lies in exploring its world unfettered by a main storyline. Players will get the most out of the game when they wander off with no set destination in mind, but chance upon people, places, and all kinds of adventure “waiting” to happen. You never know what might come next in the wastes of post-nuclear Boston, or “the Commonwealth” as it’s called within the gameworld. One of my most memorable escapades was when I journeyed off to the coast and discovered a lighthouse and a small coastal village, and had what was a quiet reverie on the beach interrupted by a large monster shooting up from the sand. This monster being well above my level, I fled.

Any single building or location you may come upon in the wasteland will have enemies, story, and items enough for an hour or two of gameplay. The stories you come across range from the macabre to the humorous. A ‘Hubris Comics’ building contains back-and-forth between staff on the casting of one of the female characters in a TV series of a comic book; an old shipyard was run by a man who tried to tame crab-like creatures called “mirelurks”, but failed at it (as his corpse indicates); another place known as the “Pickman Gallery” is not a gallery for art, but for dead bodies, and the artist is the resident psychopath. Anyone who has played an open-world Bethesda game knows the kind of ironic, humorous, and horrifying stories one will come upon in the different dungeons scattered across the overworld. Fallout 4’s world is a collection of sci-fi, drama and monster movie fiction, each location being like an episode from a Saturday morning sci-fi serial.

The characters, too, range from humorous to horrible. The Super Mutants speak lines made funny by their stupidly insincere voices. The various raiders and gangs throughout the wastes all curse and speak in sadistic and violent terms, as before in Fallout 3. Both these groups have bodies and body parts hanging up as wards to explorers such as yourself. There are the “Children of Atom”, a religious group who has conceived of atom as a world-creating god. Unlike in Fallout 3, the Children of Atom here are usually hostile towards the player-character. There is also the Brotherhood of Steel, a Fallout series mainstay who are a group of technology zealots, devoted to preserving and understanding the technology buried throughout the wastes. (This time, they have helicopter things and a huge zeppelin.)

In additions to these groups, there are the monsters. The post-nuclear monsters are truly horrible: giant scorpions are back (the Radscorpions), the menacing Deathclaw returns, the Mirelurks (crab and lobster-like creatures) are also back, as are Feral Ghouls (zombies) and various mutated insects. Each monster seems more powerful this time (or maybe it’s just me?). It’s no wonder most wastelands residents are crazy or violent. In a world filled with monsters such as these, how could one not be that way? (Of course, this is a game overworld. Game overworlds are known for having human beings and terrible monsters living in close proximity to one another.)

There are the walled cities, which are the only places of safety. These cities are built on the ruins of the pre-war world. One, "Diamondy City", is built on a baseball field (in which there is a merchant who insists that baseball was a game in which the players beat each other to death with bats). Another, “Goodneighbor”, is built around Boston’s old state house (the leader of which, wearing John Hancock’s once-on-display outfit, has dubbed himself “Hancock”). But even these relatively safe places are full of seedy and corrupt characters and places, each city rife with social commentary (like Diamond City’s conflict between a newspaper and the mayor).

Overall, Fallout 4’s post-nuclear Boston is a world that would turn even the most naïve optimist into a pessimist (or realist?). It is a world of monsters, psychopaths, of corruption, violence, ruin, struggle, where the weak live in fear of the powerful and constant decay thwarts attempts at progress. Not like our world at all. But, at least it’s a world one can run around freely in (until killed by the nearest monster or nut-job).

All the exploration in this world is driven by a role-playing game system that is more Fallout 3 than Skyrim. Each time you level up, you can spend one point on one of the six basic “SPECIAL” attributes (Strength, Perception, Endurance, Charisma, Intelligence, Luck) or on a perk. These perks are gameplay buffs, and may increase inventory weight, improve weapon accuracy, and so on. They require certain of the base SPECIAL attributes to be at a certain level before they can be chosen. It’s a simple system, though I miss Skyrim’s feature whereby using a certain kind of weapon or trait would earn experience points for that one weapon or trait. I wish I could level up energy weapons as I use them, just as I could level up archery in Skyrim by using the bow, but alas—this feature is gone.

Most will be happy to hear that the weapon condition system is gone, so no more need to repair weapons. A crafting system is here, though, so you can craft new types of aid to use in combat, and mod weapons and armor. These systems are there for you to use, but you don’t have to use them. 

VATs is back, though trickier: in Fallout 3, the game paused when in VATs, but in Fallout 4, action proceeds, just in slow motion. Otherwise, it’s the same: select body parts to aim at, hit go, and watch the proceeding action in slow-motion.

Is there anything to be desired in Fallout 4? Well, incidental to its open-world design is the potential for bugs aplenty. These include quests not working, items floating in the air, the game crashing… and so on. Veterans of Bethesda’s open-world titles will be ready—if you are not such, ready yourself.

Bugs aside, I think Fallout 4 is an excellent game. It’s open-world Bethesda, which I love, and it’s done really well here. A fantastic entry in a great series.

*Note that the screenshots used in this post are from Gamespot.com's collection. I didn't include some I made myself because...well, playing Fallout 4 on the PS4, I have a few more hoops to get through to put them onto my PC and then onto this blog.

My Game of the Year for 2015: The Witcher 3

            2015 was a great year for games, but this spring and summer I mostly sat out as I wrapped up graduate school work (while working full-time). The only 2015 game I played in the spring and summer was The Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask 3D. It is a solid remake, but a remake still. This fall I had to play catch up.

            I gave the vast majority of my gaming time to The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt. It is my kind of game: open-world, CRPG, and high fantasy. I also had played and loved, both gameplay and lore, the first two Witcher titles. So I was bound to love this one (and I did).

            Before I fly full-sail into Witcher 3 praise, I’ll note the other 2015 titles I have played.

Wolfenstein: The Old Blood is a mostly solid stealth and shooter mix. I loved the humor (such as B.J.’s cheesy one-liners) and the throwbacks to Return to Castle Wolfenstein (see my “Thoughts On” post on Old Blood below). Majora’s Mask 3D is a highly enjoyable remake of a great Nintendo title, more so for me as I have always particularly loved Majora’s Mask as a unique Zelda title. Super Mario Maker is a fun, accessible level editor, and a gateway into hundreds of Super Mario levels. Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain is an excellent open-world game, finally allowing me to enjoy the gameplay that Metal Gear Solid has teased while crazy stories and lengthy cutscenes took the mainstage (playing MGS3, I always wanted more of that gameplay. MGSV gives it to me in spades). Next to Witcher 3, I’ve put the most time into MGSV, and would rank it second if I were to do a list.

But Witcher 3 is number one. There’s so much in this game, gameplay and story wise, that I feel overwhelmed by the prospect of writing about it as much as I did at times while playing it. (And this is ‘feeling overwhelmed’ in a good way; a very good way.) Witcher 3 has topped Skyrim as my favorite open-world RPG, and for me, those are fighting words. You just can’t have a more delicious entertainment package than what CD Projekt Red has put together here.

The gameplay can be accessible hack-and-slash or daunting CRPG. It depends on what difficulty level you choose and how much you invest in exploring the games’ alchemy, crafting, inventory and bestiary components. Tackling witcher-contract quests can be a game unto itself, if you’re playing on hard (“Blood and Broken Bones”). Killing monsters, or non-friendly humans and non-humans, requires the use of oils, potions, bombs, and signs.

An oil for each class of enemy exists. If you’re fighting a cyclops, you would use an Ogroid oil, for example; if fighting a wraith, a necrophage oil; and so on. These give your weapons a slight buff over the enemy the oil is made for. Potions can be used during the middle of a battle, though you could also use one just before. These can aid health or stamina regeneration, reduce your toxicity level, or do many other things that help in combat.

Signs are secondary magical powers that can be cast in battle. There are just five signs to use in Witcher 3. One, “Aard”, is a forceful kinetic push (think Force Push from the Jedi Knight series). Another, Axii, slows and stops an enemy, briefly. “Igni” shoots forth fire. And so on.

The short is that in combat, in addition to donning the appropriate armor and wielding the correct sword, you must make and use the appropriate oils, potions, and bombs, and cast signs to effect. Knowing which of these to use against a certain enemy can be gleaned from the game’s bestiary. Found in the game’s menu, this is an easy to navigate encyclopedia of the monsters you’ll encounter, listing their weaknesses and giving an interesting description of each. The monsters you will encounter range from standard-looking fare (“Drowners”; think amphibious humanoid monsters) to scary, mythical nightmares (“Leshens”; think ancient tree beasts with deer skulls). In all, Witcher 3’s monsters are the most memorable for me in a game to date. Griffin, cockatrice, and basilisk encounters are my most recent “wow” moments from a video game.

Aside from encountering monsters in the primary and secondary quests, you can also take them on with witcher contracts. These are notices posted for any witcher, such as Geralt, to take on a specific monster that has been terrorizing a certain person, town, or trade route. These make for some exciting monster hunting moments, and even if the game were comprised only of these I may give it game of the year. I did many a fist-pump as I brought down monsters for witcher-contracts.

            The enjoyment you get out of the combat—or, whether or not you find yourself fist-pumping like me—depends, as I noted earlier, on the difficulty level you choose and on how much you invest in the game’s combat systems. If you play on “Just the Story” difficulty, combat is easy hack-and-slash fare. I recommend you at least play on “Sword and Story” (normal). Though you may neglect oils and bombs on that difficulty, you’d still need to use potions and signs.

            So I love the gameplay. I did play it using a keyboard and mouse, too, and though it is not tailored for that setup, most of the time I was fine with it.

            I also love the story. First off, I love me some Witcher lore. If I could choose to hang out with any game characters, I’d pick slugging some mead and sharing tales with Geralt, Zoltan, Dandelion, Triss, and all the other characters you’ll become familiar with in the Witcher games. But you don’t have to be a nerd for Witcher lore like me to love the narrative in this game. The primary and secondary quests have some of the finest characters and story bits in any game yet. You’ll fall in love with a lot of the characters, and enjoy much adventure, romance, and horror all the while. I won’t spoil anything here, but suffice it to say, do not just follow the main quest. Dive into secondary quests as well; there is high quality stuff there.

            The visuals are phenomenal. I played on a PC with, on average, medium settings, and even still, Witcher 3 is the prettiest game I’ve seen. If you love high fantasy visuals, Witcher 3 has you covered. The game’s world is huge and has distinct environments throughout, such as a swampland and rocky, cold islands. There’s plenty of sight-seeing to do. I took screenshots galore.

The soundtrack is beautiful, too. It’s among the best in any role-playing game.

A large world, great characters, great visuals, beautiful soundtrack, and solid gameplay make for my game of the year in 2015. Congrats CD Projekt and Witcher 3! You definitely earned it.

~My impressions of Metal Gear Solid V

            I noted above that, were I to make a list of my top games from 2015, MGSV would rank second. It’s open-world, a trait that always draws me in, and it’s stealth-based, another characteristic I will always be interested in. I’m not a Metal Gear fanatic, but I do like the series. So, like Witcher 3, I was bound to love this game from the outset.

I have not completed MGSV, nor have I gotten deep into it. I didn’t get around to it until this past December. I have played a chunk of it, and love running around, coming upon bases, scoping them out with my binoculars, sneaking in and nabbing loot, popping off head shots with the tranquilizer gun in reflex mode when I get caught, tying hot air balloons to things, riding around on my horse, upgrading items as needed, and, recently, having my dog with me to help mark enemies, plants, and animals. 

I also really loved encountering a bear, tranquilizing it and tying a hot air balloon to it, and finally hearing its bear howl as it shot up into the air. Not that I would do this in real life—I mean, I would never tie a hot air balloon to anything in real life, much less a bear—but suddenly, first of all, seeing a bear in this game, and, then, being able to do to it what I had been doing to dudes, was satisfying. This conveys, in microcosm, what makes open-ended games like MGSV great—chance discovery. I know I can stun and hot-air-balloon soldiers, but then I find a bear—and lo, I can do this to the bear as well.

Bears aside, freedom of movement coupled with MGS’ stealth-action gameplay is just shy of a dream come true. This coupling isn’t an endless well of joy. I’m a sneak-only guy (unless the mission calls for other items, I will only use the tranquilizer gun, and that sparingly). Sometimes the base-after-base gameplay can tire me. (I never tired of Witcher 3, for comparison. I wish there had been more witcher contracts and secondary quests.) And, being a rabid consumer of fan creations from the Thief community at TTLG.com, I’m used to great open-ended stealth experiences, so I’m a bit more blasé with MGSV than the non-Thief fan-mission connoisseur would be. Still, I haven’t dug deep into MGSV, so maybe I’ll uncover plenty of new things that will change my mind on it. My final verdict, then, will be in my review of it, when I’ve played much more of it.

But it’s good enough that it’s my second favorite game of 2015.