TF2: Mann vs Machine is live! And some thoughts.

Hello, and welcome to this week's "My worst fears". Subjects: apocalypse in the hands of robotic destroyers and drowning in peanut butter.

So, as you probably already know, TF2's new co-op mod Mann vs Machine launched a little while ago. If you've played Killing Floor, you already know the basic gist of the game - you and few teammates (in this case, teams of 6 members) try to hold back waves of attackers. By killing attackers, you gain money which can be then used to purchase upgrades to your items in between the waves. This new mode is free for all players, though you need to buy a Tour of Duty if you want the "super rare" loot that drops once you've completed the tour.

Just look how smug he looks. Bastard.

So, how's the execution then? It's... nice, actually. It can get somewhat challenging at times, and feels like good fun. The AI of the robots is nothing to call home about, but that's why they are more numerous. And sometimes come in different variations, such as rapid firing or giant. There are also two new types of enemies, tanks, which can take a few cruiserships worth of ammo before getting destroyed, and sentry busters, who seek out engineers' sentries and other stuff and self-destruct among them, taking everything with them. But players also have a new tool to assist them -  a 'flask' of sorts which can be fulled with certain types of one-time use effects, such as getting ubered for 5 seconds, dealing critical damage for 5 seconds, instantly upgrading all buildings to maximum and stuff like that.

As said, it's nothing innovative and it's been done better before, but it's a nice refreshing change of pace to the original TF2 mayhem. Right now the biggest problem is that the official servers are so loaded that it can take between 20-40 minutes to get to a match. You can also try to find servers using the server browser, which can be a bit trickier though.

All in all, it's a free update to a F2P-game and it works, there isn't really anything to complain about. Go try it now!

Meet the Pyro: now in video form!

So, Valve actually managed to release "Meet the Pyro" on due time. Congratulations are in place.

So, Pyromania-updates have rolled to TF2 and now here's this vid, see below or view from YouTube via this link.

Batman: Arkham Asylum (X360)

Oh boy, I've been meaning to write about this game for ages. By which I mean, when it came out. Let's get this out of the way then, shall we?

Batman: Arkham Asylum is obviously a license game, and license games tend to have a certain kind of... reputation. Worry not, Batman is actually a good license game. Well, mostly, but we'll get to that later.

So, the story of the game is fairly basic - Joker gets locked in AA, but it was actually his plan all along and chaos ensues. The story is fairly basic, but it works well enough to maintain interest in the game and getting the player to move through the game. Along the way Batman meets some of the more iconic villains of his history - Poison Ivy, Bane, Killer Croc and so forth. Of course, since the game is about Batman, we also have all kinds of gadgets to use, including Batarangs and gliding with the cape.

Most of the gameplay consists of Batman doing sneaky things and moving in the shadows, sneaking and lurking around, constructing plans as to how to take out the many minions and henchmen of Joker. And this is where the game excels, the sneaking is masterfully done and feels just right, and when it comes to fighting hand to hand, the game really shines. The combat is fluid and building combos feels incredibly tight. This is one of the best combat systems in any beat 'em up-games ever, if I may say. The combat is spiced up by different kinds of henchmen - some have no weapons, some have pipes or electric batons and some have firearms, and firearms are something to be wary of. Luckily Batman has "detective mode", through which he can easily find the armed henchmen and find ways to disable them.

So, the combat system is great. How about boss fights? Sporting quite legendary names in the villain repertuary doesn't unfortunately mean the boss fights are good. They are easily the weakest part of the game. Only two boss fights are something I'd say to be actually good, and those would be Scarecrow and Killer Croc, and Croc isn't all that good. Bane-fight is ridiculously stupid and simple, and Poison Ivy is your run-from-the-mill boss fight where you have to hit her thrice in certain spots (don't understand it like that, perv!). But Scarecrow is one of the most memorable parts of the game.

The game has great attention to detail. Many places have hidden Riddler-trophies, and finding all of them unlocks all kinds of cool stuff. Batman's cape gets more rugged as the day progresses on the Arkham Asylum, and so. Returning to old locations is often rewarded since you now have new gadgets giving you access to places you didn't have previously. The game has a good visual style and looks very nice.

All in all, if you happen to stumble upon this game for your platform of preference (PS3, X360, PC), I'd really suggest picking it up. It's one of the biggest games of this generation, and rightly so.

Elder Scrolls MMO to be announced in May?

Oh my.

It seems Tom's Guide has some exclusive information from "industry source" that there will be an Elder Scrolls MMO, taking place a millenium before Skyrim, which sold a boatload of copies.

Also, according to the source, "Elder Scrolls Online will have three playable factions". Read the full article from here: http://www.tomsguide.com/us/ZeniMax-Bethesda-Elder-Scrolls-Online-MMO,news-14481.html

What do I think about the likelyhood of this happening? Let's consult Futurama.

Games of 2011

I think it's about good time to talk about the games of 2011 - which were the biggest names for me? Lots of good games came out, but I'll try to talk only of few. Consider these mini-reviews, I'll talk more about these later.

Frozen Synapse (PC/Mac/Linux)

Frozen Synapse is a we-go turn-based tactics game developed by Mode 7. It is fairly simplistic in view, but at its heart it contains lots of possibilities to do tactics, covering, feigning and all that. Frozen Synapse managed to re-ignite my love for small-scale tactics games. It is extremely simplistic on the outside, but its looks are clean and informative enough, and at its heart it is really, really hardcore tactics game. The multiplayer-scene is still alive, though some doomsayers have been claiming its death. And the multiplayer is where the game really shines - theres no better feeling than outsmarting another human player. The soundtrack is also very, very well composed and works well with the semi-futuristic setting.

Binding of Isaac (PC/Mac/Linux)

To say the least, when Binding of Isaac was announced I was fairly sceptical. It was touted as a roguelike, it looked like twisted Zelda born out of blood and shit and it played like a twin-stick shooter, developed by one half of Team Meat. What could possibly come out of that?

Hi there Isaac, how are you doing?

A lot, that's what. The strange-sounding mix works surprisingly well and is addicting as narcotics. The game features standard roguelike features, such as permadeath (you die, that's it, start again) and random dungeon generation. That is where common features end - the rest is twitchy twin-stick shooter meeting Zelda-like dungeons. You'll encounter lots of items during your playthroughs, and on your playthroughs you'll unlock many items which feeds the addiction. It's a game well worth playing.

Deal with the Devil, and gain these nice horns!

Dungeons of Dredmor (PC/Mac/Linux)

Another commercial roguelike, this time with more to-the-roots-attitude, developed by Gaslamp Games. Turn-based, slightly humorous (depending on your taste on humour, I didn't find any good jokes) dungeon crawler. The customization options for your character builds are many - you get to choose 7 skill trees out of around 30, and these define your character very strongly. During playing you can take side-quests, try to enchant your weapons and all that. It's fairly well done, though it has some glaring flaws.

One rarely gets congratulated for dying.

Tactics Ogre: Let Us Cling Together (PSP)

Another tactics game. Unlike Frozen Synapse, Tactics Ogre lives and breathes JRPG inheritage. It has lots of stats, interesting character development system, challenging battles and best of all, actually interesting story with choices and consequences. It feels from time to time more like a puzzle-game than tactics-game, but that's okay, since it feels just so damn right.

The Witcher 2 (PC)

Probably the game I expected the most from 2011. It's a big-budget, beautiful, epic and mature fantasy RPG with grey-and-grey morality. It's themes are larger than its predecessor (even if Witcher 1 was larger game in a way), and its combat system almost as divisive as The Witcher 1's. The story branches greatly, and depending on your choices in Chapter 1, you end up in one of the two different places in Chapter 2. Absolutely gorgeous, even if I prefer the first one. Enhanced Edition update coming for free soon.

Dark Souls (X360/PS3)

Game of the Year for me, and easily. It's an action-RPG to the core, and feels very arcade-y. You will die, time and time again. And you learn from each death. It's brutal, merciless and fair. It's dark, and subtle. It doesn't spell the storyline or the world straight away for the player - it's all hidden in the subtexts, little words and sceneries. It has innovative multiplayer-system. It doesn't tell you much, so you must experiment a lot. And doing so, you can die. Dark Souls is a fresh breeze from the past, when games were hard and fair, and completing them wasn't something that would just happen. Prepare to die.

Katawa Shoujo finally released!

So, who would have believed it would actually come out? Who actually knew of the game? I definetly didn't until a few weeks ago.

What is Katawa Shoujo? It's a visual novel, or dating sim, or a bit both. I'm not sure, since I haven't played it yet. So, the basic premise seems to be "take some girls to dates" and so, with a little bit of a twist - each of the girls (as well as protagonist himself) have some disability - some girl has no arms, some has no legs, one is deaf, and the protagonist has suffered a heart attack at a very young age.

Since I can't offer any opinions on the game yet, I'll just direct you to two very different opinions:
John Walker's critical impressions on RockPaperShotgun
A more positive review by Inushinde

You can download the game for free from the Katawa Shoujo homepage.

Humble Indie Bundle #4 Is Live!

As it happens, it's the time of sharing, and The Humble Indie Bundle strikes with number 4 and immensely great lineup of games.

For the low low price of 5.00$ (by the time of writing) you get access to these games: Gratuitous Space Battles, Cave Story+, Jamestown, Bit.Trip Runner, Super Meat Boy, Shank and Nightsky HD, completely DRM-free and on Mac, Windows and Linux! You also get Steam-keys for these games, and if higher powers have mercy, also on Desura. If you pay less than the average, you won't get access to GSB and Cave Story+.

What are you waiting for? GO!

No more S.T.A.L.K.E.R.s, I'm afraid

If what RockPaperShotgun and the links and tweets mentioned there are true, it would seem that GSC has closed down, and the production for STALKER2 has been cancelled. It's a sad day.

Solium Infernum: Rectification announced! (PC/Mac)

So, there'll be a new free expansion pack for Solium Infernum. Includes lots of stuff, like proper expansion packs should, like new legions, praetors, maptype, and so on. Read more from the Cryptic Comet-blog. http://www.crypticcomet.com/blog/?p=626

To Reign in Hell - A Solium Infernum AAR Part I (PC/Mac)

Abandon all hope, all ye who enter here!

Hello, and welcome to Hell. I will be your host for tonight, and quite a few nights after this one. Oooh, did I just hear someone ask "what is Solium Infernum, o' good host"? Well, my good friend, let me tell you. Solium Infernum is a turn-based strategy game about Hell. Conquering and reigning in Hell, to be precise. This, however, is not a review on Solium Infernum. This is an AAR, or "after action report", detailing my adventures in Solium Infernum. A review will follow after the AAR is completed. Every part of AAR will consist of 10 turns, which means that there will be around five or six parts. If you are interested or bored in the meantime, feel free to read an excellent AAR from the fellows of Rock, Paper, Shotgun called Gameboys From Hell. This AAR is still being played with some nice fellows from the aforementioned RPS-forums, so don't expect updates too often.

Turn 1

What a handsome fella.

What you see above, is the "avatar" that I will be playing with. Pretty well-rounded by all means, but not excellent at anything. Three charisma will ensure that I will get a steady flow of Tribute cards to keep my game going on, and two cunning means that I can pretty easily raise it to four to gain not only extra order slot, but also some nice tricks up my sleeve. Duke of Hell ensures me some influence in Hell. My public objective is Lust - no reprecussions if I fail to satisfy the objective, and if I do succeed in my objective, I gain lots of prestige, which is needed to win in this game. No perks, as they are often too costly, or when they give me points for creation, the drawbacks are too heavy.

The usurpers to the throne of Hell

Here we see our contestants for the skullthrone of Hell - me, the ever-so-lovely Sythiese the Sordid, Understairs Man, a certain special Jon Irenicus (you can read his AAR of this same game here), The Bored One and Larence. Larence. What kind of name is Larence? For an usurper of Hell, for Abyss' sake! Pfft. He should be called "Larence the Lich" or something like that. Now he is Larence the Guy-From-Next-Door-Who-Stays-Up-All-Night-Playing-Video-Games. Sheesh.

Here is where we start. The red dominion and legion is mine. To north lies The Woods of Suicide, a Place of Power. To south, Sythiese. To east, Jon Irenicus. To north-west, Bored One. I hope that I can reach the Place of Power before Irenicus does - better yet, I hope he tries to take control of some else PoP. Sythiese and Bored One will likely busy themselves with much closer PoPs and just expanding their dominions. I order my bodyguard legion to move forwards, towards the Woods of Suicide, and with the other order slot I have, request Tribute from my lowly minions.

Oh yes, I almost forgot. I started the game as a regent, which means that I get to draw one Event-card, and of all the phases, my actions will be done first. What is an Event-card, you ask? Well, Event-cards are powerful cards which may turn the table of the game completely - such as invoking a crusade against Heaven, or closing the mouth of Hell, which means that nobody can get tribute from his/her minions. What card did I draw? I'm not going to tell, not yet at least. ;)

Turn 3

Where did he get that GOLEM? Damn!

To Abyss with Irenicus. He was faster, and claimed the Woods of Suicide to himself. This is not a good sign for me - I have no steady source of Prestige, which is required for all diplomatic actions (such as demanding resources, which is a prequisite for a casus belli). And on top of all this, I have no chance to reach the PoP next to Bored One's border, since he has blocked my access there. I'm stuck between three great powers, and I am likely the first one to be eaten, if I can't play my way out of this. I decided to place a bid on Haagenti on the Bazaar. Haagenti is one of the mightiest Praetors in all Hell, and is likely to crush any given opponent in a duel. If I can get my hands on Haagenti, I can start extorting Irenicus for tribute and Prestige, which I so sorely will be needing.

Turn 4

Did I already mention that I hate Irenicus' guts? That bastard somehow topped my offer for Haagenti, and now has the mightiest Praetor in Hell. Blast and damnation.

What will follow, I think, is this - Irenicus will make demands of me. If I refuse, he will start duel with me (or maybe he'll try to assault my legion). If I succumb to his demands, I lose prestige to the point, when I have no teeth and no power to start any diplomatical initiatives. Isn't this just bloody wonderful? So, I decide to try to hire another Praetor, and increase my tribute.

Ah, yes, the duels. Let me tell you a bit about them. They are a way to satisfy a Vendetta. Vendettas can be claimed if someone insults you, or if someone refuses to succumb to your demands. If you don't claim a vendetta, you lose prestige. If you claim Vendetta, you must accomplish your objectives (such as conquering X cantons or, in the case of duels, winning the duel) to reclaim your Prestige and the same amount of Prestige from the receiving end of the Vendetta.

Turn 5

Did I mention that Irenicus is a huge dick?

Unsurprisingly, Irenicus demands Tribute cards from me. That is all right by my book, part of the game and all that, you know. But then he goes and insults me. Insults. Me. What an ass. So rude. Tchk-tchk. Not very nice, now was it?

My brave toad-warrior

Here is my brand new Praetor, Orias. Ugly as sin, but that's how you get those bloody toadmen. And they do smell quite bad, thanks for asking. Now, he might be able to win Haagenti in a duel, if I play my cards right and luck favors me.

I trust you, my brave toadman.

Turn 6

I refused to comply to Irenicus' demands. This turn Irenicus must decide whether he will let the Vendetta die (quite unlikely), or if he will claim a Vendetta and with what terms.

As we can see, Irenicus has moved his legion away from our border. At this point it would be very, very stupid to assume that he wants an armed conflict. A duel will follow soon, I believe. Nevertheless, I decided to place a bid on an artifact in the Bazaar. Hellfire Ballista.

Turn 7

A beatuy, isn't she?

Hellfire Ballista. Even the name alone invokes a sense of something terrible, something powerful. And by the Abyss, isn't it powerful. Not only does it add +4 to my ranged stat for a legion of choice, but if I succeed to do damage with it, it is effectively doubled. A weapon to fear, indeed. And she is mine.

What else... unsurprisingly, Irenicus decided that we shall meet at the fields for a duel. Somebody has also bought Temeluchas from the Bazaar. A worrying turn, as Temeluchas is the second most powerful Praetor in Hell, when it comes to duels. Hopefully Irenicus didn't buy him, I wouldn't want him to have all the cards. Next, preparing for the duel.

Would you look at that tactic? Sweet mercy.

Like so. I expect that Irenicus will strike with full force the first phase, after which he'll take a backseat, when I'll strike. After that it's just chipping away health. If everything goes well.

The current standings in Hell

As we can see, there's alot in game for this duel. The winner claims all 16 points of prestige, making him/her a poweful player in the game. Loser will be in quite a bad position. I fear the worst.

Turn 8

Damn. I hope you enjoy the Abyss, Orias.

Orias has been defeated. He was of no match against Haagenti. I'm in pretty weak position now - only one point of Prestige, and no means of increasing my Prestige. I am one of the least influential beings in Hell now. Hopefully that will guarantee me some peace until I can figure some way out of this mess. Hopefully.

Turn 9

Go to Hell, Irenicus. Oh wait.

Irenicus taunts me. What a dick. Also, Larence the Guy-From-Next-Door has brought some demands against me. 3 Tribute Cards. Since we share no border, he is most likely prepared for a duel. I think. I have very little Tribute as it is, I don't think I want to give Larence any of those. You can stick them up where the sun won't shine, love.

Meanwhile, I will try to stock up on Tribute, to increase my stats and gain me some extra order slots. I need them desperately.

Turn 10

Testament of Tyrants, property of The Bored One

The Bored One, my dear neighbour, has conquered the Testament of Tyrants, a Place of Power. As it happens, it lies just next to border of Sythiese the Sordid. This might prove to be interesting. Conflict between the two will follow rather soon, I believe. And if I play my cards right, I can benefit from it greatly. Better keep an eye out for those two.

Larence now has grounds to claim a Vendetta on me. I fully expect him to do so, unless he plans to let it die and see me begin harassing Irenicus. Very, very, very unlikely, so I'd better stock up for a duel. And, this is the last turn to set my threat list.

Here is our current standings. I decide to leave my threat list as it is - Irenicus will most likely be the one who I will face in the field of combat, and I have no doubts that I might battle everyone else - Larence seems to be the least likely candidate, even with his current demands on me.

Oh dear

A little surprisingly, it wasn't Irenicus that leads the statistics, but Sythiese. He has a horribly, horribly strong bodyguard-legion. Even though one could win it in the ranged-phase of combat and deal some damage, the legion's comeback on melee and infernal would be horribly, horribly strong. Better keep that in mind, I don't want to risk combat against that beast.

Silent Hill: Book of Memories (Vita) GamesCom video

A video featuring some gameplay and background for an upcoming Silent Hill-game for the upcoming PlayStation Vita-handheld console. Now, Silent Hill is my one favourite game series, so I'm just going to list things the game will apparently have, judging from the trailer. You know, to save you the horror of watching it, or many angry words I have.

• Co-op action dungeon crawling action
• "Scare rooms"
• No psychological horror
• You create your own character
• Puzzle-solving

Dark Souls: Bartholomew Trailer (PS3/X360)

So, apparently they released a new trailer for Dark Souls at Gamescom. Looking good there. I've already got it preordered.

The Witcher 2 2.0 (PC)

Didn't play/buy The Witcher 2 on its release? Or maybe contemplating about doing a rerun, like me (sorry about that, folks!)? CD Projekt Red has announced The Witcher 2 2.0, which seems to be pretty much the same as The Enhanced edition was for the first The Witcher.

What it includes is renewed tutorial system (face it, the original tutorial was horrible), new difficulty Dark Mode with some items and themes (and a competition, should you be the first one to complete it, you'll win a prize). Another new mode, where you must fight waves of enemies. And includes all 9 DLC packs. Oh, and it will be free. Take a look below.

Lollipop Chainsaw announced (PS3, X360)

Okay, this has to be one of the weirdest ideas for games I've seen in a long time. Then again, it's Suda 51, which explains a lot.

Extra Credits quits Escapist Magazine

Apparently there is some drama going on in Escapist Magazine, considering the show Extra Credits which discussed all sorts of interesting topics. It would seem that Escapist has failed repeatedly to pay Extra Credits (puntastic!), and as such Extra Credits will leave Escapist Magazine.

Here is a thread to forums, which has quite good summary on what has been going on. I'm going to quote both sides here, so... walls of text inbound. You have been warned.

Edit:/ link got broken during the night, should be fixed now.

Hitman: Contracts (PC)

Free to use in any way, btw.
Go crazy.

So, I was stupid and didn't take any pictures while playing trough this, so you'll just have to bear through this wall of text. Sorry for those of you who come here because of all the magnificent pictures, here's a picture I drew just for you guys. It's an elephant riding a skateboard.

Now then, where was I... yes, Hitman: Contracts. It's the third game in Hitman-series, where you play a bald guy with a barcode in his neck assassinating people. One has to wonder how nobody ever suspects anything, him being big, bald, always wearing leather gloves and having a frickin' barcode tattoeed on to him. Artificial stupidity, indeed. If you haven't played any Hitman-games before, let me just say this - if you plan on playing all the games, start with Codename 47 and then just work your way up from there, it's pretty hard to go back to the old games after the masterpiece that is Blood Money. As stated above, the objective of the games is quite simple - you usually have to assassinate a person or few in quite elaborate ways, and then leave the scene in one piece. When I say assassinate, you may think of Assassin's Creed, which is a little false image, though playing it like that is also possible from time to time, but more often this means things like dropping a chandelier on the target, changing a prop gun to a real gun, using a sniper rifle and so on. You'll usually have to wear disguises to get around places, as civilians aren't allowed to go everywhere. When disguised, one should proceed with caution and act according to their disguise - it would be quite strange to see a guard carrying a bag of meat around, for example.

So, let's start then. Contracts is quite a solid effort, and I only encountered one bug during playing the single player campaign, which forced me to cheat my way to Silent Assassin-rank. It doesn't seem to happen to everyone, though, so that's a good sign. The AI is much better than in Silent Assassin or Codename 47, and doesn't see through your disguise as soon as you take one step into wrong direction. There are some stupidities and miracle-sights every now and then, but they are tolerable and rare. Graphics are, I'd say, quite good for a game from 2004, though there isn't any widescreen hacks that I know of. Gameplay is solid, and even though you aren't supposed to go through the game guns ablaze, it's quite fun to do so if your cover gets blown and you just can't be arsed to reload. Oh, did I mention that your saves per level are restricted according to your difficulty? I found this solution quite odd, but on the other hand, it works quite good and lays emphasis on taking notice of what is important. Soundscape is superb, and it's quite a shame that Jesper Kyd won't be composing music for Hitman: Absolution. He also did musics for Assassin's Creeds, though I think he was better at Hitmans. Anyways, good composer.

It should be noted that even though the game is usually mentioned to be stealth-action game, it's more of a puzzle game, even though quite morbid at that one. I'll break down how you play levels usually:

1. Open up the map, find the targets and places of interest
2. Take notice of the guards' movements as well as target(s)' movements
3. Investigate what you can under your starting suit
4. Gain a disguise to investigate more
5. Decide your preferred method of killing the target
6. Kill the target, and make your way to the exit

And here's the thing, there are usually multiple ways to kill your target, though in Blood Money the freedom was amped up to the second power. For example, you could kill your target in one of the following ways - drown him in the swimming pool, poison his drink, lock him up into sauna and increase the heat to cause heart attack, shoot him, strangle him, beat him, drop a chandelier on him, place a bomb on his suitcase and so forth. It's just beatiful.

All in all, it's a good game, but Contracts is greatly overshadowed by its sequel Blood Money. It's a nice touch thoug that Contracts has some remade maps/missions from Codename 47. Took me back in time, and also the fact that the levels are now better was really nice. So, in conclusion - if you haven't played Hitman-games and are interested to play, this is as good to start as any. If you have played other Hitmans, Contracts is more of the same goody stuff you've come to expect. And speaking of goody, what do you think of Absolution, will it turn OK or will it be a horrible disappointment?

Team Fortress 2 will be free to play "forever" + Meet the Medic

So, apparently the super-duper-mega-hyper-popular shooter TF2 will be f2p from now on, supported by micro-payments only (if you wish to call 7,5€ for a hat "micro"), according to pcgamer.com and Develop. Interesting turn of events, but this was speculated for some time already.

Edit://
Also, Meet the Medic is out now, and I guess F2P is now officially confirmed. See the clip below or from YouTube straight.

Dragon Age: Ultimate Edition (Xbox 360)

So, I think it's about the time I finally sum up my thoughts about Dragon Age: Ultimate Edition, which contains both critically acclaimed Dragon Age: Origins (86 on Metacritic for X360, 91 for PC) and its add-on Dragon Age: Awakening as well as all the DLC released for the games. Made by BioWare, you can pretty much predict which kind of games they are - party-based story-driven RPGs. The PC would've obviously been the much better platform for these games, but due to lack of good PC at the time, I went with X360 version, so let's start our journey to Thedas.

Gameplay


As said above, this being a BioWare-game, it's more than natural that the game is party-based and somewhat tactical RPG. Dragon Age: Origins was touted to be a return to the old-school tactical RPGs, and I'd say it manages to do it rather well, although the character classes could've been balanced far better - it's not too uncommon to have a mage that can tank better than a fighter, takes absolutely no damage and can pretty much one-shot most of the enemies with one well-placed Area of Effect-spell.

There are three character classes (warrior, rogue, mage) in the game, as well as three races (humans, elves, dwarves). Every race can be of any class (except dwarves, who can't be mages), and every class has four specializations from which two can be picked in Origins. Awakening adds two more specializations to each class, and characters get to pick two more specializations by the end of the expansion.

There are lots of nice stuff hidden in the game, which you might not notice at first, such as if you are able to freeze an enemy, there are certain spells that, when casted upon frozen enemy, will kill him instantly. This can also be achieved by warrior and rogue scoring a critical hit on the said enemy. Things like these (known as spell combinations) are very nice depth-adders.

Origins also has a very nice thing, called Origins (*gasp!*), which are determined by your character's race and class. Mages only have a Magi-origin, but otherwise every race has two possible Origins from which you can choose. These serve as an introduction to the world and setting in general, and also as a tutorial. Very nice idea and execution also.

I have to go back to balance, though - if you are playing on Normal, the game will probably become way too easy if you play with two or three mages in your party, because Mages are Thedas-equivalents to heavily armed Panzerkampfwagens. I've heard that the PC version is a bit harder, and as such things might be a bit different, but on consoles Normal is way too often too easy.

On consoles, there is only one camera angle, behind your character, whereas on PC you also have isometric view. It's a shame that it isn't on consoles too, because it would've helped greatly in some fights, when getting an image of what is going on is very hard. Anyway, it's not too bad on Normal difficulty, but it's still a shame.

Plot

The plot, to be honest, isn't really great. It's pretty generic "collect an army and defeat the ancient evil". However, the small details that have been placed in the rather generic setting are what make the game far better than it would otherwise be. The world includes anything you'd expect from a generic fantasy setting - elves live in forests, humans in cities and town, dwarves live in the mountains and underground. Awakening actually has, in my opinion, more interesting story than than Origins, because of sentient Darkspawn, smaller scale of map and interestingly varied locations (you can actually see the sea!).

The story, in it's basis is, that you become a Grey Warden, either by volunteering to them or being recruited. As a Grey Warden, your mission is to protect Thedas from the orc- I mean the Darkspawn, and kill the Archdemon which leads Darkspawn hordes during Blights. During a big battle shit hits a fan, a treason happens and most of the Grey Wardens are killed - except you and Alistair. From this point on the world opens to you (through hubs, there isn't free roaming like in The Elder Scrolls), and you are free to do main and side quests as you see fit. The main quest series is rather boring, but most of the side quests (when they aren't "Kill X enemies of type Y" or "find me X items Y"-type) are very nice and add lots of depth. The main quest series include the two most boring segments I've ever had the displeasure to play through - The Fade and The Deep Roads. Both of them suffer from the same fault - they are far too long, with far too little interesting to do and both have too much combat without any real meaning. At least on PC, you can mod so that you can skip The Fade, I guess you can even skip The Deep Roads.

There are some choices every now and then to make, which should influence the outcome of the story - except they really don't, and even the touted "grey and grey" morality is really lacking, except for a few points where it's actually pretty brilliantly executed, and at few points you can actually lose your party members permanently. In the grander scheme of things, most of your choices bear little to no influence in the story. Still, when it does, it's very nice. And as you finish either the game or the add-on Awakening, there is a recap of what you did and how it influenced the world.

Visuals


Game's visual style drives towards realistic style, and I think it manages to do it pretty nicely, and the game looks good even on X360. The colour scheme, however, could use a bit of brush-up and more colours, as most of the world is pretty brown, which makes most of the game such a boring thing. The forest, however, is green and I actually think it's one of the best parts of the game. Not much else to say.

Overall


So, I've played Origins through three times and Awakening once, as well every DLC. Most of the DLC is rather worthless, around one or two hours of hacking away enemies, though Soldier's Peak and The Stone Prisoner (which comes[came?] for free with new copies of the game) are the best ones, Soldier's Peak including some actual story and Stone Prisoner including the golem-companion Shale.

Dragon Age isn't a game I play for the story, as it is quite boring. It isn't for the effects of your choices either, as they don't come even close to Witcher's effects. It isn't for your companions, who are for the most part quite one-sided and boring. No, I play it for trying different builds and just having a good time smacking enemies around while testing my tactical thinking. If you like RPGs because of story and world instead of tactics, you can get a one fun run through the game, but I doubt you'll come back for another.

E3 -11, Day 03 (kinda)

Okay, I'll be honest with you.

I have absolutely no idea what happened at day 3 of E3. No idea. Nada. Zero. There didn't seem to be anything even remotely interesting and new, mostly just videos of games that we already know that are coming and so forth. So, let's turn the tables. What did you think was the best of E3 this year? Most interesting, ideas, concepts, all that stuff.

EDIT:
So, here's something from RockPaperShotgun. It's mainly about PC gaming, but of course even they cover some multiplatform games. Take a look.

EDIT2:
And Ars Technica also.

E3 -11, Day 02 [Wii U]

Wii U. Neat. Picture from Ars Technica.

So, what's the big news in E3 this year? Well, Nintendo has yet again stolen the show with Wii U. Read this article from Ars Technica to learn a bit more about it. It looks really interesting.

And continuing with Nintendo... 3DS seems to be getting LOADS of interesting games. Like what? Mario Kart, Luigi's Mansion 2, 3D-remake of StarFox 64, Kid Icarus Uprising and a new Super Mario.

I've fallen behind the times, but I'll be checking Konami and whatnot as soon as I can, and can be arsed to. Also, I will update this post as soon as I can.