Sunday, March 31, 2013

God of War: Acension

Oh Kratos, you never seem to get a break. Ascension is the story of Kratos and his beginnings. It is set 6 months after the death of his wife and child, at his own hands. He was duped by Ares, and has betrayed him, so he starts off captured by one of the three furies, and you must escape.

This is where Ascension falls back on the Quick Time Event structure that is a staple of the series. QTE's are the heart and sole of God of War, and this time they are much more inevidence. Which is good, in that it retains that familiar feeling, and bad in that it relies a bit too much on them.

I will post more as I play through the game more.

Friday, March 29, 2013

Bioshock:Infinite

On March 26th, Irrational Games released Bioshock Infinite, the third game in the Bioshock series.

This game does not take place in the underwater world of Rapture, but in the city in the clouds Columbia.

You play as Booker DeWitt, a PI who has been tasked with rescuing a girl being held in the city. After you take a rowboat to a small lighthouse, you get transported via a small rocket to the city in the sky. Truly impressive stuff, and grabs you right off the bat.

Once you are in the city of Columbia, it is hard not to look around and just breathe in the surroundings, the sounds, the sights, how the city feels alive.

I haven't gotten very far, so this is just a brief entry to talk about the world, but I wanted to just give a quick impression, and will provide more as I go on.

Tuesday, March 19, 2013

Tomb Raider

It has been a long time since there was a good Lara Croft game, and in the meantime a new explorer took over. Nathan Drake, and the Uncharted series, has become the gold standard for the action/adventure genre.

Move over Nate, but Lara is back. The 2013 Tomb Raider is an origin tale, telling the tale of Lara on her first adventure where she is a little more confident in making decisions, and being a bit more forceful in her decisons.

As the ship she is on travels into the Devils triangle, it is swept over by a rogue wave, and broken in half, Lara scrambles to get out of the half she is on, and makes a desperate jump to the other half, and is caught, for a second, by Roth, her mentor. It is short lived however, as she falls into the ocean.

When Lara awakes, she is on an island, alone, cold, soaking wet and unsure of where her friends are. Getting her bearings, she hears her friends voices just over a ridge, and she starts to walk towards them, when she is knocked unconscious from behind.

This sets the stage for her tale of escape, puzzle solving, learning to use different weapons, and, most importantly, her first kill.

I won't say much more but it is a fantastic game, with lots to do and lots of treasures to find.

Sunday, March 10, 2013

Long time no Blog

So, it has been well over a year since I last wrote something, so here goes.

Part of my absence could be explained by working steady nights, it just takes so much out of you. I am happy to report, that as of February 19th, I am now on day shift working with th eplant trainer, to write work instructions and things like that. It is interesting, and keeps me pretty engaged.

On the gaming fron, I think I have finally given up on World of Warcraft, it wasn't holding my interest anymore...I just got a free 7 day pass so I will see if it brings me back into the fold. I also need to finish Diablo 3, Starcraft 2, and others, and get back into Guild Wars 2.

Games that have really grabbed my attention are Tomb Raider, which is a fantastic reboot of the popular franchise, and Tiger Woods 13.

Tomb Raider is such a fantastic game, the story centering around Lara Croft's first adventure. When the game starts, she is not the killer we all know, as she is jsut starting out on her tomb raiding adventures. The ship she is on gets hit by rough seas, and breaks the ship in half, as she is running and jumps to grab the hand of a fellow ship mate, she slips into the sea, washing up on shore later.

She finds herself seperated from her ship mates, and when she figures out where they are she is blindsided by someone, and wakes hanging upside down in a cave.