Yin Yang

So I see a headline about another Duke Nukem Forever sighting and the first thing that pops into my head is another 3DRealms game, Shadow Warrior.  I think I only ever played the game once in my life, but it was some of the best fun I’ve had in gaming.

My friend Joe brought the game and his PC over to my apartment (this being the good ol days of LAN only multiplayer) and we networked our PC’s together for some full-on, Lo Wang action.  I think the best part was all the sayings you could taunt your opponent with.  Classic sayings like, “You blocking with your head again!” and “Eat this pencil dick!”.  Literary Gold.  We ended up playing the game till like 5 in the morning.  I didn’t wake up the next day till like 5 in the evening only to realize I had slept through a friends wedding.  Good times…

Conan

I guess it is worth mentioning that my Age of Conan account officially expired yesterday.  Not that I’ve been playing the game all this time.  It took me all of a week to realize the game was an unpolished turd, cancel the account, and quit playing.

The game just lacked so many of the features that initially peaked my interest in it and couldn’t even deliver basic MMO functionality (can’t see group members on a map? wtf?).  Despite the claimed PvP focus, the PvP felt tacked on with very little thought put into it.  The new twist to melee combat, while cool at first when fighting non-moving NPC’s, was just an exercise in futility when you had to attempt those combo’s while hitting a moving target.  The class balance was non-existent, the gear was all crap, and the player stats meant nothing.

The game feels entirely like it was pushed out the door to get as much money as they could now rather than releasing when it was ready and would potentially have to compete with the WoW expansion and WAR.  Bugs in an MMO I expect and can deal with, totally broken/missing/lacking core components I can’t.

Spiderman Candle

Just sent back my latest GameFly rental, The Spiderwick Chronicles.  I got the game for my kids because they both enjoyed the movie, but oddly enough, the game wasn’t half bad.

I end up playing most of the kid games myself with them sitting around me watching, so I’m sure they’re enjoyment of it kinda tilted my own perception, but it really is the perfect kind of rental game.  The gameplay itself is pretty simple with few if any frustrating moments.  The main story can be completed in just a day or two.  The collection based quest/achievements aren’t too dificult and can be done in another day (if you are into the whole gamerscore thing *cough* imawhore *cough*).  Even the “multiplayer” achievements are doable solo (with the exception of one achievement that requires at least a second controller).

Battlefield: Bad Company

While I am in-between Gamefly games, Universe at War was ridiculously bad and I’m taking a bit of a GTA4 break, I have been playing the Battlefield: Bad Company demo on Xbox Live. So far, the game is pretty decent. The initial release weekend was little more than a unconnectable lagfest, but once they got their shit together, the game has been a lot of fun.

Some things I consider improvements over previous Battlefield: X games are that the vehicles aren’t so overpowered to make you feel totally gimp if you prefer to use your virtual legs. The classes feel pretty well balanced with the exception of the Specialist which seems to have little use, but perhaps that will change with the actual game. The destructible environments which initially came off as just the next big gimmick actually play a large role in how you defend or attack an area depending on what is or isn’t still standing.

My only gripes are that the hit detection doesn’t feel quite as solid as COD4′s, the guns feel a bit weak (you really have to unload on someone to drop em), and being limited to communication with only the squad you are in (ie, can’t talk to the rest of your team).