Category: Video Games
365 Adventures in 2011: Day 197 – Dave and Buster’s hits Orlando
The new Dave & Buster’s on International Drive held a pre-opening party tonight. Ticket costs went to Big Brothers Big Sisters of Central Florida and also got us $20 worth of video game credit as well as food and drinks. It officially opens on Monday and anyone in the are should check it out… it’s fun! There are plenty of great video games and a whole lot of ticket-winning games with a huge selection of prizes to win. And they have Arctic Thunder, one of my favorite arcade games! Score.
365 Adventures in 2011: Day 186 – Wrapping up LA Noire
This is my first duplicate photo of the year (that I know of). I took a photo of the LA Noire video game box when I first got it and tonight I beat the game, so here it is again. I didn’t make it to 100% yet, with quite a few street crimes, hidden vehicles, film reels (which I’ve found *none* of), and other assorted things to discover, but I did finish the story. The game started out really strong, got better and better, then got a little confusing at the end as the story moved into a multi-case arc that tried to pull together almost everything that had happened so far. It played out like a final season of a long-running TV show that writers didn’t plan for and quickly created when the show got cancelled. I’m sure the story made sense, but too many characters and small plot details left me not caring anymore. The game was fun to the end, but I lost interest in the story about 4 or 5 cases before the completion. I do want to go back and replay some of the cases I did poorly in to see if I could interview people correctly this time. I’m still not sure exactly what the trick is to pick the right questions to ask…
365 Adventures in 2011: Day 181 – More bad video games
We subscribe to GameFly to get a constant stream of video games sent to our house all the time. It’s a great way to play games that aren’t worth buying… and an even better way to weed out games that are awful, which unfortunately is many. And today’s arrivals were no exception. I received Rec Room Games for Wii, which was buggy, boring, and basically unplayable, and Michelle received a Sherlock Holmes game for DS, which she said was okay. We didn’t play either for long before sticking them right into the return envelope to send back to GameFly. Hopefully our next round of games will be better.
If you’re not a GameFly member but are thinking about signing up, use this link and we’ll get a free month if you do. :)
365 Adventures in 2011: Day 165 – Hail to the king, baby
After waiting since high school more than a decade ago, Duke Nukem Forever finally arrived to my house today. And it’s just as Duke Nukem as Duke Nukem ever was. After pre-ordering it a couple days ago, I was alerted to poor reviews of the game, citing low frame rates, bad graphics, and dull gameplay. And all that meant to me was… I would love it. Hardcore gamers will hate everything about this game. It’s not serious. It’s allows zero precision. And each level seems to aimlessly meander. But that’s Duke Nukem.
Anyone who played the original Duke Nukem 3D years ago (as I did for hours on end) will love this new game. It’s like I’m a freshman in high school all over again. All the immaturity and vulgarity of the original is back, along with Duke’s hilarious one-liners. Sure the game is silly and moronic, but that’s what makes it fun. It’s not serious gameplay but a pick-up-and-go adventure through absurdity that I’m enjoying greatly.
And I’m glad I shelled out the extra $40 for the “Balls of Steel” limited edition version that came with a ton of fun Duke Nukem collectibles. I have no idea what I’ll do with them all, but I’m happy to have them. And now I need to stop writing this so I can go play some more Duke Nukem Forever. (Yeah, I never thought I’d say that…)
365 Adventures in 2011: Day 138 – LA Noire does motion capture better than Hollywood… and it’s fun!
Though I picked up Rockstar’s new game LA Noire yesterday, I didn’t have a chance to play it until tonight. As a fan of crime-solving police games like the old Police Quest series, I was excited to play this game. Combine that gaming genre with stunning new motion capture technology that
There’s not much new about the crime solving aspect. You’re a detective. You find clues. You visit different locations and talk to different suspects/witnesses/informants. You nab a suspect. You interrogate him/her until the crime is solved. It’ll likely get slightly more complicated than that linear path but the gist is there. But what makes this game different is the Grand Theft Auto-style open world, set in a faithfully recreated 1940s Los Angeles. There’s plenty of opportunity to explore the richly detailed environment. On top of that, LA Noire features the best use of motion capture I’ve ever seen, where actors actually look like themselves and move realistically. The facial expressions, particularly mouth movements, are spot-on.
Unlike the flapping jaws of the past 10+ years of 3D-rendered games, LA Noire is the first to get it right. And Rockstar even takes that a step further by not only including this amazing technology as a visual treat, but also as part of the gameplay, forcing players to watch expressions carefully to determine if individuals are lying or telling the truth. It’s genius.
Now I just wonder why Hollywood can’t make motion capture look this good. As great as the young Jeff Bridges / Kevin Flynn / Clu looked on screen in Tron: Legacy, as soon as he opened his mouth, all believability disappeared. If a video game company can make a rendered mouth perfectly match its performer, why couldn’t the biggest Hollywood effects houses?
