Erm, that was very quick. I know the game is meant to be short, but I’d heard around 5-6 hours. Imagine my surprise, then, when I killed the game’s one and only Strider and then the game finished, just three and a half hours in. So yes, it was good, but as well as it’s length it didn’t do anything new. The whole episode was made up of bits from Half-Life 2, only in a different order. Time for another …
With a few games since Half-Life 2 was completed, I felt it time to return to the story. I’d heard Episode One was pretty short too, so it’ll be good for a quick play before starting something else. So far, it’s more of the same. Sort of. No crowbar though! There was a bit at the start getting back into the Citadel, stablising the core, then getting the hell out. Then a train crash, then a bit in a multistory …
Gah! I swear this is harder than when I played it on the PS2. Or even on the Dreamcast. I just can’t beat the Level 2 boss. In fact, this time, I didn’t even manage to reach it with better than just the starting “form” of your player. Rubbish.
That’s right. Completed. Although I was only about half the way through yesterday, I played it rather a lot this afternoon. And this evening. Yeah, so pretty much all day. Oops. Naturally, I assassinated the last few targets, leaving me with Robert – the guy who I ran from at the start of the game. However, he’d left a decoy in his place, so I had to go off to meet King Richard on the battlefield to tell him of …
So I’ve killed the bloke in Jerusalem, and then it was off (via Massaf) to Damascus again, to kill a fat, and overtly gay, businessman who was holding a party just so he could poison all the guests. Amazing. He was the easiest kill so far, and with him bumped off I went up a rank and got some more items, and then set off for Acre again. I’ve not done anything there yet, though. So I’m enjoying the game, …
“Thez bin a mudder!” If only the game was all in Taggart-speak. Imagine how ace it’d be then! Not that it’s bad – it’s just… varied. The running over the rooftops is excellent, and the fighting isn’t too bad. I like some of the “investigation” things, but others are tedious. The horse riding from city to city is also pretty tedious. The actual assassinations (so far – I’ve only done two) have been great, but the running away afterwards has …
How do the save points on this work, exactly? Last time I played, I’d made it all the way to Damascus. When I started playing today, I was 15 minutes away, although all the view points I’d reached previously were still “counted”. I don’t get it. Anyway. I ran round the city a lot, which was fun, eavesdropped some people, beat up lots of guards who seemed to enjoy harassing locals, and climbed all the view points. Then, it was …
Straight in, no trial, no testing, no hesitation – I just paid for and downloaded the full game. And? It’s crap. NOT REALLY! LOL! No, it’s great. It’s just like the PS2 version I have, only with three main differences: I don’t have to use that awful PS2 pad. It’s slightly better looking. It sounds AMAZING. Admittedly, one of those things could be solved by the Dreamcast version, and another by plugging my PS2 into my new surround sound system, …
So I hated the demo, but Microsoft gave it away free last week (as a “we’re sorry Xbox Live has been broken for a month – here, have some crap” gesture) so I’d downloaded it. You can see that there’s been a week’s delay in playing it – I was hardly excited to do so. It’s still crap. Like, really crap. I was compelled to switch it off after the first level, and I really don’t see myself ever playing …
Started this for the sole purpose of trying out something other than Tony Hawk on my new speakers. It doesn’t (yet) have the immersion, soundwise, but then I have only played it for just over an hour. Well, I say I’ve played it for just over an hour. In reality, I’ve watched it a lot, pressed a button every now and again, and been shown how to press buttons. Oh, and I’ve been killed and somehow came back to life. …
So I got my subwoofer working today. Good grief does it make a difference! Every skate-check gets a heavy thump, bailing makes a deep crunch, even aggro kicking gets a meaty whoomph from the speaker. Excellent! As far as the game went, I (again) beat a few more street challenges, and then mopped up some more Classic and Hawk-Man goals. The Museum Classic goals were bloody difficult, although really shouldn’t have been. Could I natas spin the switches to turn …
Since today was mainly taken up with setting up my new surround sound kit, I didn’t spend long playing games. I did, however, break Tony out for a while and finished off the last Uber Goals, completing those remaining. The Pro one was really quite hard (on the Nail The Trick demo especially), until I realised you could manage more than one of the ten required tricks in one combo. Then, as usual, I completed some more street goals. 87% …
Yes, I did skip two days of playing games. I was busy! Mainly with resurrecting the dead. But then I came back… to Tony. Again. Can’t stay away. So I thought I’d have a crack the Uber Goals again, and managed the Hardcore one without a problem. I haven’t attempted the Rigger one at all yet, and the Pro one? Not looking forward to trying that again. It was hard! Also completed some more street goals and improved a few …