Release Date: May 7, 2009
Platforms: Windows
While I conceded the fall of sprawling adventure games to first-person shooters and the more economically sound casual game market, one concept I've had difficulty wrapping my head around is the hidden-object game. The whole concept (here's some objects, click on them) is on par with word-finds for intellectual and emotional stimulation. My first experience with such games was Escape the Museum. It was so nauseatingly boring that I quit after ten minutes and went outside to watch boxelder bugs procreate. Then I discovered there are hundreds upon hundreds of games much like this, with no challenge, a threadbare plot, and selling like hotcakes.
In 2009, I came across a good one, all by accident. Chris Jones and Aaron Conners are relatively big names in the industry, for they were responsible for the immensely popular Tex Murphy series. Jones starred as Tex Murphy in one of the few positive uses of full-motion video, blending film noir and adult themes with solid adventuring. So when I found out they had started their own company, Big Finish Games, I knew I would buy whatever game they produced. It wasn't until after I ordered their first game, 3 Cards to Midnight, that I realized it was a hidden-object game. [redacted!]
But I was pleasantly surprised. Rather than simply finding lists of objects on screen, the games requires you to think. For example, the game might give you a word like "Shark." Instead of looking for Jaws, you may need to look for the ace of clubs. Ergo, card shark. Or click on a tiger. Tiger shark. Or an aquarium. Shark tank.
Not only does the game require thinking, there is actually a fleshed out plot, cut scenes, and voice acting. It's nothing to write home about, but at least it tries. There is also a sequel, 3 Cards to Dead Time, that is even stronger in the puzzle department if weaker in the story and acting.
I still prefer just about any other genre to hidden object. But Stefanie loves such games, and if we're going to play them together, I need to find some that don't immediately make me catatonic. If anyone has recommendations, I'd love to hear them.
Whatcha playin?
I also just finished Back to the Future by Telltale Games. Light on difficulty but heavy (what is this word, heavy?) on story and laughs. If you loved the movie, you'll almost assuredly like this game. Christopher Lloyd and Claudia Wells voice their respective characters, and the guy who plays Marty...well, you can't tell it's not Michael J. Fox. He's that good.
I've played 2-3 Telltale Games offerings; they do a pretty decent job.
Until Thursday, all Telltale Games except Back to the Future are 75% off. I bought almost all of their games for less than ten bucks a piece, some as low as two dollars!
So far I've played most of the first Sam & Max series and I really need to get back to that.
I played the second Sam & Max, only part way throught the first, although haven't looked at it lately. Also did much of the Homestar Runner as well.
What did you think of Strongbad? Even though all of Telltale's games are rated pretty well, this one rates the poorest. Also, most reviews indicate that unless you've seen the webcomic, a lot of the humor will be lost.
Well if that isn't an opportunity to post my favorite Strongbad moment, I don't know what is.
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MkrvfC4aYEs
Nice. I hadn't seen that one.
PS - Here's the Homestar link without that awful high pitch screech from the YT vid.
Oh yeah, sorry about that screech. I should have put a warning up.
I dabbled with "Homestar Ruiner" quite a bit. I'm sure a lot of the humor was lost on non-HSR's, but I eventually lost interest and gave up. Sam & Max kicked its butt.
I'm currently working on Mass Effect 2. I love how they are linking the three planned games (it is planned as a trilogy, right?). It will offer up a ton of replay value with all sorts of different combinations of paragoning and renegading. (Renegade gone noble paragon sounds like fun.) Plus they streamlined just about everything from the first game, which is much appreciated.
I got "Little Big Planet" and "Infamous" as my PS3 compensation. I played about 30 minutes of each. I'm not too into either one, but I think LBP is the better of the two.
Not into either? I've pumped countless hours into both.
I should probably get around to playing inFAMOUS at some point, since the sequel looks like it is even better.
I further hate having an Xbox.
Did you ever play Crackdown? What I played of inFAMOUS didn't seem as awesome as Crackdown, though Crackdown 2 was a bit disappointing compared to the original. If you've never played either, you should pick one up. I bet you could get it for < $10.
I have not, but for $10 or so it looks like it'd be worth it to find. Thanks for the suggestion.
I hate FPS games, so Infamous is not going be very high on my list. I feel like I could get into LBP if I sat down and played.
I hate them too, and inFamous is third person.
You're right, I messed that one up. I hate shooters, both first and third person. I can't aim for shit, so they're supremely frustrating.
Heh, understood. For some reason, the camera messes with my head in first person, but not in third. Although, I also didn't like third person shooters until just a few years ago, when Uncharted showed up.
I haven't had a whole ton of gaming time lately, but here's what I've been playing.
Child of Eden (Xbox 360): The spiritual successor to Rez. The gameplay seems a bit deeper and more complex, the visuals are gorgeous, but the music doesn't seem as good yet. Admittedly, Rez didn't really pick up until the two final stages, so it's a bit early to make a judgment. I am looking forward to having some more time to dig in and use the Kinect to play. I played half a stage with it (at 2 in the morning) and it seemed pretty immersive, but I definitely need to give it more time.
Dead or Alive Dimensions (3DS): This is kind of like a remix of DoA4 with more characters and a hilariously over the top story mode. I've been playing the story mode, which gives you bite size fights with ridiculous story interspersed. It's a perfect game to play for 15 minutes before bed, and it's killing time until I get the time & money to pick up Legend of Zelda: The Ocarina of Time 3D.
I'd had designs on making a huge love post in this month's game thread to PaRappa the Rapper & UmJammer Lammy since I recently bought the Japanese versions of both on eBay. These are probably my two favorite PlayStation games ever, and playing PaRappa for the first time is one of my favorite experiences ever. I'd always wanted to pick up the Japanese version of Lammy since the US version was edited (in stage 6, Lammy goes to Hell in the original version, but in the US version the video prior to the stage shows her getting sent back in time to an island? Plus they change some lyrics in Paul Chuck's stage), and I figured for completion's sake I should pick up PaRappa as well. Anyway, once I got both games in the mail I realized I did not have a DualShock 2 in the house, and I can't find a PSOne memory card anywhere. Sigh. I'm going to round those up after all these stupid hours at work, and relive these games. They're brilliant and awesome, and you should play them if you haven't.
I can't wait until I can afford a Playstation
I finished up Assassin's Creed and, more importantly, Mass Effect 2.
I've heard the sequels to Assassin's Creed make up for the first one, which is good, because based on that game alone, I doubt I'd be back for any more. Annoying combat, dragged-out ending, and a story which, while being nowhere near as clever as it thinks it is, manages to go out of its way to not engage the player. At least the parkour is loads of fun.
Mass Effect 2 ends up as one of my favorite games ever. The ending was a little wonky
Everything that came before, though is damn near flawless game-making. I was doing side missions trying to squeeze every last drop out of it. It took everything that bothered me about the first and distilled it into awesomeness. I have now massively overhyped this game.
Now I'm replaying Starcraft and wishing that my Orange Box disc wasn't scratched.
While I won't click your spoiler to see if I agree with you there, I do agree with your hyping of Mass Effect 2, and I'm only about half way through right now. Also, resource probes for the win.
I'm playing ME2 right now, but I haven't in about a month because of all the free stuff I've gotten since. I should probably get back to it, but I find myself saying that about a ton of games...
I figure I'll have plenty to do when I'm retired. I have literally hundreds of games that are unfinished. A large part of this is the Dreamcast buying binge I went on a couple of years back, but still, there's plenty of games to be played.
Of course by then you'll have severe arthritis
I'll probably be able to get bionic hands at that point, hopefully I can learn them to manipulate a Dreamcast controller.
I really want to get a bunch of friends together with a Dreamcast, Soul Calibur, an 80 inch screen and a projector and go nuts. That would bring back memories of some good times.
My first college roommate had Soul Calibur on Dreamcast. The only person I was any good with was the giant dude with the big-ass hammer (I'm worse at fighting games than I am at shooters). I would just shoulder check people off the platform.
Astaroth, maybe? My buddy played that dude and got more enjoyment out of "buy a ticket, take the ride" then I thought any one person could.
I was able to occasionally get a win against my buddy with Astaroth. If I didn't use him, there were times where he'd beat me 15 times in a row.
I had a ten match streak going with Misturugi before I was forced to relinquish my seat to go to class.
Mitsurugi eventually got semi-banned (you could only use him every other round) amongst the friends I played with. Everyone was good with him.
After getting beat handily in the game, Astaroth was the character I decided to learn. No one played as him, ever, so no one was ready for him. The first night I started using him I went on a 67 match win streak. Everyone was furious.
I played Tekken 2 my senior year of college. Everyone else had played it before, so I started out awful. But I tried out a few characters that no one else used on arcade mode.
I had good runs as True Ogre and Gon until others figured out their weaknesses. I also knew Yoshimitsu's seppuku move, which took your levels to half but automatically won the round if his opponent was standing behind him.
I always played as Yoshimitsu- I don't know why, except no one else ever wanted to play as him. Mitsurugi pissed me off, he was too easy to play well with.
My friends mapped the right trigger to the throw Mitsurugi does where he stabs with his sword and kicks the player off. They called it the "ring out" button. I called it "cheap shit."
I think what we're learning here is that we need an official WGOM SoulCalibur Fest.
I'd be down. I'll be playing the role of the Kansas City Royals - hope I'm coming up soon if you're in a slump.
Bah, haters.
But yeah, SoulCalibur Fest would be awesome. Come down to Madison with a Dreamcast, my friend has the 80" screen with a projector. I have beer.
I have a Dreamcast with a VGA box, two joysticks, and about 20 awesome fighting games. We definitely should try to make this happen.
This sounds like a great time.
It does, even though I probably suck now. Its been a loooong time since I've played a fighting game.
heh, yeah. I tried playing Mortal Kombat not that long ago, and I got myself whooped by the PC in the first fight.
Still, I might be interested in a get together.
I haven't played a fighting game, much less a dreamcast fighting game in a while now. It's a fair bet we'd be on relatively even ground.
This pretty much sounds awesome. I've been trying to get my friends together to do something like this but they won't. We used to play SoulCalibur for 6 hours a night every weekend in high school.