2 Steps Forward, 2 Steps Back

I played Lego Batman 2 at my friend's house the other night, and while this is "the most changed" Lego game to date, it's not that changed.  They added voice acting, and the Batman ones were slightly different in they had the suits, not different characters, to solve the puzzles.  Everything else is the same.  Same terrible camera, hit detection, targeting, sending endless guys while you try to figure out a puzzle, etc.  I'll get it cheap for my son, who will likely love it as he has the others, but I'm fine that the last one I played was Lego Batman.

Now on to the stupidest part.  Yeah, I would be skeptical after reading that, too.  In the Batcave, there is water underneath the stage.  This water is the most dangerous thing in the game, as it can kill 95% of the cast.  If you jump into it, your character dies.  Except Superman and General Zod.  They are the only ones who will fall in and automatically fly out of it instead of dying.  Everyone else will die a horrible death.  Green Lantern?  Check, even though he can fly.  Martian Manhunter and Wonder Woman?  Check, even though they are "invulnerable".  A being named BRAINIAC?  Of course he's stupid enough to die, even though capable of flight.  Killer Croc?  Of course he would drown.

This brings us to Aquaman.  You must think that a guy named ****ing AQUAMAN could swim and not drown.  Well, you are wrong.  Even Batman dies in his own water.

A minor gripe?  Sure.  It's just remarkably stupid to have that in the game.  Why drown all but 2 people?  Why not have all flyers just auto fly when they drop in?  The developers are lazy, considering they have made the same game, what, 10 times already?  Just put a new coat of paint on the Lego guys and you're good to go?  I think the drowning thing is even stupider than my previous favorite, robots having ragdoll physics in Transformers Armada for PS2.  I actually liked that game, though.

Fall of Cybertron Demo Impressions

While I'm very excited to play this game, it's unlikely I will be able to afford it upon release.  I might use my birthday money for it (assuming I get some), but we will see.  Until then, the demo will have to suffice.  So, how was it?

I liked it a lot.  I was sad to see Bumblebee have a damaged voice box, so they are making the stupid Michael Bay Bumblebee cannon, I guess.  I don't like BB at all, but the voiceless one is even stupider.  Please stop doing it.  Other than that, his level was ok, but there are several scenes where they just kill nameless Autobots for no real reason.  I don't like stuff like that, it is very pointless.  I'm a fan of making a character's death mean something, not just have them fly out into space to show that it can happen.

Vortex's level was fun, I like his chopper/jet form.  I really wanted to explore it and look for collectibles, but I don't know if they are actually there, other than the 1 obvious audio log I found.  Both levels ended at strange places, so I hope it's nowhere near the full level for either.

Now for multiplayer.  War for Cybertron was one of the few games where I enjoyed the competitive multiplayer.  I managed to max out 2 of the 4 classes.  I could likely max out scientist, but it would take awhile.  The scout....nope.  I hated that class.  When trying the multiplayer in the demo, I at first wasn't impressed.  Sure, making your own Transformer is cool, if a little limiting at first, but I died a lot.  I slowly got the hang of it, but I felt really weak.  The warrior's Tornado ability seems a lot worse than it was in the first game.  I used to get plenty of kills with it, but it just seemed bad.  I still wish you had more than 4 weapons to choose from per class, as the biggest reason why I couldn't use the scout was I hated the weapons.  Seeing as how the only achievements I don't have in the first game are the last 2 for multiplayer, I'm not sure how much I will play it in the sequel.

I'm definitely looking forward to playing the game.  The demo gave a good feel for the game.  I might not like the competitive multiplayer as much as the first, but that could change after getting some time with the full version.

Tryin' It Out

I finally finished the first episode of one of my Youtube video ideas.  It's called "Tryouts".  If you've heard of "Let's Play"s, then this is more of a "Let's Try".  I don't play through the whole game, I just take one of my many backlogged/queued games, pop it in, and record myself playing it with live commentary.  It's a good way to get through some of the crap I have, and just might be entertaining.  As with my other shows/ideas, feel free to leave a comment on the videos or here for any game you would like me to try.  If I've already played it, that goes in another category...but more on that another time.  Within reason, I'll try to get my hands on a game and give it a whirl.

The first episode is about the Nintendo 64 game WCW vs. NWO World Tour.  I have played Revenge, but not the first installment.  I acquired this game at a "garage sale" for $1, so I might as well fire it up and give it a shot.  I'm thinking of getting the N64 games out of the way first, since I have the least of them, and it's already hooked up to the capture unit.  Side note: the recording was done over a week ago, I was just lazy in getting the front end logo done.  I'm not super happy with it, but I can improve it later.  It's more important to get some content out and make the logo look awesome later.  It's passable, but far from my best work (the logo that is).  Enjoy!

Back to Work?

It looks like I might be headed back to work.  I didn't really want to quit when I did, but someone had to take care of the kids.  Looking at the finances though....I think I need to get a job again.  While I do want a job and am happy at the prospect of having one again, the circumstances forcing me to do so are...unsettling.  It will probably be part time, but would I have to change the name of the blog?  *dramatic cliff-hanger music*

And for a random note, after using an old computer to get some old info off of floppy disks...yeah, I know, how old...I remember those things being better.  The read time on them sucks!  There was also some drama getting the Zip drive to work.  Yes, you read that right, a Zip drive.  Man that takes me back.  Also I have an old keyboard hooked up to it, and I keep not hitting the backspace key when I reach for it.  I hadn't realized that they made it bigger and moved the slash key down.  I am certainly glad for it, though!