Monthly Archives: June 2006

heroes of czech republic!

Yeah well the title is a bit fun actually 😀

What it means? a interesting company from czech republic made a cool game that reminds me of Heroes of Might & Magic (of course, we’re talking about a shareware here, so no 3d realtime or ultra special FX!). Ok ok, bad title, but the game is cool!
You can find more info about this strategic rpg game on my site. Check the demo, is available on pc and mac!

Incoming adventure from Sakura

After playing Fahrenheit, I got very interested in adventure games. I talked with my friends at Sakura and I just discovered that they’re working at one! it will be a simple 2d adventure game with manga art. The artist they hired is great, even if is from USA so not a true japanese artist 😉

< just joking, I know many people from USA who draw manga quite well! >

I’m curious to play it, even if I’ll probably have to wait until this autumn…

final conclusions on Fahrenheit

Ok so I’ve finished the game (yes was quick, but what logevity do you really expect from an adventure game??).

My conclusion is: great beginning, but then slowly turns into a boring experience because of the action scenes. They forced the hand a bit too much. I don’t care to press the buttons in the correct sequences, expecially when I’m trying to listen to important characters talking! I can’t even take a look at the art, so why they used motion capture, beautiful 3d models if my concentration when playing is all on those coloured button to press in the correct sequence?

I don’t know if they were forced by someone (publisher) or if they realized that otherwise the game was very short. I don’t care if is short, but don’t ruin the gaming experience at least!!! I had to use a cheat because I wanted to see how the story ended without having to become mad with those USELESS action sequences.

Strange that such a good initial idea and plot was wasted in such a way by very bad gamedesign decisions. If I’ll ever make an adventure game one day, for sure there won’t be such obsessive arcade action sequences…

Now that the game ended, I feel a bit lost. What’s up with Carla Valenti? I want to play more stories with her. I find her character much more intriguing than any Lara Croft honestly…!

Fahrenheit (aka Indigo Prophecy)

Yesterday my copy of Fahrenheit arrived. Got it as usual from www.play.com a very good site with free delivery. The deal price of just 16 euros forced me to buy it instantly!

At first was astonished! A true interactive movie! quite different from usual adventure games, but still very enjoyable. Instead of wasting time trying to find the correct combination of verb+word (take the red bag, push the door, etc) the only search you have to do is to find the “hot spot”, places in the room/current playing area where you can do actions. Then you simply decide with a press of keyboard or gamepad.

Very interesting innovation, and is even easy to understand for casual players. But later in the game, some action sequences pissed me off (for those who played that game, I’m mainly referring to “The Storm” chapter… really incredible!). I don’t understand the need to put that in an adventure… indeed is based on matching a long sequences of moves (Dragon’s Lair style) and really doesn’t add up much to the game, I wish there was an option to skip it.

That said, is one of the best adventure and in general one of the best games I’ve ever played. Interesting characters like Angelina … ahem, Carla Valenti (they modeled it basing on the actress Jolie, I’m sure!) and Kane, a compelling plot… I really can’t stop playing it !

enslaving games!

Yes! there are some games, MMORPG or MMOG, that enslaves you! As I said previously I play often EQ2.

I had been playing the first Everquest for 3-4 years in the past, then I quit because of the job. Now I decided to try EQ2, and everything was going fine until I joined a guild… 🙂

The problem is that those games would require 4-5h every day! raid, groups, etc. You can’t decide for yourself when to play: because there are other real people involved from around the world. Also even if you can solo (adventure in the game alone), most cool places requires a good group to play. And here’s the problem: logging in, waiting for people to ask you to group, getting there (some places requires 10-15min to get there) and waiting for all party members to arrive. The result? often you literally waste 1h even before starting to play!

This can work for boys or for people who got time to waste… but not for me and many other people! This aspect is quite underestimated in MMOG, and I believe is going to cause a decline of this genre over time… a pity because EQ2 has one of the best RPG system I’ve ever seen. They should simply allow people to play offline or with CPU controlled players 🙂