Red Dead Redemption

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Posted by Chris Stewart on 04-23-2010

Posted in Editorials

Red Dead Redemption is an upcoming release I’m really looking forward to. The game is being developed by Rockstar, the makers of Grand Theft Auto, and features a Western look and feel to the sandbox experience I’ve come to love with Grand Theft Auto. There is a real need for a solid Western title and Red Dead Redemption is looking poised to fill that need.

I have general expectations on what a single-player experience will bring and that’s rather consistent across every game. What has really caught my attention are the multiplayer aspects of this title. In addition to the typical Deathmatch modes, we’ll get a mode called Free Roam which allows you to jump into the game and effectively do what you want. You can roam the area, terrorize unsuspecting people passing by, bring those terrorizing to justice, form a posse of up to 8 players, or just roam the countryside admiring the view.

This is definitely a day one purchase for me. I am an absolute Grand Theft Auto junkie, simply because I can enjoy the game for hours without progressing the story at all. And Red Dead Redemption seems to be an extension of that set in the Wild West. I can’t wait.

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What I Want From Gears of War 3

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Posted by Chris Stewart on 04-23-2010

Posted in Editorials

By now I’m sure you’ve seen the announcement and trailer for Gears of War 3. It promises to be one epic conclusion to the Gears of War story. For me, Gears of War has become very much like Halo, dull and boring. I really enjoyed the first title but found the second to be little more than a few new levels with the same gameplay experience. I still enjoyed the experience of Gears of War 2, as I’ve always been a fan of their cover system, even if it’s been dated.

I’m hoping for so much more when it comes to Gears of War 3. I want a great story to complete the experience. This is quite simply the most important aspect of the title. Without that, what’s the point? We’ve had a great graphical experience in both of the previous titles. We’ve seen gameplay advances, in the first at least. What we need is a great story, something that captures you from the start and is meaningful throughout. Take a page from BioWare, please. At the end of the day, and let’s just be honest, Gears of War 3 will get great reviews simply because of it’s name. Like it or not, that’s how it works. Hype can, and often does, carry a weak game. If Gears of War 3 doesn’t provide an amazing story, it will most certainly be a flop in my eyes.

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GameFly or Blockbuster?

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Posted by Chris Stewart on 04-21-2010

Posted in Editorials

GameFly or Blockbuster; who provides the best game rental service? With the growing number of passable video game titles, it’s becoming more and more expensive to stay up on our favorite pastime. Both GameFly and Blockbuster offer video game rental services that attempt to fill this need, but which is the better service?

I grew up with Blockbuster. I couldn’t begin to estimate how many times I’ve visited the store whether it be for movies or video games. Throughout that time, in the neighborhood of 15 years, I grew a real love/hate relationship with the company. I’ve always enjoyed video games and movies and really appreciated the opportunity to so easily have access to them. What always pissed me off were the late fees and the sometimes lack of selection or availability.

As you can imagine, when I discovered Netflix I was immediately hooked and to this day maintain a subscription to the service. Netflix beats the pants off of Blockbuster’s movie rental service in every way. You’d think I would have immediately fallen in love with GameFly when I first heard of it. Well, I actually did, until I subscribed to the service. At this time, over a year ago, GameFly was still somewhat in it’s infancy as a company. Netflix has spoiled me with amazing selection, availability, and wait times of a single business day. If the movie is shipped today, I will absolutely get it tomorrow. GameFly, on the other hand, had a great selection but very low availability, unless you knew how to work the queue system, and a shipping time of days. If a few release came out on a Tuesday, I’d be lucky to get it by Friday, lucky. I unsubscribed pretty quickly.

Only 2 months ago I decided to check back in on GameFly as they had opened more distribution centers and I figured had better availability by now. Knowing how to get new games, I was able to get the new releases shipped the day they came out and in some cases the Monday before. The shipping times had gotten better, but it’s still no Netflix. The average was 2 business days for me. I did have some issues, such as one release coming in the mail but missing the actual game itself. That was annoying, after having waited 4 days for it to come in the first place. As I began to pick up World of Warcraft again, I unsubscribed to GameFly.

Well, now I’m looking into the various offerings and wondering which makes the most sense. With my experiences with GameFly, I feel like I pretty much understand what I’m getting with that service. It’s $23/month for 2 titles out, decent shipping times, some potential for longer waits if it has to come from a distant distribution center, and a good selection of titles. On the other hand, you have Blockbuster. I stopped by my local Blockbuster to get information about the GamePass program, since so little is available on their website. It’s $15 for the first month, then $22/mo after that, includes 1 title out, is exclusive to the store you start it at, and it’s entirely in-person. I went through the racks in the store and their availability of new releases was actually pretty good.

So, which makes more sense? With GameFly, you’ll get 2 titles for the price of 1 at Blockbuster. But, you’ll have instant access at Blockbuster instead of waiting days, and even a week in some cases, with GameFly. With GameFly, you’ll support an up and coming business that simply focuses on gamers, and effectively help put those final nails in Blockbuster’s proverbial coffin for all of those years of late fees. I haven’t made up my mind yet and I’d really like to get some feedback. Do you use one of these services? If so, what do you think, as an active customer, about the service?

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Splinter Cell: Conviction

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Posted by Chris Stewart on 04-17-2010

Posted in Editorials

I’ve been working my way through Splinter Cell: Conviction this week. The first few nights I would play a mission and then move over to some Battlefield: Bad Company 2. Last night, however, I couldn’t put it down. I put in a good 5 hours last night and loved every minute of it.

I had a moment of just “WOW!” during one sequence early on in my session. There’s a scene where you’re infiltrating a building. You come in through the top of the building and I found myself standing at a doorway. I peeked under the door and found a half dozen guards in a well lit environment. With stealth in mind, this is seemingly a tough instance to get through. I looked to my right and noticed a window. So I jumped out the window and strafed across the ledge to the other room. I marked two of the enemies, equipped my remote mines, opened a window towards the back of the room, and prepared to take down the house. I tossed a mine against the wall where I had opened the window and performed an execute on the two marked targets. As soon as that happened, the rest of the guards were alerted to my position. I strafed down the ledge a bit to get out of my known position. Once the guards came to the window, I detonated the mine. As the remaining guards closed in on my position, I performed hand to hand take downs on them, as they fell from the window. With the room clear, I jumped into the room from the window ledge, and moved forward.

Now that was an awesome sequence to the game and one that really got me hooked. Once you learn to think about alternative routes that aren’t glaringly obvious, the game really opens up for you. Since then, I’ve had a number of similar experiences. So many instances of just amazing fun.

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Battlefield is an Experience

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Posted by Chris Stewart on 04-16-2010

Posted in Editorials

I played more of Battlefield: Bad Company 2 last night and really enjoyed myself. Let’s face it, Battlefield competes directly with Modern Warfare 2. Modern Warfare 2 is a great game and the single player was amazingly fun. But Battlefield’s multiplayer experience destroys Modern Warfare 2. I’ve always referred to the multiplayer in Modern Warfare 2 as perfect for those with ADHD. It’s basically like this: spawn, shoot, die. Rinse and repeat for about 15 minutes and that’s about it. It all happens so fast it just becomes dizzying after awhile.

Battlefield feels far more realistic. Sure, you still die, and as a newbie myself, I’m dying a lot. But what happens between deaths feels so much more involved and important. I sent Kevin, co-founder of Console Racing Review, an email this morning about my experience last night:

I had a pretty awesome match in BF and literally had a “whoa” moment. I was defending a flag position, took out a few foot soldiers, had a dude on an ATV roll up on me and we had a little firefight. Neither of us died and we ended up finding cover. I was in the corner of a building and everything started to shake. I peeked out around the wall, half of which had been blown away in an earlier battle, and saw a tank rolling towards the flag. I quickly strolled backwards into the corner, kind of scared and thinking about my next move. The tank saw me and blasted the building. The building shook, dust was falling all around me, and all of a sudden the wall behind me was gone. My jaw dropped and I busted ass to the next room for cover. Before I could reach the doorway I was killed by the gunner.

That’s what makes Battlefield an experience and not just a run and gun shooter.

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A Few New Games

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Posted by Chris Stewart on 04-14-2010

Posted in Editorials

I’m back to some console games after a 2 month love affair with World of Warcraft. The one big problem with WoW, for me at least, is that it’s an all or nothing thing. When I have my WoW phases I pretty much only have enough gaming time and interest to play it, and nothing more. As it often happens, I get bored or burnt out of it after a few months and go back to console games.

Yesterday I visited my local Gamestop with a bunch of older games I have no interest in playing again. I walked out with Splinter Cell: Conviction, Battlefield: Bad Company 2, and a pre-order for Red Dead Redemption. I wasn’t able to spent a lot of time in these just yet, but I’m really digging Splinter Cell so far. There are a bunch of seriously innovative aspects to the game and the stealth mechanic is just awesome. Only 2 missions in, but enjoying it so far. With Battlefield, I had even less time, only a single multiplayer match, but I think I’m going to dig it.

I’m still due for a Mass Effect 2 review and I will get back to finishing that game up. I had put in a good ~27 hours before WoW sucked me back in, and I absolutely plan to finish it. I also picked up Forza 3 the other night for some quick and fun racing action.

Stay tuned, I’ll have reviews coming soon!

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Mass Effect 2 “Epicness” Confirmed

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Posted by Chris Stewart on 02-01-2010

Posted in Editorials

Electronic Arts issued a press release on Friday that starts with, “40 perfect scores. 2 million units. One pop culture phenomenon. BioWare™, a division of Electronic Arts Inc. (NASDAQ: ERTS), announced today that Mass Effect™ 2 has sold-in over two million units worldwide in its first week of release.”

Believe the hype, Mass Effect 2 is a stunning experience more typically associated with a major motion picture than a video game. I’ve been playing Mass Effect 2 quite a bit over the last week and have put in 15 hours so far. As everyone should, I’m definitely taking my time with this title. I’m visiting every system, scanning every planet, talking to every NPC, and exploring every open-world environment available.

I’m not ready to review the title just yet, but it’s safe to say it’s the best game I’ve played in a very long time. I’m actually looking forward to a second play-through with a different background, class, and a purposeful selection of dialogue choices. Stay tuned as my review will be available in the coming weeks.

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Mass Effect 2 Available

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Posted by Chris Stewart on 01-26-2010

Posted in Editorials

Today is a big day for Xbox 360 owners in North America. The second installment of the Mass Effect trilogy from BioWare is available. Admittedly, I only began playing the original a month or so ago, and haven’t gotten very far into it with all of the more recent games available. I’ve loved what I’ve seen and having played it has only made me that much more interested in Mass Effect 2.

Seeing as I don’t get review copies of games and tonight will be my first chance to play the game, it will likely be awhile before I’m able to post a full review of the game. I’ll certainly put up some thoughts as I go along. I’d love to hear your thoughts and opinions in the comments.

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Skeptical Gamer

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Posted by Chris Stewart on 01-15-2010

Posted in Editorials

Welcome to Skeptical Gamer!  My goal with Skeptical Gamer is to bring you a viewpoint of modern and popular video games from the perspective of someone who doesn’t love everything they play.  From the Atari 2600 to the modern consoles of today, I’ve been playing video games for roughly 20 years.  Over that time I’ve played classics, good titles, decent titles, and many that were absolutely awful.  I want to share my thoughts with you about the games I’m playing and see where our opinions go.

My style of discussing games with Skeptical Gamer will be different than what you may be accustomed to.  I won’t hit on every little aspect of the game in question, and would defer to more traditional review sites for that style of review.  I want to create an entry that discusses what I think about each title, and it will likely come from more of a conversational and informal tone.

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