Akiba is not a credit to team
PS3 in general
It is a very powerful machine, and I'm loving the wireless controller. I do wish I had a backwards compatible one though, and it seems to be designed for a huge ass flat screen tv, not an old CRT. To solve this problem I have to sit very close, which is grand if I put our huge new armchair in front of the TV. :D
Assassin's Creed
Ye old Jerusalem is extraordinarily beautiful, but it ultimately feels like I'm not doing anything at all as Altair does it all on his own! I haven't played very much yet, thus far all I've had to do is beat up some prophet. Unfortunately the old dude beat me to death before I could extract any information which was very embarassing as I was a trained assassin and him some old toothless crone. I'll figure out the controls soon. I'll also figure out why everyone speaks with an accent except Altair who is a very cocky American.
Flower
Flower is a beautiful experimentative game where you are the wind, and you have to collect petals in grand open fields, rushing through millions of individual blades of grass to a sweeping interactive orchestral soundtrack. I thought mum would like it, as it's all done through the movement of the controller and one single button, but she got bored one minute in. Then again, mum only ever showed an interest in pacman and played it obsessively... not much else is on her radar. :|
MGS4
I've played up to Snake parting with the Rat Patrol for the presumably first time.
...the second I started playing it felt like I was with old friends again. Ok, not the second, as there was some odd television show with ol' David Hayter I couldn't find the meaning in. My next thought was that it was very interesting Otacon chooses to sit opposite Snake (in the helicopter) rather than beside him... there's a lot you can read in to that. Awkwardness? Observation? Lack or demonstration of closeness? It would certainly support my interpretation of Otacon deliberatley separating himself from old!Snake to spare himself the pain. Even the MkII is symbolic of that... sending a metallic, flimsy proxy of himself made out of the memories of the past.
My next impression was WTF... this certainly isn't the metal gear of old. I died too often to be normal, I couldn't see the sneaking element for the life of me and I couldn't read a damned thing as I think you have to play this game on a movie screen or something. :| Still, I sat down today to have a proper go and once I worked out the new control system I went ok.
Oh, Kojima. Some of your ideas and writing are so ham-fisted they rival Russel T Davies, and some of your themes are so subtle and beautifully integrated I get very confused at you. One of the things I loved about MGS2 was the VR training theme because it echoed what was going on in the real world with the transition from web 1.0 to web 2.0. It was all about the interior, about the effects of these technologies on the way we percieve and arrange our lives. Immediately MGS4 struck me as being about the next transformation, of cloud networks and the circular, interconnected nature of information and how it pervades our lives. This time it's about the exterior, networks and systems, and despite Meryl's monologues about it, I do think that the theme is more subtle than it appears. Mostly because of the distraction of NANOMACHINES, but also because of how it reflects the current day.
Things I appreciate less: Akiba and Drebin. I don't understand why nobody has shot Akiba in the head yet. I had a go myself but sadly he didn't die. He's an example of one of Kojima's poorly done themes... he can't decide if he's comic relief (overdone) or a legitimate theme (in which case the impact is lessened considerably by the comic relief). I would totally have been on board with an Akiba representing someone suffering from PTSD, a 'normal' man like Snake, someone who isn't unnaturally manipulated and who experiences the damaging effects of war. shut up; I still believe Snake represents the 'normal'
Sadly he started shitting himself and knocked himself unconscious, and then for some reason Snake's camo took on the appearance of a lovely carpet so Meryl's dramatic monologue about nanomachines was sadly rather comical.
I've heard lots of people crit the Drebin shop system and I've got to agree. The delight of MGS being a stealth game was that you had to preserve ammo and rations, you went in there with nothing and picked it up as you went along. If I wanted to collect points, I'd play Final Fantasy. As it is, I want the pressured feeling of needing to preserve myself and being able to buy a gun whenever I want just doesn't feel right (or realistic! I'm in a firefight, and I can just... buy myself a gun? From nowhere?!)
I hope the stealth aspect pics up too, because stealthing in a war zone rather than some old warehouse doesn't feel right either. I did like the FROGS though, I was apprehensive about the depiction of female soldiers but so far they seem ok. A little inhuman, but still ok. It would have been cool if some of the PMCs were women too (like Meryl) but meh. Too much to hope for, I guess. ;)
Team Fortress 2
Goddamn this piece of timewasting addictive arsecrack!
...what the hell is addictive arsecrack?!
To the point... the main reason I play it is the design and music, I think. Vaguely 1950's, comedic and stylised. It's the first time I've played any online game, believe it or not, and so far my experience has been ok. Only one or two idiots, nothing horrible, and a few really satisfying games. I suck balls at Spy, though I got my first backstab today, I usually pick Soldier though I prefer Sniper or Engi. I'd like to be a good Scout, but everything goes too fast. :(
...I've seen some magnificent slash art, but I feel a little ambivalent about that. : |