Do it why? Just 'cause

So last week I decided to download some demos and videos for my Xbox 360, to see if there is anything of interest to get in the next few months, whenever I have time, or more importantly, money. I played a demo of a game called Just Cause 2, hearing good things about it, and how it was to take action games to a whole new level. Well suffice to say, I've never gotten hooked on a game so quickly before, just by playing the a demo (though Mirror's Edge is a close second). The next day, I went out and bought it (the game normally costs $60 new, but I only paid around $22 after taxes, long story involving certain transactions).

I really don't know how to begin explaining this game. If I were to compare it to any other games out on the market, I'd say it's a mix between Crackdown and Grand Theft Auto IV, with more emphasis on the former. Unlike those two games, however, you can do virtually anything in the game, or close to it. If you can imagine it, and it involves action (more on that word later), it can probably be done.

The game starts out by having the main character jumping out of a helicopter, skydiving to catch up to a freefalling man who was just shot out of that same helicopter. From there, parachuting down onto a mountaintop military base, where the goal was to blow up objects, kill the enemies, and retrieve important items. But wait, it doesn't end there. From there flown straight to a tall casino where I was to save a man...at the very top. Elevators don't exist in this world, the mode of travel upwards is by using a personal grapple hook. More on that later, very important. Having saved the man (and parachuted with him back to the ground), the two of us were on the run from the military in his car. He drove, and I stood atop while shooting the men and their vehicles. When that didn't work, I was able to jump to their vehicles and deal more damage close up. When all was said and done (and trust me, that was a TON of action), we arrived at his house, and he thanked me. And this was just the introduction.

I explained all that to get a sense of action and urgency this game conveys upon the player, and yet the short description does it no justice. Missions can be accomplished any way thought of, and nothing plays the same way twice if one doesn't want it to. This is a big reminder of Crackdown. In that game, if one wants to sneak up behind or approach from the roofs to kill a gang leader, instead of coming through the front doors, then it's okay, and sometimes encouraged. During that introductory mission, I was getting frustrated trying to gun down all the men in the following vehicles, so I wondered if taking out the tires would help. If by flipping the vehicles, tossing them all out, and killing them helped, then yes, it worked to my expectations. At one point I jumped to a different vehicle, killed the shooter, hijacked it, and ran another enemy vehicle off the road into a tree. The game does not give advice how to complete an objective or mission. It lays out the basic idea of what must be done (kill this man, capture this person, destroy said object, etc.), and lets the player decide on how this must be accomplished.

What really makes this game shine is the grapple and parachute combination. The main character has an infinite amount of parachutes in his bag. Yes, while it is very unrealistic (and what makes the game realistic is that he can only carry 3 weapons and 2 explosives on him at all times, and they are all visible on his back and belt, even while the others are equipped and being used), it is a blast being able to deploy parachutes at will. Once the character reaches a certain speed he can deploy one, whether it be by freefalling, jumping out of a moving vehicle, or ziplining. By ziplining, his grapple comes into play. The basic idea is to use it to grapple the side of a building, and once he is on the side of the building, to continually grapple up the sides, until he has reached the top. But while being pulled with a grapple, one can deploy a parachute, leaving the player parachuting at a decent speed. The grapple can then be used to grapple the ground and by being pulled by it, slingshotted to gain speed, and potentially more altitude. Who needs cars or planes when you can use a grapple hook and parachute? Once again, descriptions don't do justice when describing action games.

I won't say the game isn't without its faults. I didn't create this blog just to talk about what games I'm playing and how I love them. This was made for rants, too. Hopefully if the developers ever decide to make a third game, they pay way more attention to what Rockstar has done with the GTA series, namely the controls. I'm not talking about the cars, because GTA games have their fair share of horribly controlling cars. I mean the planes and helicopters. GTA: San Andreas and GTA IV nailed the controls for both of those vehicles. The gas is the back right trigger, and steering is a combination of the front left and right triggers and the left analog stick. The camera can be moved with the right analog stick, and if weapons are included on the vehicle, I believe O or square is pushed to fire. Simple, yet elegant controls. I was able to fly planes and helicopters through cities with skyscrapers, and under bridges with ease. In JC2, all control is done with the left analog stick, the gas with the back right trigger, and firing with the front right bumper. Aircraft vehicles should NEVER be soley controlled with one analog stick in a video game, it just doesn't work! I originally wanted to 100% complete the game, but now I don't think I will, because the planes have such crappy controls making an air race almost impossible. Oh, and another giant flaw?! When a plane is in the air, and the throttle/gas is released, you'd think it would lose altitude, right? No, not in JC2. It's like putting a real car in first gear...you let off the brake, and it will get up to around 10mph unless you but the brake on. Ugh I can't begin to explain how frustrating it is during an air race, trying to make sharp turns and perfect flying, needing to go as slow as possible without crashing, but NEVER TOUCHING THE GAS! My finger rests on the brake the entire time, no need to worry about touching the gas, it will speed up by itself, and rather quickly. How dumb.

Okay, almost done. Long post, but this game has so much to offer. Earlier I mentioned the word action. The word means a lot in this game, because sadly, that's pretty much all there is. I wouldn't be as sad, if it weren't for companies like Rockstar making other action games that actually included decent stories. San Andreas had a great (and long) story, and GTA IV was pretty good too. The missions actually reflected the story, and the cutscenes and voice acting was great. JC2 leaves much to be desired in that department. Maybe JC3 will do better, if it ever happens. For now, I'm pretty content riding on top of a boeing, jumping off into a skydive, grappling onto an enemy helicopter, killing the gunman and hijacking it, flying it over an oil refinery and jumping out into a dive as it crashes into it blowing it up, and just before I hit the ground, grappling onto a random car, hijacking it, and driving it off into the distance as the military just realizes the chaos I've caused.

A sidenote. While playing the game yesterday I came across a peculiar area, and what I found shocked me. One of the coolest easter eggs of all time? Possibly...

Getting used to this...

So, this being my first post and all, I apologize for it being poorly written, jumping around sporadically. I figured after reading Nate's blog for the past year, it finally seemed like a fun thing to do. I do not play as many games as Nate does (or at least I don't think I do?), so my post count would not be as high nor them as long. Therefore, it made sense to include books I'm reading as well. I tend to read books in large series, or many books by the same author, so I'll have quite a few thoughts regarding books as well. I'll start with what I'm currently playing, and suppose let my blogging go from there...

Going backwards from least played (though still played a small bit), I'm slowly working my way through Final Fantasy XII. I have to mention that I've only fully played through Final Fantasy X and X-2 (and most of IX), so I don't have much to compare to, but I enjoy the battle system. People say that you have no control over anything, and you could sit back and let the game play itself, but I believe it's the opposite. The game offers so much customization within the gambits that you can literally program the battle system to play how you want it to, and if you really want to, you can play it choosing every characters' actions. Story-wise, the game is a little boring, but it's no 'Sin taking over the world with death abound' type of story. I'll go into the game a little more when I go back to it, have other games to play first. Don't worry, I'm only halfway through it, plenty left to do and blog about.

About two months ago, I bought Perfect Dark for the Xbox Live Arcade, seeing how it was one of my favorite games for the Nintendo 64. I imagined taking the game and improving the graphics, framerate and adding online multiplayer would make it once again one of the top FPS on the market. Sadly, I don't think things panned out the way the developers (or people porting/rewriting the programming) wanted them to. I'll admit that the graphics are great and having a high and stable framerate is awesome, but they lost me on the controls and online multiplayer. A FPS should not rely on auto-aim, and bringing up the scope should not result in incredibly tough controls. Sorry developers, but controls must fit the game. I'll come back to this important note in a more recent game. The multiplayer leaves much to be desired. From my experience, players are set up in a random level, with random weapons and random rules, no host. I was hoping for some epic scenarios created by players, like the ones Nate and I used to make and play years ago. Sadly, not the case. One of these days I hope to play a private match online with friends, and see if custom scenarios (with bots!) can be used, with *breath* no split-screen.

Speaking of multiplayer, I still turn on Bioshock 2 once in a while just for the online play. The story wasn't as good as the original Bioshock, which I highly recommend to all gamers, but still good nonetheless. Maybe one of these days I'll go into the story and gameplay in more detail, but this first blog post is targeting basic game information and what I'm playing. Surprisingly, the multiplayer in Bioshock 2 is very good! One starts with basic weapons, with no stat boosters. As more kills are made and points are gained, more exp is earned. That's right, exp in a FPS. With level ups, new weapons, plasmids, and stat boosters are unlocked to be "equipped." It sounds unfair to new players, and it can be, but it's been proven that better players can win with the basic equips. Either way, it's one of the very few fast online FPS games that I enjoy. And by fast, I mean ones where dying three times within thirty seconds is not uncommon. I'm looking at you, Team Fortress 2...ugh.

Okay last game for now. I'll get into Persona 2 FES and Just Cause 2 in a later post, since those are the games I'm actually playing right now, and need posts for themselves. I'll probably also go into the past four games in their own posts as well, when I pick them back up to play more. I've been playing Picross 3D on the side, like at nights or while watching Lost (addicted!). Personally I thought the first game was much better. The first had a very simplistic style, but did not sacrifice gameplay one bit. East puzzles? Check. Hard puzzles? Got 'em. Extremely difficult but still relaxing puzzles? You bet. I think I once counted around 800 puzzles. Now that's money well spent. The "sequel" just doesn't feel the same. I say sequel because the first was made entirely by Nintendo, the second by HAL. Basically still Nintendo, but with different staff. The puzzles are difficult even from the beginning, but I'm not addicted like the first. The controls aren't as precise as the original either, which has led to more than a few mistakes, which gets very frustrating when aiming for all perfect puzzles. The graphics, while not supposed to be amazing, are not simplistic like its brother, which I guess isn't really possible since it is in 3D. But I don't know, they just seem poorly done.

Okay, so as far as Persona 3 FES and Just Cause 2 go, I enjoy both of them, and like going back and forth between them (and Lost!) since they're entirely different games. More on those later.