The official Necrosis gameblab thread

Necrosis · Post by **Necrosis** » Sun Nov 13, 2005 05:45 am

The title says it all. Or used to, back when it said what it did. Now it's that because I'm going to post anything I have to say about new games here.

First, a few weeks ago, I finished Ultimate Spiderman. It was, altogether, a wonderful game at first playthrough, but looking back on it revealed to me that it was very repetitive and some stuff was just really dumb. I give it the "Least Obviously Mediocre Game of the Year" award.

I also got Flatout. The main draw behind the game is that it is all about leaving chunks of s*** in the road after someone knocks a water tower down in a huge smash-up, thus leading to more smash-ups.. The thing that makes it matter is that that includes corpses that get thrown through the windshield. But for me, that didn't matter. I played a demo, I knew going in it was going to be incredibly mediocre, but I decided I wanted to get it anyways. Why? Ragdoll minigames. (apologies to anyone who already knew this explanation)

Flatout fails at control. There's no doubt about it. The racing feels all awkward and wonky, and even if you're half the track ahead of someone you can smash into a pile of wood, get stuck, inexplicably not be able to respawn, and be in 8th by the time you can. But those ragdoll games... Man, the lure is too great. You know you want to chuck a corpse from the car going 120mph, and damnit, no one's gonna get in your way. Go ahead, chuck your body into the gigantic dart-board. Break your neck after jumping 120m into the air and landing directly on your head. Have fun with it. It's the main reason to ever consider the game. But for $50, the quantity AND quality of these games are just not enough to make Flatout worth a purchase. It gets the "Worst Control in a Game I've Ever Liked" award.

Now we have Darwinia. It's a strange, strange little game. Very excellently done, yes, but very frustrating. Basically you enter a computer and destroy a virus. Old plot, yes. The new twist is it's kinda a mix of RTS and TPS (third-person shooter) gaming. You create a Squad from the task manager, march them out, and fire at triangles crawling across the ground. It is a lot more fun than I can say from that description. The thing that convinced me to get this one is that it uses shaders to make entities (as in enemies and yourself) reduce in pixel number as you grow more distant from them. It looks beautiful, and pays an EXCELLENT homage to the old days. Introversion has earned themselves the "I Got Really p*** at This Game Because The Second Level Is Too Hard So I Never Even Got Half-Way Into It, But It Was Still Really Fun For The First Level" award.

I TRIED to get Worms: World Party, but it crashes every time I go into the game. So, without being able to judge it, I grant it the award of "Worms Was A Good Series but I Hate Technical Issues."

Uplink is Introversion Software's game right before Darwinia, and it is very different. It's more of a puzzle game, but defies all classification. It's basically a hacking simulator. I really like it, and it has kept me enthralled for a while. You buy new parts and software with which to h4xx0r n00bs, and then proceed to do just that. Hell, I just made a guy's social security record say "deceased!" That, my friends, is truly an excellent feeling. Especially when you get two jobs to "kill" the same person and do them both in one go. Uplink gets the "LOL I am using teh intarweb!!!1" award.

Lastly, we have Gish. The jump that a flash animator made from flash animator to indie game creator. You control a 12 pound ball of tar, and go through a very VERY odd platformer involving various kinds of monsters and beautifully rendered lighting. In general it is an excellent game, and using your tarpowers (sticking to stuff, sliding through cracks, and condensing yourself to smash things) is very fun, but the game is too short. That's why it starts at $15. Gish gets the "I wanted to like it more but it was too damn short" award.

This post gets the "Necrosis likes using awards to get his point across" award.

This running joke gets the "Necrosis is starting to get tired of his own joke" award.

If you can read this, you are probably really messed up. Or you copied it and pasted it into something else. Or perhaps you used binoculars? The world may never know... Oh, and you don't need glasses.

Added (11-25-05): Yep... I went back to USM... The things I think are redundant and overall really stupid? I like them now. The city events are still redundant, which is OK because the ones I tend to get now that I'm so far into them (something like 40 out of 100 done), stopping a speeding car packed with gangsters, are quite fun. Also, the combat is surprisingly deep now that I know all the grabtricks with both characters. Combat tours, which used to seem like a lame excuse to make Spidey punch two guys with guns in the face who happened to be right next to each other and then move on to another group of two people and do the same, now involve 9 person fights. With flamethrowers. And pain. It's officially an awesome game now.

jonny5 · Post by **jonny5** » Sun Nov 13, 2005 07:48 am

Why don't you create a new thread entitled "Necrosis enjoys starting threads devoted to himself that could very well be far more generalized and therefore useful"?

Just kidding, chap.

Necrosis · Post by **Necrosis** » Sun Nov 13, 2005 05:49 pm

I know. I just tend to like letting people know my opinions on games. I should have a website or something for this. If only I had any clue as to HTML...

r_cain · Post by **r_cain** » Mon Nov 14, 2005 11:37 pm

Or 'Necrosis and his Ego review stuff'?

(sorry) lol

Necrosis · Post by **Necrosis** » Tue Nov 15, 2005 02:17 am

Yeah, I know... In fact, this will become the official Necrosis gameblab thread, hence this change of title I'm about to do! This way, I don't have to start a new thread every time I play a new game!

r_cain · Post by **r_cain** » Tue Nov 15, 2005 04:50 pm

Oh good (!)

Necrosis · Post by **Necrosis** » Tue Nov 15, 2005 10:10 pm

Agreed. This way no one gets a little peeved because I like starting new threads.

Slink · Post by **Slink** » Wed Nov 16, 2005 05:50 am

You familiar with the Quest for Glory series?

Gila · Post by **Gila** » Wed Nov 16, 2005 07:43 am

darwinia is cool even for the reason that it has ZX-SPECTRUM FONT!

Hellen · Post by **Hellen** » Wed Nov 16, 2005 09:31 am

Slink wrote:You familiar with the Quest for Glory series?

I love Quest For Glory!

Esp. the part with liontaurs (the 3d if I’m not mistaken).

Necrosis · Post by **Necrosis** » Wed Nov 16, 2005 08:06 pm

I haven't heard of it to the best of my knowledge, but the name sounds quite familiar to me...

And I intend to actually play Q4 soon, which will go in the Q4/F.E.A.R. thread. Yup... Just need to get through Q2... How many levels are there in Q2, by an estimate (levels being defined by LEVEL ends, not mapswitches)? While I await some kind of answer, I'll check if there's a co-op option that can start on any map, so I can see from there, so if there is, just ignore the question.

Necrosis · Post by **Necrosis** » Sat Nov 19, 2005 02:17 am

Ok, well, technically not a game, but FF7: Advent Children is just about the damn coolest movie ever made. No else to say. Watch it, it is f*** INCREDIBLE.

Necrosis · Post by **Necrosis** » Mon Nov 21, 2005 04:25 am

Triple post woooooo. I'm making another one for any unrelated topics. If it was something related to Advent Children, I would edit my previous one, but it's not.

I am making my first import, the game has been purchased, I've verified that it'll work on my system, and DAMN I want the game. I ordered two copies of Guilty Gear XX #Reload on PSP from Japan, because it comes out in January here, and I got the game for $20 each, which makes me REEEEEEAAALLY happy. It'll be $50 or so when it's out here, and I know my way around the menus enough to know what's what and all. One of them is for my brother, so we can be playing wi-fi Guilty Gear wherever we are. It will be sooooooooo BADASS.

And also, Existence is one of the best songs I have ever heard. EVER. Too bad none of my characters are assassins (two of my brother's are), really good that I play as ANYONE on request or on my own will.

Added (11-25-05): The game hasn't come yet, but a recent development has brought to my attention the fact that the PC version of the game I imported, with a small patch, can be played OVER TEH INTERWEB. I am "acquiring" it, and I shall give my friends all over the world more reason to play Guilty Gear!

Added (11-25-05, like, 16 hours later): It's acquired, set up for online, and hax'd to have everything I had on my PS2 XX unlocked. Now I just need to send it to some people and get some online play in...

Necrosis · Post by **Necrosis** » Tue Nov 22, 2005 02:57 am

Guess what? I'm writing this on my PSP right now. Aww yeah. Also, I got Infected and Gripshift, which I will review after a bit of play, with an edit to this post. It is a bitch to type on the PSP.

Added - Infected: Infected is nothing short of brilliant. The action is a little lackluster, but considering that it is the PSP we are talking about here is plays very well. I haven't gotten to play any MP yet, but I hear it's not too great. And the humor? Excellent. Loose quoting of what just happened: "Graaagh aaaaargh..." "We've been breached! He's infected!" *gunshots* "Timmy? Timmy?! TIMMY?! You bastard! Our school is for mentally retarded children!" "Oh... Er... Oh man is my face red right now." It's a really nice game, and I love it so far. (from here on out, added with the Gripshift section) After playing a little more, I can say a few things. First, I am gonna try to get some MP in tomorrow, because the computer guy at my school has told me how to access their interweb. So I'm able to use that, and I'll find a game. Also, the lackluster action? It gets MUCH better. It's very intense in later levels, I was on level 5 when the first part was written, and now I'm on 33. It's excellent, and the kind of fast-paced gory zombie action that any of us can enjoy.

Added 2 - Gripshift: Well, Gripshift is the really odd game that anyone would be ashamed to let anyone know they own. It's got really REALLY wonky physics (although it is intentional; BRAKING IN MIDAIR? FLYING?!), and that is the main draw. My main gripe, and the reason I haven't played more than 30 minutes of it yet, is that you need to play through EVERYTHING on Beginner to unlock Easy, then Easy to unlock Normal, and so on so forth. At least it's an entirely different game on different difficulties. And powersliding someone IN MIDAIR is totally awesome. Maybe not for everyone, but some nice fun (and it won't work on my brother's PSP, which is funny because he bought it).

Slink · Post by **Slink** » Tue Nov 22, 2005 06:01 am

Please allow me to announce: Prince of Persia 3: The Two Thrones is in development and is soon to be released. NEVER BUY THIS TYPE OF GAME FOR ANYTHING BUT PC. It looks like it is gonna be sweet. I just got POP2:Warrior Within. SWEET GAME, but it blows on hard. Combat just takes forever unless you THROW your enemies off of cliffs. Cool stuff! If you have not yet gotten it, I suggest you try Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time.

-Slink