Merry Christmas 2015

SO WHAT DO YOU NEED? BESIDES A MIRACLE...

Dear followers, readers and friends!

I know I haven’t been active in a while. I am terribly sorry for that but I hope you trust me saying that I didn’t really have the time. I am glad this Christmas post gives me the chance to kind of explain myself a bit as well as to give you a short glimpse of what is about to come.

First of all since a few months I have a new job and been working as game developer for a great company. Honestly I don’t know what I can tell about them but given my contract I would rather not tell anything at this point. We are working on some pretty cool prototype that is supposed to be officially announced around the end of Q1/16 most likely already with a public alpha. So, as much as I would like to write about that project now, I guess we all have to be a bit more patient with it. What I can tell so far is that we are an awesome team and working with everybody on a project that size is really inspiring and a very positive experience for me.

The second thing - something I have been sort of hiding so far – is the fact that I am already working on the next “private” indie project too… actually I should say “we” are working on the next indie game, because this time also here I am working together with several other Austrian developers and artists in collaboration. The team – for the time being – also summarized and labeled as sIPXgames actually already got together during the summer but after intense brainstorming and planning, the work the first prototype finally began in November. The game we are making in our spare time is called Street Justice and it is going to be not only a hot action driving-shooter but a funny satire to Austria and the situation we are facing on the streets here every day. Wait, I don’t want to go too much into detail at this moment… the website for the game will be available shortly and together with it going online there naturally will be a big announcement post right here on this site! For now, I just hope you sort of understand now, why there haven’t been any updates on the blog for a while.

Doing this editorial stuff with reviews and essays is pretty nice and I like it a lot but I am sure you also understand that it doesn’t really generate me any money I need to pay things like rent or food. And besides, to me there is only one thing more rewarding and satisfying than playing, analyzing and talking about games,which is: making games! No matter the scale, given games the way they are these days and seeing where it all is going, I honestly prefer making them myself and having a ton of fun in the process.
But not to worry, my motivation hasn’t changed and I don’t intend to stop writing about them. I think that I am at the end of a more or less short transitioning phase. I just needed to see how and where things are going so that I could come up with at least sort of a schedule that not only puts my life on some stable tracks but also has place for this blog.

GUNS. LOTS OF GUNS!!!

It’s hard to ignore that the time I can spend reviewing games decreased significantly but I think it is possible to get something up at least every two weeks. – Depending on the time I have left sometimes I think I can even post something on a weekly basis. I will tell you more about the schedule in the following posts. A lot is coming and I hope you will do as I and use this holiday time to rest and prepare for it!

For now, I only want to wish you all a merry Christmas and happy holidays! Also many thanks to the people who downloaded Supreme Chicken Showdown, despite its flaws and sometimes misinterpreted intentions as not being a super serious project, and especially to those who didn’t think twice and even donated me a few bucks for it. I think the people who did, realized that what they gave wasn’t explicitly for the game alone, but for a much bigger picture and the general effort behind everything I do.

Sometimes it is not easy to follow your heart, sometimes I was about to give up during this (yet another) turbulent year,… but somehow it is over and to be honest, going into 2016 looks a lot better now. I know some of you really saved my ass. – Just wanted to make sure you know it too! Thanks!

Merry Christmas 2015!

Play more! Expect more!

 

SOMA

WRONGLY LABELLED BUT STILL A REALITY

So,.. I finished Soma last weekend... and it was... great! Really, I absolutely loved playing this game. Not necessarily because I am the fan of horror games but because I am a fan of science fiction and story - which leads right into the first and probably most crucial point you should know about this game: Soma isn't really a horror game! It has horror elements and it keeps you tense for a big part, but it is neither the generic jumpscare-festival we're all fed-up with, nor is it the atmospheric "fear of death" experience the likes of Amnesia.

If anything, don't think you will get a game like Amnesia out of this! They don't have a lot in common. Yes, some core mechanics are similar but Soma has a much greater focus on story as well as graphics. - And the naked dudes were replaced with some killer-zombie-cyborgs btw. On the other hand Soma "lacks" almost any gameplay mechanic other than running, hiding and picking up things for the sole purpose of rotating them in your hand. It certainly misses everything that made Amnesia what it was; there is no light/dark mechanic, so subsequently also nothing - let me repeat that: nothing - to collect at all,... not even matches to light candles, the monster encounters are far less tactical and a lot easier to manage and luckily we've lost all the medieval torture devices.

The story of Soma (here on Steam) takes place in a future about 100 years from now, if I remember correctly. It is a future where basically everything on our planet is destroyed and clouds of dust darken the sky. All of mankind was extinct by a meteor and the only installation that survived the impact is a collection of connected underwater facilities on the bottom of the ocean. Before facing global extinction humanity put all effort into a final project to preserve some sort of legacy. - Of course, nothing short of scanning brains and then copying people to a computer, placed in a self-sustained space module with a continuously running computer simulation.

Well,... at least that was the plan and of course something went wrong; the ark (the computer) never got loaded on the space module and the space module (satellite/rocket) never got launched to space. So now it is your task to find out what went wrong and to finish the job, for the sake of humanity, of course. - Pretty much for a guy who just (in our time) took a more or less simple brainscan due to persisting headaches and then suddenly wakes up on the bottom of the ocean about a century later...

CUTS ON PROVEN FORMULA, BUT ADDS MORE DEPTH

Honestly, besides really impressive graphics, a perfect sound experience and a deep, immersive story, Soma doesn't work. - Not as a conventional game that is... I don't want to be too harsh on it because I really loved how the game puts you right on the spot while telling an extremely fascinating plot, but at some point it lost the status of a game in my opinion and what remains is more of an interactive first-person, sci-fi/horror movie with a bit of Jules Verne to it.

With previous titles Frictional Games usually hit the heart of the veteran horror game fans by emphasizing and focusing on simple things that were feasible for them as a small indie studio. They always managed to created something a little bit out of the box and overall appealing, thanks to immersion, challenging puzzles and the simplest, yet most playful mechanics. So if you, as the regular "stick&carrot-gamer", thinks that a game like Amnesia already missed out on gameplay mechanics, then you will be surprised that Soma tops that by a landslide and you probably shouldn't touch it.

WAIT, HOW WAS THAT ABOUT COPYING THE COPY OF A COPY?

Soma works and it is an absolute pleasure to play through it in almost every aspect, but I think at some point we have to discuss if something like that really counts as a videogame in the classic sense at all:

No HUD or display elements, no health, no death penalty, no saving, no objectives, no rewards, no weapons, no items, no inventory, no - at least in a minimal way demanding - puzzles, no map, no multiple directions, no skill, no thinking (except about the story), no secrets, no replay value, no nothing,..


Besides the mostly positive things to tell about it, there is definitely a lot of wasted potential in Soma. But as I said, Frictional always managed to deliver. And next to the fact that the result is really great and definitely worth a play also this time, I just think they delivered something nobody expected: Not a new Amnesia, not a horror game, but also - to me strangely - not a game at all.

Play more! Upload more!
 

THE SIMS 4

WOOHOO! - ONE YEAR ANNIVERSARY FIGURES ARRIVED

... FOR THE GAME THAT PUTS UP DLC FASTER THAN YOU CAN TYPE!*

Alright, because it finally is one year since the release of The Sims 4, the world is still alive and my girlfriend remains very much insisting on it, let's write a bit about the one special game that dares to simulate life itself...

And since we are doing numbers, let's start with some of the speculative math that doesn't light up in the recently published figures from EA.

First, did you know that besides Sims 4 (for around 40 bucks now) there are already 6* "expansion"/DLC packs for an additional total of about 130€* bucks available? That means if you buy the game with all its additional content it would cost you - let's factor in some sales - about 160€*! Ouch, you new shiny virtual refrigerator! EA really knows how to make money.

What a mighty machine at work. It's not about woman in the field or about real graphical improvements. Honestly, this is how videogames industry has really changed from its past golden age and the most pressing issue...


While 20-15 years earlier a game was "completed" and hit the shelves, it stayed there, it had a price that dropped naturally over the years and sometimes, mostly only if you were lucky and the game was any good, there was another, complete and mind-blowing sequel about 2-4 years later. - Nice, right? Everybody knew what they got and more importantly what they paid... but nowadays... I cannot but smile and regret that I don't own any shares of that company; why sell a game for 60-40 bucks and then wait three years to sell the next one if you can constantly sell parts of the same game and make 4 times more revenues by releasing several addons and expansions all the time...

So, apparently there were about 93 million Sims created which (assuming that number doesn't account for the Sims born in the game and taking the number of Sims from my girlfriend as average, as well as being a bit more generous because of a lot of hardcore players who individually created easily around 30 Sims already per account) makes somewhat between 3 to 4 million players. Of course I don't know it, but I think that is fairly realistic for a franchise of that magnitude, especially given the fact that the first game (wikipedia-) officially sold 16 million copies, there was sort of a mediocre shit storm about Sims 4 being "rushed" and released "unfinished" and at least vgchartz numbers suggest more than 2 million retail copies - without accounting for the digital distribution, as always.

On a side note, since we have those shiny figures, we know that all those players' data is mined by the almighty, yet most annoying, constantly updating and buggy Origin application, but now let's assume that about half of those people at least bought half of the available expansions in addition to the basic game... how many zeros is that? Just play with the numbers yourself... no matter how you arrange them it is safe to say that Sims 4 with all its addons must have accumulated at least about a quarter of a billion of revenues worldwide.

Furthermore, I can't be sure of course, but after speculating and taking a reasonable look at the numbers, I would bet my cat that in this case all the expansions sold in just this one year are already equal to about half of the whole sales from the stand-alone game. And that is sick! - Neither good nor bad... just sick!


Actually I am not that surprised. - But I hope you are! If you take a look at Sims 3 the same thing happened; Every year at least 2 expansion and 2 accessory packs and so on. This whole franchise always was a jackpot. And again...not bad, not good, just sick.

UGH! CHEE WAGA CHOOCHOO!

Ok, enough of the figures... seriously, I am not that impressed that all the Sims "woohoo'd" 235.000.000 times and even less surprised that the most popular trait of a Sim obviously is being romantic.

Yes, I think I have a pretty good picture of who exactly is playing this game for already 27.900 years of gametime, or to say it in Simlish: "Shooflee!"


So, have you played it? Are you a Simsolian - or whatever you call yourself? - Well, I am. I am an expert, obviously... no, not really - Haha! This game is too complex for me... seriously, I can hardly manage all the needs of one single Sim, let alone a complete household of Sims with children and pets and Sims-eating plants and whatnot. If I play I only play the single Sims, maybe have fun with some homo-erotic adventures between Sims of the same gender or set some annoying neighbors on fire... but ultimately I usually stop after I used all the cheats and bought myself a nice television.

Oh, but I like building. Yep, that's what I do... my girlfriend takes care of sending them to the toilet, giving them food and making them work for all the money and I am some sort of a building manager / architect. Which is a hard job too! - Especially when you can't cheat and you have to carefully consider everything. So trust me, it's not only design decisions we are dealing here.

OOOH DABEE DOOH, SAGA DAH!

How I like the game? - Well, I can say that my girlfriend likes it a lot... But honestly I have a bit of a hard time speaking for myself. I guess I like it too. It's fun. I know The Sims and actually, in one more questionable way than the other, I have also "played" every single part of the franchise. You know, the Single-Sims lifestyle with a focus on cheating until I get a big TV and so on.

I mean, in this case (compared to other franchises like FIFA for example), I respect the fact that it is such a big franchise... I get where the fun comes from and I can have that kind of fun for a while too. Furthermore I think that the FIFA by definition is far more of a rip-off than the Sims. But ultimately I am not the guy who needs a cartoony simulation of the real life. In a way most games are simulations, some more than others, but I prefer the ones with a real story, with a hero that is something else than "Casual Johnny", doing his laundry. I don't like the "Be your own hero" implication and I certainly am full with the real, real life to a point where I don't want to spend even on minute in a simulated version of that. - Virtually washing the dishes, cooking food, going to work, having a shower... I mean, come on!?! - Seriously? I'd be the Master Chief over that any day!

What I personally find rather interesting is that, at least according to a bigger part of the players that actually voice their opinion, the game is - supposedly - not as good as its predecessor. Hmm,... I don't know about that. I guess that's mostly because these people have played the older parts to extensively and might got used to them. Also you can't forget that there was like a gazillion expansions and game enriching content to enjoy, that is simply not released for the new part. I know there are also some people complaining about changes in how and what you can build, but personally I think the new building system is a lot more intuitive, easy, makes more sense and gives you even more options in most regards.

BUY MORE. BUY MORE NOW. BUY! AND BE HAPPY!

All in all I think the The Sims 4 is precisely what it's supposed to be and actually a damn good game. Finally the graphics are somewhat bearable for today's standard and everything plays really smoothly. Seriously, in about one year of more or less actively playing this game, there wasn't a single crash, a bug or something wrong with the game. - That is some damn quality right there! I think the build mode is fine and you can do the same cool stuff like in the older games.


What I don't really get is the new mood system for the Sims personality but at least from what I have played and seen I think it's not the total game changer. To all those people that still don't like the game more than part 3 - or even 2 - I would say: Have patience. In another year from now there will be at least 6 new things to buy and install that will give you exactly what you want, and need, or don't need,... and don't want... Just buy it! Buy and be happy!

If there is one game that shows the true face of our modern lives as the grand unification of consumerism and happiness, it's this one. Want to teach your kids what life is all about? Want to experience it yourself and simulate your life as if everything was great, you had a ton of money and you could buy all the happiness you will never get in reality? Or you just want to have a bit fun? What are you waiting for?

Play more! 1138 more!


* Please note that (literally) while publishing this post even more DLC packages got released, hence the long header. And some numbers aren't correct anymore, if they ever were in the first place. - Just wanted to let you know... not good, not bad... just sick.

SAVAGE LANDS

AND CRAFTING FOR PRESIDENT

Well,… back from vacation and we are literally "surviving" again. This time we find ourselves waking up on the beach of a ridiculously vast island - I guess - "called" Savage Lands...

Almost completely naked we spot some basic tools scattered on the beach and that’s it. Seriously, that’s the story, that’s the plot, that’s what this game – similar to many other games of the survival genre – builds upon: a naked and nameless dude on the beach.

As you know, or might have guessed, I am not the biggest fan of this type of games but occasionally I like to try them out as well. In this case the game actually caught my and all my friends' attention for our annual Barn-LAN, due to the fact that it can also be played cooperatively. Anyway, after spending some time on the island alone and together with friends, here are my thoughts about it:



Savage Lands (web) is a decent, modern survival game from Signal Studious and DigitalDNA Games. Nothing special but also nothing that has to hide on Steam. Actually offering several gameplay elements, in my opinion the game's focus still clearly lies on crafting and - as most others in the everlasting shadow of Minecraft - it simply fails to deliver, so (early access) far. Although the game allows you to place a few buildings, the gear as well as weapons are vast in numbers and basically it is fun to craft, the game lacks completely in making it fun to gather the resources for the crafting.

As in almost all other similar games the collecting of resources or rather crafting materials becomes a necessity and more of a burden instead of something fun to do with the certain adventurous characteristic. Unfortunately the environment in Savage Lands is way too big (even for 4 players!) and even worse offers almost no diversity at all. - Seriously, the whole island looks the same... everywhere and regardless of playing one minute ore 15 hours. Sorry, you know I am not that much of a graphic-fanatic but we are talking about immersion here, and I honestly think a game that is making me run around in the wilderness for hours and hours just to find some rocks to craft something should make this very wilderness as special, diverse and beautiful as possible. If I walk for miles and miles, at some point I just want to see something different. - And yes, three big towers and some abandoned houses aren't enough. Why is there no water on the island for example? I don't know about the final plans of the developers but for now (early access) the whole island (except the items) is static... so, if it stays that way, I dearly suggest to add some rivers to the island. That's not too much work, it's not only something to look at but also a good chance to add some more basic resources like fishes and also a renewable stone and/or ore source. Oh, and it would also be a great option to help the player find his way on this big and confusing island. - Btw.: Don't ever craft the compass in this game... such a waste.

Like I said, crafting is no fun if getting the materials isn't. Also balancing was still an issue with the game at the time I played it and not only the balancing of enemy health, enemy damage, enemy numbers, player health, hunger, item durability and coldness... unfortunately also the crafting system showed serious imbalance and ultimately closed the above described loop of burden when it comes to gathering resources.

"TOO MANY WOLVES!", HE SCREAMED...

So, besides constantly running out of resources just to maintain a certain level of gear and being forced to drift further and further away from your bases which in turn loops back to you getting killed and your gear getting more broken than ever and having to head out further in order to get the materials to repair it,... what else is there in Savage Lands? - Well, there are some enemies to kill! - Not that many, but with about 5 or 6 different types of enemies this game actually ranks among the better independent survival games, honestly. But yeah... fighting the enemies not only becomes boring but also pretty frustrating since you have no chance to block and basically no chance to run away, which is the main reason for your gear getting broken and the constant need for new materials to repair them (yep, back in the loop). Oh, and there is also one big dragon flying around the island constantly burning your ass... erm.. gear, I meant "gear". Good news is, that allegedly it can finally be killed in the current version of the game.

Honestly, Savage Lands isn't that bad of a game. I would still recommend it anytime and without hesitation to everyone who likes this type of survival game and who has a good idea of what to expect from an independent game like this. One of the more outstanding things about Savage Lands surely is the multiplayer or rather cooperative capability which is something most related games always miss. I spent about 20 hours on that island and I did pretty much everything there was to. Some people might say that's a lot of time, others might say that's nothing. I honestly don't know... and while I feel and think the game didn't offer me that much after the first few hours of playing, I still got caught in the loop of my own ambition and probably got enough time out, justifying this purchase.

Most of the issues I had with the game could be completely different already, or when the game is finished. I doubt that there will be much more graphical and environmental improvement but I am sure at least the unbalanced game elements will be resolved. Also, as much as I love to use my own imagination, I would really appreciate a little bit of story, lore and purpose to the whole game and its characters. I believe the developers still have a long way to go. But who knows, in the end we might still get a survival clone that with its mature approach without the usual zombie infestations can stand firm in the shadow of Minecraft and the thousand unnamed clones after all.

Play more! Collect more!
 

BATMAN: ARKHAM KNIGHT

THERE MUST BE SOME KIND OF WAY OUTTA HERE

Batman is one of the most iconic and favored superheroes of all time. Who wouldn't want to be Batman? In light of the impending Batman VS Superman movie, I would still say that I’d root for Superman but when it comes to videogames the whole modern Batman franchise, initially created by Rocksteady Games with the first part Arkham Asylum back in 2009 clearly stands out. In these games you really are the Batman without doubt!

I have mentioned it a lot of times before, but actually Arkham Asylum is one of my favorite games of all time. I know I am probably heading out on thin ice but for me neither Arkham City nor Arkham Origins came close to the feeling of the whole and complete experience the first part offered. Maybe because they – well, at least the third part – weren’t directly developed by Rocksteady anymore? I was pretty relieved that the master himself ultimately laid hands on the newest and allegedly final part of the series.

So, a little overdue, but here are my thoughts about the latest spectacle:


I guess you probably want to hear my thoughts about the most controversial thing behind this release (the fact that it is still not working on PCs), right? So let’s start there and get over with it. If I think of it, actually I have only one thing to say: “Haha!”… and the rest can definitely be described best with a facepalm. – Sorry, but if you outsource a port to a third party, you still have to make sure it’s meeting the standards,… in this case it should at least work. On that note, I guess I should mention though, that it really worked perfectly on Xbox One. In hours and hours of gametime I haven't had a single bug or glitch. - Bravo! But how could you mess up the PC version so much? Who is nowadays forcing all these multiplatform releases? – It stinks and it is absolutely not necessary. Here’s an idea, mainly for the publishers and not necessarily for the developers, but think about it: Make a game perfect for one, dedicated platform and then take your time to bring it to another. Nobody cares! Of course nobody would buy a whole new system just to play one single game anymore but they will wait a few months – I for one am even willing to wait a year or more. Only one thing is sure: People want to have their game working when it’s released. So please just take it easy, ok? Well, I know it’s not that simple; I’ve heard about the third party, I can imagine that they were pretty overwhelmed, I heard about the new nvidia features and so on, but in the end this whole situation is nothing more than another sad example of money policy and greed… a reality that should concern us all more than we might think. Anyway, since I feel like fighting against the windmills all over again, I will stop here and focus on the game at hand.

SAID THE JOKER TO THE THIEF

As I said, given the more or less disappointment parts 2 and 3 were to me, compared with the first game, my expectations were really, really low for this one. The coverage of the game before release was the same contemporary story like everywhere else; bigger, faster and prettier – so in a sense nothing to get me excited. Also in retrospect, I have to say that I didn't think the city was all that big. Yes, definitely bigger than in the previous parts but really not that big of a deal. And then there was also all this talk about the Batmobil... seriously, I have hardly had a conversation or read something about the game without constantly being reminded that Batman can now drive his car.

“Great”, I thought “now the new Batman will be a GTA or what?” or something like: “Why would this guy drive, if he can already fly? – Isn’t that supposed to be faster?” But!!!!! – Hold your dear horses, because this thing did really positively surprise me quite a lot! Yes, the feeling persists that the car is way too overused in the game, but at least to me it really plays absolutely great. The driving, the puzzles where it is tied into… everything is damn well done and adds a fresh wind to the overall gameplay. Especially the tank shooting mechanic is awesome in my opinion and could easily be a game on its own. If you ask me, I think the Batmobil is precisely what this new part of the franchise needed. Without it I think the game would have been pretty boring and surely attacked from everyone for being repetitive and nothing new.

Also story-wise Arkham Knight managed to hold up against the tide. The story – basically well thought-through and exciting till the end – could only have been told better in my opinion. Somehow there is too much confusion. I guess that is what the developers intended but I couldn’t relate to well to all this madness and the constant questioning of “reality”. Not only that Scare Crow is gassing the whole city, there is also that thing about Batman having Joker’s DNA inside of him and being mentally torn apart… seriously: pure insanity! What I did like a lot were the jump scares. – Yes, you heard right; this game offers some! And totally unexpected I often found myself not on the couch but on the floor in front of it. That is really well done and absolutely surprising!

The rest of the game doesn’t need too much analysis or reviewing in my opinion. It is pretty much the same good old Batman we learned to love: Great fighting – again with updated thugs and new battle mechanics, great riddling – again massive but fair, nice side quests with familiar as well as new bosses, great characters and great atmosphere! One new battle mechanic that made me a bit skeptic at first is called “Fear-Multi-Takedown”; justified due to Batman having a new “super scary” suit and being able to move faster with it, he can now chain single (silent) takedowns up to six foes. If you haven’t played it yet you might also think that this sounds a bit overpowered… and it clearly is at the beginning of the game, but after the enemy numbers start to increase and you on the other hand start having a hard time with all their abilities, you will also feel the necessity of it.
Personally I think the biggest applause regarding this game (once again) should go to Mark Hamill and what he (again) did with the character of the Joker! – Seriously that performance deserves a videogame Oscar!

A WORTHY END! NOW CAN WE GET SOME RELIEF?

I can absolutely recommend this game to all fans of the franchise. Like I said, in my opinion this game ranks right after the brilliant first part of the series. It is kind of sad the franchise is supposed to come to end with this, but yeah… not really, right? We all know that the cow is not milked dry as long as she is still standing. It would really surprise me if there was a sudden change of heart in the industry… What I do want to believe however is that Rocksteady is now finally done with it and that they will concentrate on the next big thing. At least I hope so while reminding myself that even Kojima once broke his “promise” and continued to work on Metal Gear games after Guns of the Patriots…

Play more! Takedown more!