Tuesday, May 31, 2011

A book that could be good if rewritten.

I got summer reading, and once again, I hate it. It was Speak, by Laurie Halse Anderson. It is about a girl who is "A high school outcast".

First, 20 points for originality. Oh boy, a High School Outcast! In a highschool so cliche it could be a high school girl itself!

Firs off, about 20-40 pages in you really start to get annoyed by the main character. She is lazy, incompetent, and ignorant. I will admit that the humor is pretty good at some points, but if I wanted dark humor I would read Douglas Adams.
As later revealed in the book, she has a perfectly understandable reason for being so depressed. My problem is, why would you not give even hints about this before hand, instead of shoving it into your face near the end?
The character development. Weak, weak weak. The term would be "Cardboard Characters". With the exception of the main character, they are all 2D, flat, weak, and worst of all, predictable. Not like a real person would act, not even in the slightest.

You can't write a book with so many people, if only one has any character.

Otherwise, its your typical formula book.

For those of you who don't know what that is, its when the writer sits down, outlines a full plot, and writes exactly whats on the paper.

Not how you write. Writing should flow, evenly and smooth, with surprises, and protuberances that seem totally natural. This was blatant, crude, and events occur like they were scripted, which they were. You want to have a basic idea of what to write, not everything sentence by sentence.

Anyway, thats my rant.

Monday, May 30, 2011

Perpetuum, a failed clone?

So today was supposed to be the whole F2P buisness model, but I decided not to. I wrote a couple of pages on it but then realized: I don't know what the heck I am talking about. Time to try something else.

A couple of first impressions about Perpetuum instead, maybe more later.

Perpetuums website

Perpetuum is an Online, single server, real time skill based progression sci-fi MMO. Yes, it is a mouthful.

Off the bat, I would like to say that the graphics are shot.
I have no problem against games that look bad but play well, but these are just so horribly CPU dependant without any good visual effects. I can play high-end games all the way on max settings no problem, but this is just abysmal.

Second, the interface is EXACTLY like EVE. It has the whole desktop feel to it, just like EVE.

In fact, almost everything about this game is like EVE, minus the fact that you control a robot, and move on land.

Yes, there is a tracking system, just like EVE.

Yes, there is a automated combat system, just like EVE.

Even the website looks just like EVE's.

The whole skill-based progression? Its literally exactly like EVE's.

The character creation is just like EVE's but much, much, much worse.

My opinion so far? This game offers nothing that EVE does not already have. Its like a watered down version of EVE. If you are interested in a game like this, play EVE. It is so much smoother and more fun, and as far as I can tell this game has very little content.

Now I have not given up hope yet. I'll try and resolve the graphics issue, and maybe put a few more hours into it. I cannot promise a full review yet, I can't be promising things I cannot deliver.

Over time, I will periodically checking back on the website, seeing if they are introducing anything that will make this more unique.

Side note: The rest of this weeks schedule will continue as scheduled.

Saturday, May 28, 2011

So I am downloading Rift and Perpetuum...

Well see how they work out. In the meantime, I just got a new router, so I am loving the faster connection.

Friday, May 27, 2011

Review news!

So I'm going totally crazy on Section 8: Prejudice right now, getting rank 3 on every match I play. I still hold tru to what I say, it is amazing. Even better than I thought when I wrote the review. Expect a random, full, in-depth review sometime this week when I have time. I'm starting to think my reviews will be more unscheduled than scheduled.

But I also don't want to just keep reviewing this one game, so I will hopefully find something else to review this week as well. Maybe some Battlefield Bad Company 2, or bring out a classic like Left for Dead.

How does Magicka sound?

Is Evil Notch a real person?

So a while ago, Notch announced that upon release, those who have bought Minecraft after the Beta transition will have to buy the game again. At the time, I was a little pissed, but I supposed I would give him the benefit of the doubt. 

Now here is my problem, after 6 more updates.

Notch, according to himself, has over Twenty Million Dollars in an accounts somewhere. Still, He maintains a modest income, and does not touch it. 

How is this a problem?

Over time, I have actually seen very little movement forward with Minecraft's development. Sure, there have been good updates that add a lot to the game, but still, Notch has a very small development team that cannot get a whole lot done is comparison to other developing companies. 

Once again. I am totally fine with him not wanting to lead a rich and fancy life. Totally fine with that. But with his amount of chagrin and enjoyment in the game, wouldn't you see it as a good move to use a bit of the earnings from the game to go to the game? 

I'm not asking for a hundred-man work force here, but I think the speed of the development should be a little faster than when they were still scraping for a living. 

So where does the whole "People who bought it after Beta have to buy it again" thing fit into this? 

Well Notch, if you need money, look in the account. Maybe I am missing something here, but if you are not using the money, why ask for more? I am totally fine paying full game price(50-60$) for Minecraft again if I feel that the money is going to go to use in future development. If not, then why should I bother? 

Schedule, Minecraft rant still in Progress..

While I hold a deep argument about brass instruments with certain individuals online, I hope I can stay un-distracted for the duration of this debate.

But first, here is the schedule for the week of the 30th.

Monday: What will the continuing amount of P2P MMOs switching to F2P mean for MMOs in general?

Tuesday: A book I cannot stand, and why. (Speak)

Wednesday: A friend of mine intrigued me with some thoughts about this year. Check back then for some interesting philosophy.

Thursday: Link day! Will be very, very much related to music.

Friday: A couple thoughts of blogging, and why I will never monetize. 


That will be it for the week, and check back in an hour or so for some Minecraft thoughts!

Thursday, May 26, 2011

Section 8: Prejudice...more like Section 8: FUNudice!

Yes, I know that was terrible. I was told once that blogging is an art of titles and tags, so might as well try.
I understand this was in no way scheduled, but whos complaining about more content? I hope those people are few and far between....and yes I the Minecraft rant will be on schedule tomorrow.

Going in order of importance...

Aiming; Guns; Combat in general


S8P comes fully armed with an array of great guns, each exemplifying the battlefield in some way or another. The weapons reminded me of Halo, you won't find multiple versions of the same class of gun here.
The aiming is a little jolty at first, but you either a, get used to it, or b, change the sensitivity. No problem there. You have a special little key called Control, which allows you to "lock on" to your targets and decimate them. It adds a lot to the feel of the combat, while not being overly simple or "OP".
I must admit I was a fair bit disappointed when I saw you needed to choose a melee attack on your class and you couldn't just do it whenever. Having the option of melee was always one of my favorite parts about FPSs, and that being restricted like that is not so great.

Classes


I love the class design in this game. You immediatly start out with all the weapons, jsut not all the weapon attachments or upgrades. You have a large number of pre-set classes or custom classes to choose from, and I personally love to experiment with them. Much better than the standard "Unlock guns as you go" system modern FPSs seem to think people like.

Movement, controls


The movement in this game takes a while to get used to, same with the aiming. Its a lot more focused on either moving at "L33t sp33ds br0" or literally turtle-like. This actually seemed to play at its advantage however, because the combat is a lot more movement based instead of precision aiming.
When holding down the spacebar you activate your jetpack, a fairly weak little boost into the air that can still mean the difference between dieing or living. 
Then there is overdrive. After sprinting for a few seconds, the camera zooms out into 3PV, allowing you to move at inhuman speeds. Also a very integral part of the combat, it is definitely a game mechanic that is worth patenting. (:D) 

Map design

The maps so far, while few, are exceptional. Something that would really help would be some map-packs, and I would be delighted to pay for them. They fully use the running and jumping kind of combat this game offers, while not being bad to look at either. They are full of strategic locations (open to the open-minded only) and you really don't understand them fully until you play them quite a bit.

Interface

Not really that important, but I will include it anyway but saying this: It is functional. While a little choppy on some parts, it gets the job done. It might need a little extra searching to find what you need, but otherwise its not that bad. 

Spawning System

Now this is truly the best part. You come cruising out of a space ship thousands of feet above the ground, flying towards your destination. You can try and land on someone, instakilling them, or you can land far away and sneak up on them unsuspectingly. Its really a great system, but the only way you can truly get it is too play it. 

Music/Soundtrack

Truly eh. Not great, definitely not something that would stick in your mind for a while, but not bad background music either. 

Final Thoughts

In essence, S8P is just pure fun. While best with friends, the Matching system is great too. If you are looking for a quick, fun shooter with little annoyances, try this. You will not regret it. 

Quick Disclaimer: This was after a mere 4 hours of play. My veiws may change over time, and I will release a follow-up review in the next few weeks.