lost in games

I read a list this week which had the 15 most influential first person shooters of all time. I am not going to agree or disagree with the games included in this list but it’s just that one of these games brought back a lot of memories. The list is in chronological order and number 8 is Duke Nukem 3D. I am not sure how many of you played this PC, FPS game but whenever I remember Duke Nukem 3D I have a wide smile on my face. I think it was around 1996 (not sure) and it was the first game I ever played “online”.

Deathmatch

“Online”……In those days it was just dial-up internet, and it was WOW!! You just connected directly by calling another person’s phone line. It sounds simple enough but believe me, it wasn’t. A friend of mine and I were on the phone for a few hours (or was it days?) while figuring out how to set it up and after he did 90% of the work (thx Frixos!!!!!) we were on!

When we started playing it was like we were in a ghost map. It was a huge Duke Nukem level but without the CPU enemies. We weren’t even really sure we were on the same map. I knew that somewhere out there was just another all swearing, guns blazing Duke Nukem guy trying to find me and then shoot the shit out of me. Finally, we found each other and the shooting started. I was in awe and I was laughing with excitement at the same rate I was shooting. It was like a dream…..

(more…)

The fight is over. October 3rd, 2007 is the day i finished Halo 3 (normal). Although i will write a more detailed review on Halo 3 campaign i would like to say that i found the majority of the levels to be very good but not outstanding. Some i loved like Tsavo Highway, Covenant and the last level.

The last level on Halo 3 is one of the best ending levels i have played. It left me feeling that the game was fantastic even though the majority of the time i just felt it was very good. A proper farewell to an outstanding overall trilogy.

Wednesdays are my civil servant days. I get off work at 14:30 instead of the usual 18:00. It feels like you never went to work in the first place. You can go home, eat lunch, sleep for an hour or so, wake up and take a shower and it will not even be 18:00 yet.

Today i am thinking of utilising my free time in the most constructive way possible. Finishing the Halo 3 campaign in normal mode. I am currently on mission 7 and as the normal difficulty is pretty easy it shouldn’t take me long to make it to the end unless there are any nasty but welcome surprises.

Got to love these Civil Servant Days. It is like you are living somebody else’s everyday life once a week.

TO: SPIDEY
FROM: ZOLOS
2 October 2007

Hello there SPIDEY,

Long time since we fought alongside one another. We kinda lost our ways after that hard fight against the Brute Force. This is one of my first photos when we were travelling along Tsavo highway. One of our favourite rides. Do you remember? We had some good times together and many many kills.

I hope we can meet up soon and FINISH THE FIGHT!

Your comrade
Zolos the Arbiter

According to a Seattle based blog Bungie and MS are on the verge of announcing that the two companies will be going their separate ways. MS has responded to the claims not be saying that they are not true but just that no such thing has been announced.

Where there is smoke there is fire? Is Bungie looking ahead to the post-Halo era? Stay tuned.

Here is where FIFA 2008 comes in. With FIFA you enter a football world. Apart from the license, the game also has a news ticker displaying real football news and results which was also present in previous editions. You can also access a website through FIFA to get match previews and get the tables for all the major leagues in the world. You can get all your major football news using the game.

The commentary has also improved, as have the fans’ chanting and songs. Even the Greek teams have theirs now. Most major stadiums are included and are very accurately represented not just in cut scenes but also in-game.

As far as options are concerned you can create online leagues and invite others to join. No need to keep those excel spreadsheet any more. In addition you have the day’s real matches with updated squad lists. For example you could play tonight’s Champions League matches.

Granted, all the above do not affect the actual gameplay of the game. But they do affect the experience. With FIFA you are in a combined fantasy and real football world.

What about gameplay?

(more…)

I am not usually swayed by reviews to buy a game i was not planning to get. That is, I mostly use reviews as a confirmation of how I rate the game after i buy it. In fact I go through good reviews a couple of times while I am playing a game and once after I finish it.

But last Friday (28/9/2007) I read Eurogamer’s review of FIFA 2008. It was the reason I bought the game on Saturday. The review hit on two sensitive issues. Two grievances I have for the last couple or so editions of Pro Evo.

The first grievance relates to options. I am referring to online options. Pro Evo has refused to evolve. In fact it went backwards. In Pro Evo 5 the game would let you play 2 v 2 online. In 6 the feature was dropped. The only online feature Pro Evo 6 had was one off versus matches and the ranking system.

The second one is the gameplay. The series has turned to a more arcade approach choosing a faster paced approach with the PS2 version being the peak so far. An approach which sees most football matches being end to end affairs. Unfortunately or fortunately this is not how real football is played.

My feeling is that Konami managed to create a superb engine at some point and from then on it just tweaked some bits of the game like shooting and tackling making it appear and feel different each time. However it has failed to take the game further. To make the next big step

Amazingly it is FIFA 2008 which has the vision to redefine the football game genre.

I don’t like EA and I definitely hate the FIFA series or at least I used to. The first and only FIFA game I ever bought was on the Mega Drive. While everyone was buying and playing FIFA I was searching for the true football game. During my quest for The One I played all kinds of football games such as Actua Soccer, World League Soccer and This is Football. They all had their merits but they were not the real deal. Then ISS Pro 98 on the PSone came into my life and the long search was over. I became a fan of the series which then came to be known as Pro Evo and now PES.

Although the Pro Evo series lacked the licence FIFA had, in gameplay terms it was years ahead. Unfortunately most people were still lured by FIFA’s markting and other Pro Evo gamers were hard to find. Slowly however, mostly by word of mouth and the high reviews scores the series consistently received, Pro Evo became the footie fans’ favourite. It was the real deal.

Until now…