I didn't like the Burnout Paradise demo. I despised the DJ and the open-world-style seemed overly cumbersome.
Criterion insisted - "You're Wrong! Play the full game!". Then a bunch of Xbox Live Friends picked up and recommended it (directly and indirectly).
Unable to find a copy at my local EBGames (no big surprise there - EA must be happy with sales) I ordered online. The day it arrived I played for four hours longer than I originally planned. EA/Criterion spit and polish forced me to eat crow and love it - after a short time I was revelling in the often questionable soundtrack while chasing down a f'ugly, garish SUV to add to my collection.
Yes, needing to drive back across the whole map/city to retry a particular event with a specific vehicle can become tiresome (you may not have this issue if you don't suck as bad as I do). Having said that, the large number of events (almost every intersection has one) soothes that irritant.
Navigating the race routes also takes some getting used to. There are at least four cues; three visual, one audible. However when dodging oncoming traffic at high speed with music pounding, they're easily missed.
Speaking of cues, while he remains an insufferable Douche, DJ Atomika does occasionally offer pertinent and useful tips.
Rubber-banding is extremely forgiving - it almost seems like a challenge to fail the opening events. After PGR4 it's also refreshing to compete with racers that frequently make mistakes without direct involvement from the player (in fact sometimes the mistakes are a little too frequent - try "shutting down" some vehicles and see what I mean...)
Being able to choose a vehicle that fits your preferred driving style adds a welcome twist - choose the tough but unwieldy muscle-truck to crush your opponents off the road or the nippy sports-car and hope you can outrun them? Customization is limited to paint job color - PGR4 probably allows a little more control in this respect but either way, the vehicles are gorgeous. It's a shame they get trashed within seconds of leaving the Junkyard. :-)
The camera is (intentionally?) positioned so that the road ahead is obscured, especially while cresting hills. Punch the boost, white knuckle onto the steering wheel and hope there isn't a bus coming the other way...
Online works well (at least with a good host). The open-world means that if you become bored with a certain task, you can simply explore while your fellow drivers continue to race, stunt, park, whatever!
I really enjoyed PGR4 but the Normal difficulty setting in Career was a fraction too demanding - it would have taken me weeks (more) to get to the top of the list. Also the requirement of participating in events like (Super) Cone Challenge is not something I relished. Unfortunately, resetting to Easy removed both the risk and the reward. The game became a dull time trial. I guess the failing here is mine, I just don't have enough time to devote to it at the tougher level.
On a more general trend - in-game advertising abounds for both game but is not too intrusive given the contemporary settings. CompUSA, Diesel and others are prominent in Burnout. PGR4 features ads for current movies.
Given the presence of motorcycles in PGR4 (and in MotorStorm) and their absence thus far from EA's recent offerings, my unanswered burning question is this: When will Criterion do Road Rash?! :-)
Thursday, January 31, 2008
Saturday, January 19, 2008
Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles
When I learned that Fox was putting together a TV series using The Terminator franchise, I was skeptical. After two great action movies and one enjoyable venture into action-parody, what would be next? Terminator: The Musical? I Love Terminator Too? Unwilling to commit to the real-time feed, I recorded the show, just in case...
On Friday January 18th 2008, the flu bug struck...hard. Housebound for the weekend, I decided to watch the pilot episode. It did not disappoint. The Terminator is still, to quote Elvis Mitchell of the New York Times, "A B-movie with flair". It's gratuitous, obvious, and awesome. I've decided to wait until the series is available to watch completely free of advertisement before watching the full season. Some of my skepticism remains - I don't think the Terminator "universe" has the breadth (yet anyway) to carry a story week after week. Also, temporal travel as a plot-device, is a dangerous lure for writers under pressure...Can Fox make this work for a whole season? I guess "Time vill tell!"
On Friday January 18th 2008, the flu bug struck...hard. Housebound for the weekend, I decided to watch the pilot episode. It did not disappoint. The Terminator is still, to quote Elvis Mitchell of the New York Times, "A B-movie with flair". It's gratuitous, obvious, and awesome. I've decided to wait until the series is available to watch completely free of advertisement before watching the full season. Some of my skepticism remains - I don't think the Terminator "universe" has the breadth (yet anyway) to carry a story week after week. Also, temporal travel as a plot-device, is a dangerous lure for writers under pressure...Can Fox make this work for a whole season? I guess "Time vill tell!"
Wednesday, January 2, 2008
Mass Effect: Revelation
To paraphrase a friend (who was actually referencing elements of Mass Effect's game plot), Mass Effect: Revelation is a little goofy but ultimately charming.
It's an easy read - about 330 pages of (almost) pulp science fiction. I corral it in that pigeon hole in the most positive sense. Some of the dialog is genuinely funny - there are some great sound-bites. It seems even more like a Hollywood movie script than some of the material I normally peruse.
The book's main selling point was that it was touted as enriching the Mass Effect experience. It delivers in some respects. The novel further justifies humanity's portrayal as the petulant teenager and the Citadel Council's sometime Pontius-Pilate-School-of-Politics attitude. "Infinite" ammo (which never bothered me but was called out by some critics) is explained succinctly (come to think of it, it may also discussed in the game Codex). The batarian race features prominently - they are almost completely absent from the software title.
Where it failed to live up to (my) hopes is in its explanation of Saren's motives. Even after playing the game to completion and reading the book, I still find it difficult to reconcile his (original) goals and actions. Perhaps that's the intent anyway...?
Other issues the book highlights are some of the mild inconsistencies, probably due to technology/design limitations. There simply aren't enough people in the Citadel Wards - the book (and in-game background) describes them as packed. The Normandy is also far too roomy but this can be explained away by its unique nature.
Revelation also contains some spoiler-esque material for one of the chief game plot twists. However it's not that big a deal and the foreshadowing is probably just that much more obvious/enjoyable as a result.
Mass Effect: Ascension, the second book and "sequel" to the game, will allegedly be available in 2008. I think I'll be getting it. :-)
It's an easy read - about 330 pages of (almost) pulp science fiction. I corral it in that pigeon hole in the most positive sense. Some of the dialog is genuinely funny - there are some great sound-bites. It seems even more like a Hollywood movie script than some of the material I normally peruse.
The book's main selling point was that it was touted as enriching the Mass Effect experience. It delivers in some respects. The novel further justifies humanity's portrayal as the petulant teenager and the Citadel Council's sometime Pontius-Pilate-School-of-Politics attitude. "Infinite" ammo (which never bothered me but was called out by some critics) is explained succinctly (come to think of it, it may also discussed in the game Codex). The batarian race features prominently - they are almost completely absent from the software title.
Where it failed to live up to (my) hopes is in its explanation of Saren's motives. Even after playing the game to completion and reading the book, I still find it difficult to reconcile his (original) goals and actions. Perhaps that's the intent anyway...?
Other issues the book highlights are some of the mild inconsistencies, probably due to technology/design limitations. There simply aren't enough people in the Citadel Wards - the book (and in-game background) describes them as packed. The Normandy is also far too roomy but this can be explained away by its unique nature.
Revelation also contains some spoiler-esque material for one of the chief game plot twists. However it's not that big a deal and the foreshadowing is probably just that much more obvious/enjoyable as a result.
Mass Effect: Ascension, the second book and "sequel" to the game, will allegedly be available in 2008. I think I'll be getting it. :-)
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