We have our costumes, where’s yours?
Our Halloween mega-cast is up and ready for your enjoyment. Dodongo reviews Sam & Max: Culture Shock and Scrimpnut gives us a must-play update on Neverwinter Nights (the original). There are gaming headlines, the demo roundup, new releases, and a special treat: our editors chime in with their favorite horror games and scary gaming moments. Grab it now, enjoy it, and have a Happy Halloween!
Eat My Bomb!
Sometimes, everybody gets it wrong. When Rockstar announced the game Bully, the video gaming media and gaming watchdog groups went nuts. Not because of screenshots, videos, or descriptions of gameplay, but because of their immediate assumptions about the nature of the game. With a name like Bully, it’s hard to blame them, but they could have at least asked. Contrary to these hasty assumptions, Bully is not a child beating simulator. It’s the story of a rebellious teenager who has been dumped at a boarding school by his disinterested parents. Could it be that Rockstar is trying to send a message here about parental responsibility? Maybe, but let’s save that topic for another day and get back to what Bully is really about.
I’m bullying the hell out of these beakers.
Yes, there are fights, but you know what? You don’t have to participate if you don’t want to. In fact, I’ve spent most of my time at Bullworth Academy attending classes on time and making friendly with the class nerds. Now if I wanted to, I could ditch class every day, team up with the jocks, and beat the crap out of classmates all day. It’s a matter of choice and I may play Bully several times to see what outcomes are possible.
The faction system in Bully is pretty straightforward. Align yourself with the nerds and you lose standing with the jocks and vice versa. Since I’m hanging around with the dork contingent, the bullies tend to attack me whenever they see me. When this happens, I jump on my skateboard and drop some marbles behind me then hilarity ensues. Interactions with NPCs are reminiscent of Fable where you target a player and then choose from a set of ‘emotes’ that are mapped to specific buttons. These emotes include greetings, insults, flirting, etc.
The fighting in Bully, when it does happen, is fairly simple. You grab a guy, punch his lights out, then move on. New fighting moves become available after a successful wrestling match in gym or when you learn them from the bum behind the schoolbus. As far as…what? Oh you want to know more about that bum? Yeah well there’s this grizzled homeless veteran who camps out behind the school’s broken down bus. When you bring him parts for a transistor radio, he teaches you new fighting moves that he learned in the corps. I wonder what he’ll do when he finishes building the radio…
That’s it for now, but I’ll give more updates as I continue. After only 2 nights of playing Bully, I’m hooked. Back to chemistry class!
I’ve been playing RAPPELZ (I guess the name ABHORZ was already taken), the new Korean MMO from the team that brought you FLYFF (motto: We ran out of vowels). Now, the game is free, and in terms of art direction and graphics not bad looking. Crank up the settings to 11, let the bloom effect take over, and you got yourself something that looks like an episode of Red Shoe Diaries, if the action took place in medieval Korea and not on the hood of David Duchovny’s car.
However, in terms of actual, factual gameplay, RAPPELZ has to be the most cliche-ridden title I’ve played in a long time. I thought I would take this opportunity to share some of my favorites.
CLICHE 1: Where am I hiding my armor? 
Ok. RAPPELZ drops you naked into the world. Given the fact that all female avatars are men in real life, this is understandable, if creepy. But, open up the inventory screen and it turns out the character is somehow carrying a full set of armor and a number of starter weapons. Where? If I’m naked, where the hell am I storing all this crap? (Read on …)
Oh, it’s on!
Episode 25 of the GamersHell.com Weekly Podcast is ready for battle. This week’s headlines will scout the enemy position. First shots will be fired by our next gen console round table, then Devil’s Advocate leads the infantry with a review of *inhale* “WarHammer 40,000: Dawn of War - Dark Crusade” *exhale*. Bringing up the rear is Tritone’s demo round-up, and finally the new releases will scavenge for spoils and inform next of kin. Somewhere in the middle there’s a monkey.
Shhh… Walk quietly… Jess is under that quilt recording the new releases for Episode 25 of the GamersHell Podcast!
I’m the only EMB editor who admits to owning an xBox 360–I’m also the only EMB editor who qualifies for membership in the AARP. Surprisingly, the two are related as a bright, shiny new console now comes with AARP membership…not really, but what did you expect, some sort of joke about failing Wiis?
Anywho, as the lone 360 owner I feel a certain obligation to play and review games for the PC’s vicious little brother, but these things have a way of getting put off, like sorting the junk drawer or scheduling that colonoscopy (sorry, AARP, remember?). So, I decided to clear my schedule for a weekend, lay in a supply of Depends (sadly, nothing to do with the gaming marathon), Caffeine Free RedBull (gotta watch the hypertension), and plow through a pile of 360 titles that had been mewing for attention like a hungry cat that I thought I fed but maybe that was last week…
First, my gaming rig.
A–McFarlane’s Dragons, series 1. Man, it’s a good thing I’m already married. This would probably be the deal breaker. B–my 360, with the ultra-exclusive “retro” faceplate, hooked up via switchbox to my PC monitor C–EMB rox D–what the hell do all these buttons do? Crap. E–PC under the desk. My PC is so old it can join the AARP. Seriously. Send me a new one.
Ok, now on to the marathon. (Read on …)
