Some people go to the Poconos. Me, I thought I’d take a few days to revisit some of the many MMOs that are cluttering my hard drive…see how things are shaping up, how they’ve changed.

Vanguard: Saga of Heroes

Then: at launch, I really loved this game. Great graphics, beautiful world, classic–if kind of hardcore–MMO gameplay. Sparsely populated landscape but helpful, mature community.

Now: 6 months later. Still looks very good, runs well. Chaining spells into combos is still cool. After LOTRO and WoW, though, death’s sting is a little too harsh. If it was empty before, it’s truly desolate now…and you can’t solo this game. How about some AI henchpersons? My guild up and left. So have I.

Everquest 2: The Echoes of Faydwer

Then: I rejoined the EQ2 fold when this expansion came out. Huge selection of races (including the Fae), classes, and subclasses. UI very much improved over the original EQ and EQ2. Graphics and design quite beautiful and detailed but hampered by stuttery performance and over-the-top system requirements, that still don’t guarantee smooth framerates.
Now: At high graphic settings it’s a sludgy slideshow, made more frustrating by the fact that other MMOs look good and still run well. Textures and camera controls not so impressive. Battles seem limp. Why do spiders drop coins when you kill them? Must my magical flying pet be a beetle?
more after the jump (Read on …)

I am definitely not Sauron. I’m…some other guy.

Overlord was first described to me as Dungeon Keeper meets Pikmin and frankly that didn’t work out in my mind. But considering my affection for both of those franchises, I had to give the game a shot. I haven’t said this about a game in a while: I was instantly hooked. And to this mix of Dungeon Keeper and Pikmin has also been added a splash of Fable. Hit the jump to hear more.

(Read on …)

Click the pic for funny…
FYI - if you’re planning on reading the new Harry Potter, DO NOT investigate the rest of ytmnd.com. They’ve got spoilers galore listed on their home page…

World of Warcraft?  More like World of BORE-craft!  Mwa-ha-ha-ha!!!!

SEE YOU IN HELL PARKING GARAGE!!!

I finished GRAW a few days ago. The last level was some fine urban combat. All in all a decent game, but nowhere near the original. It’s unfortunate that console gaming is dictating how many new PC games are made. Instead of tactical shooters with 8 men, all of whom you can control, you get 3 idiots with bipolar AI and (at times) terrible pathfinding. In one scenario I told my team to head straight west across the map to a waypoint in order to avoid a couple of tanks nearby. 2 of the 3 did the smart thing, the third decided to head north, pass by the tanks, and then come south again. Over the satellite, I got to watch him dive and dodge as two tanks fired machineguns and missiles at him. It was like watching the Three Stooges. Miraculously, he survived without a scratch.

There were also a few times when I was trying to flank the enemy and was told I was leaving the mission area. If I proceeded further, the game would end. Some of these points were right where I needed to go to get a good shot and I was forced to bounce a grenade in instead. I understand the desire to keep the illusion of an open battlefield, but to me it’s less obtrusive to have blockades and fires blocking your way then some invisible forcefield.

Well, enough about that. Time to switch gears and start a new game. Brixtone and HolyCow got me the Diablo II battle chest for my birthday so I fired that up. I’ve never played the Diablo series, but have played both Baldur’s Gate: Dark Alliance games on the Xbox, so I’m familiar with the hack n’ slash genre. I’m only a few hours in and so far it’s been occupying my mind a lot more than I thought it would. Unfortunately for me, I don’t have much free time these days. Oh well, I guess I can get by with less sleep….

We (ok, I) frequently bitch and moan about the lack of attention paid to story and characterization in games. So often, it’s the graphics that get all the love, and the potentially most important element of an interactive experience–the story–gets short shrift. We all have suffered those titles where mediocre voice “talent” destroys the game; even professional actors often sleepwalk their way through the gig. So, let’s celebrate The Darkness, which hits all the right notes when it comes to characters (interesting, multi-dimensional), story (mature, disturbing, effectively plotted), and voice acting (nuanced, believable, committed). We like to talk about games as “interactive movies” and usually that means there are a lot of cut scenes and precious little action, but here I think the description is accurate and for all the right reasons. Sure, the graphic novel provides strong source material, but good source material does not a good game guarantee. So, huge props to Starbreeze (the studio from which came Chronicles of Riddick: Escape from Butcher Bay, another strongly-voiced game) and if you care about character, story, and acting, I highly recommend The Darkness. (Technical issues: there (Read on …)