What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast

[gunswordfist]

why did they lock bending? that's just stupid.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

They just made it something that you unlock as the game progresses. It's not stupid, it's what every action game ever does. In DMC and Ninja Gaiden, you start out with only one set of weapons and limited techniques, and end up unlocking the rest throughout the story as you attain them. The bending styles are basically the same thing for Korra.

[Rynnec]

Still kind of odd since Korra starts out the series with all of the Bending styles minus one.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

Story-wise, she somehow loses her bending powers early on in this game. I should mention that Platinum didn't write the story for this, but they just had to comply with it for the gameplay, so that part can't be blamed on them. That said, aside from the first 2 levels being lackluster in terms of combat (which is a non-issue with NG+), you get your bending powers shortly after that and unlock them throughout the rest of the game. It's like normal video game progression.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

Anyways, I'm up to Chapter VI on Max Payne 3, and I'm starting to get the hang of this game, which plays very differently than the first 2 in terms of the action and strategies. In some ways it's good, but in others it doesn't feel as tightly paced as the first 2 games, partly because this game seems to love throwing tons of enemies at you, and forcing you to clear out every room while effectively using cover and bullet-time. While it is challenging and can be fun, it makes the game feel like an awfully slow-burn at times since you realize that you are spending a ton of time on just a single room, whereas I almost always felt like the action had a smoother pacing to it in the Remedy games.

The worst offender of this was with Chapter III, where I often died just from how overcrowded the rooms would get with enemies. It's the only chapter that I just found to be downright tedious and frustrating, so far. The rest of the game, though, despite my issues with it, has been pretty solid, and I've still been having fun for the most part.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

Also, so far, my favorite chapter has been Chapter IV, and the reason for that should be obvious.

[Foggle]

I love the first New Jersey level in Max Payne 3. Probably the best part of the game for me; Rockstar really nailed the atmosphere and humor of the Remedy games in that one. I agree with you about the gameplay feeling different and the pacing feeling slow. MP3 is great overall, but I just can't see myself replaying it over and over like I do with the first two.

I beat The Evil Within. I thought the last level was fantastic. I can see people getting annoyed at the final boss for being completely different gameplay-wise from everything that leads up to it, but it felt like a really epic battle from, say, House of the Dead, so I enjoyed it a lot. Even if you dislike the final fight, chapter 15 itself is tons of fun IMO. Some excellent arena design, a nice Silent Hill 2 reference, and a completely unique stealth sequence made it feel really satisfying to play. It somehow manages to be both the most cinematic and the most video gamey level in all of TEW. The ending is ambiguous and weird, but the story actually makes sense when you think about it, including the odd lack of emotion Sebastian exhibits throughout the entirety of the game. I wouldn't say it was well-written, but it was certainly entertaining.

My final clear time was around 16 hours and 40 minutes, and my death count was 69. Overall, I thought The Evil Within was an excellent game with some of the best encounter design, variety, and pacing since Resident Evil 4, though I do feel like it was a bit weaker than RE4 and REmake. The engine jank can really drag the experience down at times, and a couple of scenarios can be frustrating due to sparse checkpoints and one hit kills, but this is easily my favorite game of 2014 so far. It's clearly made for the type of person who misses what gaming was like during the PS2 generation, both for good and for bad. It's punishing, creative, intense, unpolished, but most importantly, fun.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

Glad to hear that it's good. Now go beat it on AKUMU difficulty.

[Foggle]

Glad to hear that it's good. Now go beat it on AKUMU difficulty.

I will certainly try Akumu difficulty, but there's no way I'm actually going to beat it.

[Nel_Annette]

I'm not really good at Max Payne, but I really liked MP3. Just listening to Max talk is like music to my ears.

[Foggle]

I'm not really good at Max Payne, but I really liked MP3. Just listening to Max talk is like music to my ears.

Yeah, his voice actor is the best.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

I'm so glad that Rockstar kept James McCaffrey as his voice actor. They almost didn't use him, but I'm glad that they went back on that decision. To me, he is the one and only voice that I will ever be able to acknowledge as Max Payne. I could literally just listen to him monologue for hours on end. He can make the most boring lines ever sound like they're straight out of a cool noir.

[Nel_Annette]

One thing I also enjoy about the game is that they don't translate any of the language. I felt just as out of place as Max does.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

McCaffrey was also literally the only good (4-second) part of this piece of shit.

And yeah, it was good that they didn't translate the foreign dialogue to make us feel as out of place as Max did. I just wish that they didn't try to make us feel as drunk as he did, too. Seriously, that double-vision effect is so fucking annoying.

[gunswordfist]

i personally think he sounds like ray liotta in mp3.