We’ll just have to agree to disagree about Timeshift. I thought one of the things they did really well is to vary the gameplay. You’re always fighting in a different type of situation. Sometimes in a prison with enemies above and below, sometimes in the open with lots of enemies and limited time power juice, sometimes against snipers, sometimes in tight corridors, sometimes against giant mechs and helicopters. I thought they kept it fresh throughout the game. And they kept the weapons interesting. I didn’t think I’d give up the sniper rifle, but the Crossbow was even more fun to use. I definitely didn’t think I’d give up the shotgun, but again, the Hellfire gun which fired bullets that lit the enemy on fire, and had a flamethrower as an alternate weapon? Pure awesome. I also loved it when they introduced the time-shifting enemies.
And I thought the system they had for warning the player and auto-selecting the time power you’d need to use was an inspired decision. The objective is to make the player feel like they’ve been through an exciting action sequence. And they accomplished that. It’s one of the only action games where I went through nearly 100% of these sequences the first time, without dying. Ask yourself this: would it have been better if they hadn’t warned you and auto-selected the correct time power to use? Let’s take the sequence where you’re crossing a bridge and a really fast train suddenly comes out of the tunnel, and you slow down time and get off the track before the train smashes into you. Would that sequence really have been better if you’d died the first time and had to reload? I don’t think so. I think it was great that they found a way of getting the player through these sequences the first time. I hope more games use this technique. I guess we just disagree about the objectives. I don’t think the point is to make the player feel smarter by solving puzzles, I think the point is to vary the gameplay by creating an action sequence that feels exciting. I thought they achieved that well, and it wouldn’t have been as good if you’d have had to constantly reload the game.
RickH
1682
There are 3 islands, half of which are locked initially, and half available for you to explore and complete objectives in the order you see fit.
Also, exploring can help you find items to sell to buy new attacks and places where a few of your fellow vikings are trapped so you can release them to join your army. Not that it really seemed to make a difference.
ZekeDMS
1683
I somewhat enjoyed sections of Turok at Blacksite, whereas Turning Point, after the intro, sucked. Hard.
I suffered through some bad unclear paths and stealth-lite. I suffered through a section in near total dark where I kept getting hit by snipers. I suffered through counter-sniping sections, and at some point, there was just a wall of enemies and me with an MG40, and it was completely unfun, and I took the game back to the rental store.
In other words, don’t bother.
Cubit
1684
this really isn’t a bargain, but I just thought it was notable that I saw a retail version of Hearts of Iron at my local wal-mart. is that common?
Shadari
1685
Hallucinations? Yeah, somewhat. :)
Cubit
1686
haha, shroooms cause me to dream about hex based war games
but it was seriously there
Tyjenks
1687
I posted this in the Fantasy Warssequel-ish thread, but wouldn’t want anyone to miss it:
Fantasy Wars $12.99 at Gamersgate
Cubit
1688
See I am not crazy…
although I thought I was insane when I went to walmart today and couldn’t find this thing for the life of me. i eventually spotted it hidden behind a age of empires 3 box
Woah! I may need to go to Wal-Mart tomorrow and see if I can get that. Wait, why does it look like you got charged twice for it?
Cubit
1690
I actually picked up 1701 gold while I was there too. Thats the other 29.92. Let us know if you find it Robert, because its not on their website, and I’ve never seen wal mart carry a game like Hearts of Iron before.
Trackmania United Forever is $20 on Steam through the weekend. Fantastic game, fantastic deal.
Isn’t there a completely free Trackmania these days? I haven’t kept up closely.
ARogan
1693
I think nations is free (also over steam) but it’s just one environment. This $20 version has 7 environments (plus a lot of other stuff) including the free one, and it’s cross compatible online.
I went ahead and bought the $20 version sight unseen b/c I’ve heard it mentioned here a few times always in a positive light.
Yeah, United has six more enviroments, each with its own track pieces and unique vehicle, plus an integrated one-click system for getting custom tracks.
I’d buy it if I could put up with the frustration. Some tracks in Nations were perfectly balanced and a joy to race on, while others felt like they were from a bad NES game.
Trackmania has been my quick-game obsession recently. By which I mean “game I fire up intending to play for ten minutes, and stop when I realize it’s quarter to three again.” A steal at $20. (Although Nations has the best environment and infinite content online, so there’s not really much need to buy United at all.)
Fantasy Wars for $13? Sold.
GameStop has select used games which are half off.
One of 'em is Spider-Man 3, which even at $9 seemed like it might have been a bit much. One of them is The Darkness, though. $9 is a decent price for The Darkness
T11
1699
I’m tempted too, and I have no problem with downloading games. However, I have a problem that if I want to fire this up in a few years and Gamersgate is out of business. It’s only $13, but I think I’d rather wait for a copy I can load without being tied to anything.
How is that different than any other download service?
