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Archived old news: October 2000
News: Sunday 29/10/00
More D'n'B:
The Mineral came back on leave from the Finnish army, and despite being drunk as usual, was coherent enough to contribute his thoughts on the long running subject of whether drum'n'bass music is getting too hard and where it will go from here. This is posted on the serious IRC page, and it's good that Mineral puts a different perspective forward.
Recommended Q2 SP map:
It's been a looooooooong time since I played any Quake2, but veteran mapper Slayer threatened to h4x0r my site shut, infect my computer with virii, come round and murder me, rape my pets and burn my house down (some or all of that threat may not be true) if I didn't try his Deaf Dumb and Blind map again and add it to my Recommended Q2 SP maps list. Well that's what I've done - I originally played the early version, got pissed off with the unbalanced gameplay, and couldn't really be bothered to try the new version 1.1 - especially as I got bored with Q2. But eventually I've got round to it, a pretty good unit with some nice designs and good secrets, and I placed it in the list by scrolling down a bit and flicking some chewing gum at the screen - I hope that will teach people not to rely on ranking as if there was any accuracy to it!! There's other recent maps I haven't added because I don't play Q2 any more (unless the mappers threaten to rape my pets etc =)).
Finished Battlezone II....damn I want some more!!
Well yes indeed. What can I say, one of the best and most involving games I've played (the dreams have stopped, BTW =)). The last mission was disappointing (more views on the later missions posted here) as it was quite straightforward compared to some earlier missions rather than being climactic. Thus having spooged about this game already (graphics, gameplay, strategy, story, etc etc), in the interests of fairness here's the three main flaws I found in the SP game: 1. Mission balance was screwy, some way harder than others without any warning (or maybe that's how it's supposed to be). 2. The planet enviroments are a bit limited, some are underused - there are some great looking enviroments in the multiplayer maps that aren't in single player. 3. Too little wildlife in the game - the lonely two creatures are both excellent and atmospheric, it's a pity there weren't more. And naturally I wish the game was longer - but I still have the final 3rd to play as the other side, as well as botmatch-esque "instant action" maps, and there's a cool looking community mission pack in the works. Anyway, superb game, there's a demo and site link down there somewhere: \/
Finished Elite Force....don't want any more but it was good.
The new Half-Life I think =). A good game I expect everyone would enjoy unless you have a strong aversion to Star Trek - I wasn't convinced it would make a good setting for an FPS game, but actually having a coherent game universe already is one of the best features - it feels like a Star Trek episode, especially earlier on when Voyager's fate is still a mystery. Has a nice sense of story, progression, and immersion, helped along by lots of cutscenes and having team-mates most of the time. The sci-fi designs and themes are good too... On the downside the combat is usually fairly boring horde combat, which doesn't really work here (the Q3A engine doesn't help as damage feedback is obscure too), compared to, say, Serious Sam Test or KISS. For me the covert "Scavenger" missions were by far the best, showing how interesting and fitting the gameplay could have been....or maybe I'm just getting old =).
And finally...
<mickey> [Shambler PING reply]: 14 minutes 44 seconds
<mickey> beat that!
<Shambler> [mickey PING reply]: 14mins 43secs
<Shambler> FUCK 0WNED AGAIN
* Shambler commits ritual hari-kari
Ph34r my 1337 connection!!
News: Tuesday 24/10/00
I'm back....new Q1 DM trick demo.
Hi. Blackpope's Pope4 is one of the cooler recent Q1 DM maps, the first industrial style map that has impressed me for a long time, I particularly like the open areas with grass underfoot and the map towering above. Anyway, I did a new trick move demo on it, featuring a slope double rocket jump and a cool little wind tunnel jump, go take a look.
That's all. Anyone know when Rune is released in the UK? I'm looking forward to it...
One more thing:
<than> IT FUCKING COMES OUT YOUR FUCKING ARSE!
The usual hysterics....very excitable chap, than.
News: Friday 20/10/00
More Battlezone II
I'll keep bl33ting on about this until readers start buying this excellent first person real time strategy/action game just to shut me up =) (if it helps, try the 15 meg demo - this doesn't have any strategy/resource features though - and look at the official site). Anyway, I have been playing lots of it this week, and really getting engrossed in the game and missions. I could ramble on at indeterminable length about the awesome graphics, the hilarity of having Ice Rhinos casually stomping around my base, the virtues of scopes and radars, the importance of tactical decisions....but I'll just mention one aspect in particular stood out: At one point partway through the game, you have to choose sides. I'd been warned about this by le SCRAD, and after much meta-ethical consideration, had decided in advance what I was going to do. But actually facing the decision....well at first I really was flummoxed, thinking "What the hell should I do??"....and then I chose completely the opposite course. I'm impressed that the game totally threw me off track with that dilemma!! Also, BZII is the first game I've been dreaming regularly about since Quake, which says a lot about it's immersion and how it's got me hooked - in fact it's a relief to take a break this weekend and get back to dreaming about more usual stuff....goats, talking plants, large vats of marmalade, persecuting small children....that sort of thing =).
Back after the weekend.
News: Sunday 15/10/00
Yo yo yo...
Firstly if you like drum'n'bass and have been following the little discussion here, go check out this Drum'n'Bass Arena Hot Topic on the very same subject - thanks to Ajare for sending me that link. I hadn't seen that discussion before, but many of the views sent in are eerily similar to my concerns on the subject, and most of them are interesting enough to read - I found Mr X's unadulterated vitriol the most entertaining =).
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BZII....still cool.
I've started playing Battlezone II again, *finally*. Mmmmmm, very nice indeed, it was surprisingly easy to get back into playing, the control and command system being very intuitive. I just got the latest 1.02 patch which is not only compatible with old saved games, and has some useful little benefits, it also makes the enemy a lot more aggressive - which is good as I was finding it a bit mundane just building a huge base and equally huge attack force....now it seems the pressure will be on a bit more. It looks as cool as ever - the reflective ice lakes in one snowy scene being particularly impressive. I also liked the huge bipedal Ice Rhinos a lot, so I took a photo of one....ain't it cute =).
Errrr....Myst?? WTF??
Finally, I downloaded the realMyst demo (info and screenies here, download here (47 meg)), on a whim because it looked bloody amazing. Never ever played nor even looked at Myst itself and I'd never do so either (ugh....*shudder*), but since realMyst is a full 3D enviroment I thought it would be fun to look around. It *does* look bloody amazing, the textures and water in particular - state of the art 3D for sure. All I've done is wander around a bit admiring the graphics and amusing myself that the unchangable movement system is similar to my normal ghastly config, hehe. Could be worth a look if you want to see cutting edge visuals....pity it doesn't have full freedom of movement and it's the usual obscure puzzle solving mumbo-jumbo, but to think we could be playing proper 3D games in this sort of enviroment...
And...
<excessus> please do not disturb vondur... he is licking my ass
Poor Von wasn't even on the channel at the time =).
News: Wednesday 11/10/00
A week's time eh...
Finished FAKK2. The final levels were very impressive indeed, showing just what the Q3A engine is capable off. Mad, mad stuff, some of it is really trippy and mind-boggling. The boss combat was mediocre as with every other boss combat ever. Cool setting, cool boss, very cool music, but typical longwinded and tedious arena combat with a highly obscure way to kill the boss - you need to jump and swordswipe at the same time. FAKK2 has various tricks to use with weapons, but at no point in the game, training, nor the manual, are you encouraged to jump while fighting. In fact jumping while fighting is usually detrimental due to the 3rd person control system. Thus it is completely illogical to have jumping as the only means of defeating a boss. A pity that despite FAKK2's fresh and new feel it still fell for the frustrating boss combat trap....but that doesn't stop it being an exceptional game. I want more of it!!
Finished KISS. Pretty cool....at some points I was getting a bit bored with the game as the fighting is quite repetitive, but I left it a bit and came back playing it in small doses, and it was a lot more fun that way, for a quick blast of action. Again, nice styles in the final levels, which should have been longer and explored their nightmarish themes more. Again, tedious boss combat, albeit an easy one once you know the ammo respawns. What is particularly stupid is that you need to shoot a lot of...."things" on the walls before facing the boss - easy, but KISS has this GAY feature (bug, IMHO) of not allowing saving in boss combats. Thus if you die you have to do the same stupid repetitive shooting all over again before facing the boss. Yawn. But a pretty cool game aside from that.
Speedruns for those games?? No for FAKK2, unsure about KISS. FAKK2 has, as far as I can tell, no trick moves possible, and the levels are quite rigid in what you can do. KISS does have some levels with theoretical shortcuts, however the two weapons that give you self-damage (Jack-in-the-box and the RL) only give kickback in DM - it's disabled in SP, boo hiss. However there is slope jumping and some enemy give good kickback. I'll have to take a closer look, I don't even know if KISS has demo recording.
Time to play something else now eh...
More drum'n'bass discussion feedback:
The first bunch of views is posted on the serious IRC chat log page, and I now have another follow up with some brief views from mickey @ TexMex and Jesse @ RDE - both views I agree with, I've posted some comments of my own (I was going to ask Mineral for his view but he's on extended army training for a month, poor chap!).
Bought Deep Fighter:
Haven't played it yet, but to keep you informed: I checked and you can rebind the movement and shooting keys, and it automatically saves between missions. Unfortunately you can't "non-invert" the mouse nor rebind other functions (map etc), there doesn't seem to be any in-game saving, and no skill settings either. A pity, in my view full rebinding, saving, and skill settings are essential for any game.
Shambler invents a new term...
...used to describe something that isn't quite vapourware but hasn't got a good grasp of the concept of being released: "delayware". Ehhhh suppose you can add -ware to any project floating around the fringes of reality, like Tribes2 = screenshotware.
And finally:
<Mindcrime> I had a very deep discussion with q3 Cd until I eventually battered it, scratched it, humiliated it, and then ran outside and threw it like a frisbie. As it sailed down the hill, I screamed, "BE GONE FOUL SPAWN OF SATAAAAAAAAN!"
Indeed, I just uninstalled the game but I can sympathise...
News: Wednesday 04/10/00
FAKK2: A half time match report:
"FAKK2: out-Half-Lifes Half-Life shocker!!"
Not saying that HL is any sort of benchmark for anything beyond duping PC game magazine staff....but apparently some people found it quite good due to the scripting and interaction. Amusingly I am finding FAKK2 much better for this sort of immersiveness: It's full of in-engine cutscene scripted events, interaction with other people, intelligent progression, and funky little touches and tricks. Far too many to mention as that would spoil it all, but one of my favourites: Stun a Shgliek with the sling, grab it and throw it into water. Watch as it writhes around and the water corrupts it, then battle against the tainted Shgliek it mutates into =).
"FAKK2: sickening violence shocker!!"
Not all the time, some things don't bleed much, or ooze slime instead....but taking on the Grawlix with a Fire Sword is a true spectacle of violence that rivals any gibbage I've seen elsewhere: Circle around one, two, or indeed several, continually hacking at them: fleshy chunks fountain off their dying bodies, limbs sail majestically through the air, and blood cascades out of dismembered stumps. Glorious.
"FAKK2: 3rd person more immersive than 1st person shocker!!"
I am a traitor. A coward. A turncoat. A betrayer of all that is great and good about FPS games. But....but....I am actually finding FAKK2 more immersive with 3rd person than I would in first person. It boils down to the actions Julie performs - noooo, not "those" actions, just normal ones like climbing and pushing things. Actually seeing a character physically perform something natural (as opposed to just bumping against something or seeing a sword swing in front of you), makes quite a difference to seeing your character as a real person in the game. There we go, I said it, now put me out of my misery :P.
"FAKK2: nastier mosquitoes than Daikatana shocker!!"
And people complain about the DKT mosquitoes....idiots. Gads the FAKK2 ones are the hardest enemy I've ever faced. Honestly. Quake's Spawn?? I take 'em on with an axe! Unreal's Titans?? They don't even know what hit 'em! Wheel of Time's Legion?? I lure it's flying souls straight up it's own arse! FAKK2's mosquitoes?? AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHH! Bloody things move like a bitch, sting like a bitch, react like a bitch and die....errrr....eventually after 7237823 sword swipes. The best simulation of the joys of Real Life mosquitoes yet.
"FAKK2: better looking than Q3A and Unreal added together shocker!!"
Aaaah yes the true folly of Q3A is revealed as FAKK2 shows just how good the engine is for a single player game - where you can really appreciate the graphics too. It kinda does for Q3A what Wheel of Time did for Unreal: takes the engine to the next level, making a particularly sweem looking game. There's so much has caught my eye in this - textures, models, effects, architecture, lighting (including the first good usage of green lights in the Q3A engine....sorry Auhsan, pipped to the post there :P)....mmmmm. Only the sky Outside Eden has sucked so far. And of course it is E X O T I C - my favourite aspect of the game is that none of it looks like anything, it's all fresh, new, and slightly trippy - both in the themes and the textures that make up them....in some ways, the essence of what a game should be about - something you haven't seen before.
"FAKK2: more death traps than a J.F.Gustafsson map shocker!!"
Yes there are a few things I don't like about this game: I'm not over fond of mosquitoes, and the lack of skill settings is a *very* curious oversight that would drive me mad except so far it's pretty well balanced for me. But being a 3rd person game there is some kind of disturbing obligation to fill it with platform/crusher/cliff/fire/electrical "one wrong pixel and you're dead" jiggery pokery. Too many tricks and traps where the penalty is death rather than a bit of damage or having to walk back up to where you were....it's not got to the stage where I'm binding quicksave to a mouse button but I am saving a *lot* as replaying due to a death trap gets intensely boring. Having said that, most of this trickery is done in a very stylish and thematically exciting way...
"FAKK2: fucking excellent game shocker!!"
So far, so awesome. Julie has bitchslapped Elayna Sedai out of the way, and might be in the process of nimbly outwitting Vortex Rikers Prisoner 867....can she dismember Quake Guy before he has time to shaft her?? Translated into some sort of sense: FAKK2 might not be the very coolest game I've played but it is damn, damn close.
/me puts away his dribbling spooge cannon...
News: Tuesday 03/10/00
I have a cunning plan!!
A week ago I emailed Criterion Studios who made Deep Fighter (cleverly including my standard "site links" signature....just before I wrote my damning views on their demo....ehhhhhh), and asked them if my st00pid config would work. Thanks to Simon Crawford who got back to me and said that all that config would work except for using the Spacebar which can't be bound at all (which is fine, jumping/moving up is hardly a splitsecond function in DF). I would assume this means all normal configs will work too - so now you know. It also means I will get the game fairly soon - I assume they have a normal save function in-between missions at least...
Feedback on the drum'n'bass discussion:
(This discussion about whether d'n'b is getting too hard, BTW). Got a bit so far: nunuk (Q3A mapper, I think), said although he has liked dark d'n'b since the golden days of No U-Turn, he's getting fed up with all the techstep being too similar these days. On the other hand, Ajare (veteran speedrunner), suggests that a few years ago d'n'b was still quite hard, albeit in a different way - dark as opposed to noisy. He also made a very good point about the emergence of acts like Kosheen pointing the way to more musical d'n'b without reverting to the jump-up that preceded the current techstep... I've posted their emails and my replies in this text (on the serious page too), and if anyone has any other views, please send 'em in (I'm hoping the Mineral will have something to say next weekend...).
Soooo....
Juggling games around, I have been playing a lot of FAKK2 recently. Not saying much now as I am going to cobble together some thoughts later, but here's a hint: It is absolutely bloody excellent. Also, on a lazy Sunday evening whim, I downloaded the Ground Control demo in an attempt to accelerate my descent into RTS hell, since I haven't got back into BZII yet... TSRTSDD anyone?? Heh, I only, like, looked around a map to see if it worked, not even tried to play it yet. We shall see.
And finally...
<Grind|Looking_For_Alice_Video> I've fucked a cow
News: Sunday 01/10/00
Deep Fighter "demo":
A game I spotted in the otherwise revolting PC Zone magazine a couple of months back - as a decent looking underwater action game, I was looking forward to trying the demo. More fool me, unfortunately this is an appallingly flawed release to the point of having no merit as a demo. The makers of this game have obviously taken a page from Heavy Gear 2's book: By far the worst way to demonstrate your game is to have a fixed config that almost certainly renders the game unplayable for most players. And that's exactly what they've done - control options are disabled, and it's not just me and my weird-ass config, it also includes the mouse set as inverted - which is better for me as that's how I play, but would be atrociously uncontrollable for players who use non-inverted. So how exactly are players supposed to judge what the game is like - feels and plays like - and thus whether to buy it, on the basis of a demo they can't play?? Is it laziness, arrogance, stupidity or just plain selfishness on the developers behalf?? Now, that would be bad enough but naturally it gets worse: There's 4 missions included, the first one at least is time consuming, and there is no saving at all. Thus, die during the second mission as I did, and to add injury to insult you have to play through the (now extremely tedious) first mission again. Bonus.
To round off the despair nicely, there are particularly vomituously awful FMV cutscenes to further the punishment - I haven't played any other games with FMV cutscenes and seeing these makes me grateful, this is the first time I've actually been *embarrassed* playing a game. So is there *any* respite from the pain?? Well yes because the actual substance of the game seems fine: Graphics are quite nice, the shafts of sunlight and dappling on the seabed especially. The buildings look very cool in the hazy blue setting, but the terrain and effects can be rather crude and there is too much pop-up for a game with fogging. Sometimes the sounds work really well too, especially in the intro map and the muffled thumping of the machinery, though I'd like more ambient noises. It's fairly atmosperic but the giant fish make it seem a bit....cartoony. Gameplay, well I can't say much: I scraped through the first mission in which you have to collect minerals and find fish, as that hardly taxes the control system. Kinda nice change of pace. I like fish. It also has a radar and map and stuff which I like too. Then I died immediately on the second mission "what button is fire again? how the fuck do I move up??" etc etc. Funnily enough, uncontrols aside, the feel is fairly good, given the setting: Moving is sluggish but passable, and the mouse is very responsive (though of course the mouse speed is fixed). Bottom line is: If I find out the controls can be set up in any config, I will buy it. If they can't, I won't. Simple as that.
Download the Deep Fighter demo (66 meg, US download: DFD), visit the Deep Fighter site.
Been playing some UT...
Yeah recently I've been getting back into it: While re-recording some recent John Peel tapes onto seperately categorical tapes (current totals: 16 tapes of jungle/drum'n'bass, 5 techno, 3 trance, 2½ gabber, 2 happy/bouncy hardcore, and 1½ misc dance music....you r00l, Peely =)), I have been playing continual, brief games of UT botmatch with the sound off, mostly on: DM-RealWorldGoneIceoToxin *grin*, DM-ForWhomTheBellTolls, DM-Brutality][, DM-WeaponsOfWar and DM-RideTheDragon (all at NC of course). I'd forgotten how much fun UT was, both in FFA and also 1on1 against harder bots. I think what I like the most, aside from the feel and general responsiveness, is that there's no "best" weapons, there's no weapon that once a bot has it I think "Shit I'm dead until that weapon respawns and I can get one too". Any weapon can be taken out with another weapon providing they're used right, and I like the change of tactical focus from weapons control to weapons usage. However it does mean the item control switches to armour - something particularly noticable in Brutality][ which although cool is a bit of a campfest for the armour. Anyway, those maps were all fun for quick games, but this next one is something else entirely...
DM-Falkenstein!!
This is arguably the most architecturally stunning map released in the Unreal engine, or maybe indeed any game ever....as people have said in this Nali City forums thread, DM-Falkenstein (6.3 meg) is nothing less than a work of art. The deal is, like the Unreal Extreme maps I mentioned a while back, Falkenstein is an ultra-detailed map that sacrifices framerate for exceptional graphics and realistic designs - in this case a phenomenal moonlit castle, of unparalleled size and architectural splendour. As you might expect the screenshot really can't do it justice....and can't reveal the naturally slow running speeds which will make it unplayable for most. Nevertheless I was brave enough to play against 15 bots, 50 frags, which I *just* won after a lot of bitter fighting (the map really needs more than 16 players, lol). At any rate the map is worth a download just to look at and explore....really it should have been made as a single player map, as the slow running wouldn't matter as much, the sheer size is more suitable to SP, and of course it's much easier to appreciate the architecture when you're stealthily exploring rather than continually fragging. More wasted SP potential, I see too much of that...
Is drum'n'bass getting too hard??
A bit OT but the speedrunners will appreciate this one =). Had this IRC discussion (posted on the serious chat logs page) last night on the subject: Basically I think the drum'n'bass scene is getting too focused on the harder side of d'n'b - specifically faster, noisier and less musical (rather than just using ruff breakbeats which can - and indeed should - feature in both hard and mellow d'n'b) - and having, say, Usual Suspects and Bad Company as the "centre" of the scene as opposed to, say, DJ Hype and Mickey Finn, is backing d'n'b into a corner. The discussion should make it a bit clearer, feel free to send some thoughts on the subject and I might post them... BTW, in case anyone doubts my credentials for musing on the hardness of current drum'n'bass, the soundtrack to this discussion was Panacea's "Disorder 2nd Gen" (Position Chrome Records), the latest album from the legendary pioneer of 'hatecore-Terror-Step' (also proclaimed the "Golden boy of pop" by long time supporter, the even more legendary John Peel =)). This album kicks as much techstep drum'n'noise ARSE as his previous PC releases, and you can find out more about the delightful Panacea here, or order Position Chrome releases direct here (if that link doesn't work - some gay ID thing - make your way from here).
A new silly IRC chat log...
...sneaking in at the last minute thanks to Vigil and his strenous denials that Finland is a part of Scandinavia, I was most amused =).
This is appropriate:
<Vigil> YOU SUCK RAT SPERM ASSWIPES
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