First Impressions: Dead Rising 2

Dead Rising 2 (Xbox 360 version)

Release Date: September 28, 2010

Date of Play: September 29, 2010

One could accurately say that I’m a little hesitant going into Dead Rising 2. I adore the concept, but historically I have not been such a fan of the execution of said concept. The clunky, outdated mechanics, terrible save system, and difficulty level requiring you to play the game multiple times just to beat it once aren’t up my alley. 

So I head into Dead Rising 2 trying my best to keep an open mind. I hope the game will have changed enough this go-round to let me enjoy the wonderful open world zombie killing antics this series does better than any other, but I somewhat expect that I will be once again turned off and forced to give up. 

We shall see. 

• The first thing the game does when I press the start button is freeze for long enough to make the think the game has locked up. We’re off to a good start, ladies and gentlemen.
• I am already disheartened by the fact that there does not appear to be a free roam mode. I was desperately hoping there would be one, because that would stand the greatest chance of letting me enjoy this experience. I can hope one is eventually unlocked, I suppose, but that would require me to play enough to unlock it, a feat of which I am currently uncertain of my ability to accomplish.
• Let’s see if the game proper can get me playing quicker than Case Zero did. I certainly hope so. Call me crazy, but fifteen minutes of mediocre cutscenes before any zombie killing at all is not what I want out of Dead Rising. 
• I’m not going to lie, this game is a little fugly. It’s better looking than the first though.
• Am I over-thinking it when I wonder how in the hell the economy of a zombie goddamn apocalypse can support a reality show like Terror Is Reality, the one featured at the beginning of Dead Rising 2? 

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First Impressions - DeathSpank: Thongs of Virtue (demo)

DeathSpank: Thongs of Virtue

PSN Demo

Release Date: September 21, 2010 (PSN); September 22, 2010 (XBLA)

Date of Play: September 21, 2010

• It is hard to shake the feeling that I am playing the exact same game as the first DeathSpank. The title menu is the same, the menu music is the same, and the animated intro isn’t the same but it’s close enough. The whole thing feels like a rehash. That’s not necessarily terrible, but I hope there’s something more here. 
• I wonder if your save carries over from the first or if they have some way of explaining why the mighty hero has randomly lost all of his cool shit and gone back to square one with his abilities. I won’t be able to tell without buying the full game, which I have not yet done, but I’m curious.
• Just as I make a comment about the game perhaps lacking new ideas, I actually begin to play and the first weapon I pick up is a gun. Hmm. Intriguing. Not sure if that’s good or bad yet.
• Come to think of it, the gun is just a retooling of the crossbow from the last game isn’t it? Never mind.
• Already there’s a little prick of an enemy who likes to shoot me and then run away forcing me to blast it with my gun/pea shooter. I hate enemies like that. So annoying.
• Unsurprising revelation: just like the first game, the dialog is the best part of this demo. I just hope it’s up to the quality of the writing of the first game. So far so good, though. I’ve already had a number of laughs. 
• Oh great. The game is already resorting to bathroom humor. This is a good sign. Yeah. 

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First Impressions - Halo: Reach

My First Impressions articles so far have been a little too much like reviews under another name, which was not the original intention. I wanted to  accurately chronicle my thoughts at the beginning of a play experience to analyze what games could do better from the outset and why, after just an hour or so of play, some games leave me drooling for more and others leave me cold. 

 
In order to better reflect my intention and not confuse these as reviews written far too early, I’m trying a format shift. I will record, via my trusty iPhone, my thoughts as I go along my first hour or so. I will then transcribe them here for you as accurately as I can so you can get a true picture of exactly what it was that was going through my head as I played. Nothing more, nothing less.
 

Let me know what you think of the change.

 

 

Halo: Reach

Single player campaign

Release date: September 14, 2010

Date of play: September 14, 2010

• I’ve just started the campaign and I’m already immediately noticing some graphical glitches. This is hardly a new phenomenon for Halo, as I remember similar graphical weirdness with Halo 3, but I’m disappointed it hasn’t been cleared up. I see screen tearing, a little bit of choppiness, and other such distractions. I’m hoping it will go away, because I also immediately notice that this is a substantially better looking Halo than what I’m used to.
• I haven’t heard but maybe two of the music tracks so far and I’m already impressed. I’m going to have to pay close attention to the music because I have a feeling it’s going to be good.

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First Impressions - Metroid: Other M

As I dusted off my trusty Magic 8-Ball to peek into the future of what Metroid: Other M had in store for me, I was not prepared for the rather unorthodox answer that awaited me.

“Man, you better hang on, ‘cause this is going to be one rocky ride.”

I’m pretty sure I’ve never seen that come up as an answer before.

The all-knowing plastic sphere was right, though. Other M has been tossing me around like a roller coaster, with thrilling highs that kept me begging for more and terrifying lows that left me wondering whether I wanted to keep going at all. 

To put it simply however, it can pretty much be boiled down to one simple statement. When the game shuts the hell up and lets Samus do her Samus thing, it’s a mighty good time. When it attempts to derail the proceedings with needless cutscenes, horrible voice acting, and bad writing (none of which you can skip, by the way) things go sour really damn fast. And I do mean fast. 

After 15 minutes with Other M I wanted to put it down and never so much as see it ever again. If the disc happened to end up on fire and at the bottom of the ocean being eaten by whales or something too I wouldn’t have complained. What I’m saying is that Other M makes a horrifyingly off-putting first impression.

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Alan Wake - The Signal DLC Review

When I heard that Alan Wake was planning to extend its story via downloadable episodes I was skeptical. I’m normally quite receptive to the idea of post-release content, paid or otherwise, but I have found that such content is often lackluster when appended to a story-heavy game.

Mass Effect 2, for instance, is a game I truly adored, but I haven’t bought a single one of its downloadable missions yet because they seem to miss the point somewhat. The grand story and character development are Mass Effect’s strong suit, but the post-release content has been weapon packs, self-contained missions with no lasting impact on the story, and halfhearted character additions to an already too-full roster. 

Fallout 3 had mixed success. Its post-release plans were terrific, trickling content out every so often to keep players coming back to their delightful post-apocalyptic world, but the actual content was hit or miss. Broken Steel and Point Lookout were tremendous additions; The Pitt was above average and fun, but not perfect; and Operation Anchorage was entirely forgettable. I haven’t even played Mothership Zeta because it looks too much like Operation Anchorage in space. 

It’s tough to take a story-driven experience, one that presumably shipped with a satisfying story arc meant to stand on its own, and add to that in any meaningful way with downloadable content. It’s not impossible, but even the best implementations, such as Point Lookout, tend to feel more like tacked-on side stories than legitimate additions to the game universe. This is often fine from a value standpoint. After all, there’s nothing wrong with paying a few bucks to get a little more mileage out of a beloved game. I’ve done it far too many times. It’s just disappointing that no one has figured out a smoother way to handle post-release content and story integration.

That said, there has never been a game in a more perfect position to do things right than Alan Wake. Its haunting story comes to a satisfying conclusion in the game proper but in a way that only a psychological thriller could. Like the best horror stories, it ties up the important arcs of its current story while leaving plenty of mystery open for future exploration. Take into account that the game is already split into convenient “episodes” and you have a tailor-made recipe for post-release content with a meaningful impact. 

It’s almost like they planned it that way or something.

So does it deliver on its promise? Well, there’s good news and bad news.

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