barely fatal

First of all, I want to WELCOME BACK to life a friend of mine, Jen, who went through a lot lately. Glad to have you back! We’ll go to FedCon in Bonn next year and meet Papa Adama, Gaius, and Chief Tyrell in person. That’s gonna be exciting! They’ll also have Garibaldi from B5, Jayne from FireFly, Kira from DS9 and a few more. No costumes for us (sadly)   – but I’m so gonna get an autograph from Gaius himself! This was Jen’s idea, and she’s totally right, this’ll boost to our geek cred enormously.

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But let’s come back to the more trivial things in life and let tragedies be tragedies and BSG be BSG. This is The List.

1. Dead Space
2. FarCry 2
3. Left 4 Dead
4. Call Of Duty: World At War
5. Grand Theft Auto 4
6. Fallout 3
7. World Of Goo

Well, I guess you see my little problem. But let’s have a closer look.

Dead Space

Well, this one’s easy, already on its way. After The Witcher, which I finished two days ago, I needed a simple, action-oriented shooter, preferably in space. And that was that.

By the way, The Witcher got better and better towards the end. It certainly has its flaws, but I hope they will fix those in the sequel (they hit 1 million sold copies yesterday, so I bet they will make one – there’s enough story left anyway). I yet have to play the two extra stories from the “enhanced edition” disk, and I’m looking forward to it.

But I’m digressing.

FarCry 2

The game that was so promising at first and now (supposedly) can’t live up to its potential. No annoying, repetitive side quests for me, and no more artificial hindrances (malaria…), thanks. I’ve read the reviews. My verdict is “No”.

Left 4 Dead

… is made by Valve and every single critic loves it. It has zombies (plus), co-op (plusplus) and – did I mention that? – is made by Valve (plus). I’m kinda worried that it will get old fast, as it’s so ’small’. It heavily relies on multiplayer co-op, and that can be absolutely great … but it can also be a nightmare, if your team consists of 14-year old wank…griefers with no life. Hm. This gets the “keep an eye on it” tag.

Call Of Duty: World At War

So well, COD4 in WW2. The multiplayer beta is going on (since the game will be in stores in 2 weeks, it’s more like a demo, really). It’s virtually impossible to get a key in Germany, all requests coming from German providers are blocked (IP ban). The original version will be forbidden, you will only be able buy the censored edition, not even imports. Why? Because of the ‘problematic’ symbols on the German and Japanese flags. Yes, for real.

What’s the verdict? Wait for the reviews. multiplayer will be a blast, it will look a little dated, and it’s WW2, so err, a well-known scenario.

Grand Theft Auto 4

Talking about well-known scenarios. A friend of mine has been waiting for this 8 months now, and every single time we meet he tells me the number of days until the release. Is this really a must-buy, though? Have any of you played the console versions? Vice City has always been my favorite, and I’ve heard critical voices in the choir of praise.

Fallout 3

Oblivion with guns? Same engine, same developers. Probably a huge (huuuuge) RPG. Potentially the same problems that Oblivion had. Reviews so far are very good, but there are not that many (yet). Rabid fans of the original games go beserk (what do I care), normal players seem to like it. It will come to Steam, so it’ll be easy to pick up. Maybe it’s worth waiting until the price drops a little. This looks like “busy for 2 months”.

The World Of Goo

Now, this a gem from an independent two-men studio. It’s a 2D scrolling puzzle game, but still much more than your average “casual game”. Play the demo, it’s less than 40MB, you can get it on Steam. Goo ball physics, I can’t really explain it in one sentence, check it out, really. The game is only 15 € (download only), so it certainly doesn’t hurt. Maybe I’ll get this my Dad for Christmas, provided that he gets his PC fixed by then.

To all of you who think I either have way too much time or money – or both – on my hands, be told: NO, that’s why I have to think about this so carefully, duh! Video game season has started, and when it’s over, there will be six months of crap ahead of us. With love, the industry.

Vacuum cleaning is like meditation for me. Don’t laugh. I said don’t laugh. OKAY, now stop laughing! It’s true. I could do it all day. If I didn’t hate it so much. Yes, I have a complicated personality.

So I’m watching TV – right now even, in the background. But anyways, I sit on my sofa, and my carpet is so totally dust-free, and I’m relaxed. High diving. On TV, I mean, not a game show, but a sports show or so. Second and third class celebrities jumping from 3 to 10 meters. Strangely enough, it’s mildly entertaining. They take it half seriously, and with the presentation and all, it’s kinda fun.

One of the divers though is one of the losers of last year’s Germany’s Next Top Model – who I despise, as she acts so artificial in every possible way. Her voice, and what she said … I mean this is a harmless show, but even here she doesn’t fit in – too high a standard.

Ad break, and I zap to another channel. Now that is a real game show. Third and fourth class “celebrities” (plus a few wannabes), all dressed in silver bodysuits and bright-colored helmets, do … play … silly games I wouldn’t have played voluntarily in kindergarten. Then I have to blink. Uh … isn’t that … the same almost-top model? Indeed, it’s her! She’s in two shows on TV at the same fracking time! Only here she fits in better.

I have to bore you with another piece of information: In Germany, there’s currently a big discussion going on about the quality of television, after a famous literature critic refused to accept the German television award for his life’s work. He said – and shocked all the “stars” and other winners on the award ceremony – that the quality of German television was so bad all across the board, that he just couldn’t take the award, and that he didn’t want to have anything to do with it. That said, I don’t particularly like that guy, more on the contrary, BUT … you know?

And came back today.

I’m sorry for the politically motivated post last week, but October 3rd is the day of German Unity, you gotta be a little political and all. That brings me right into the topic of Battlestar Galactica (yeah, honestly) ’cause I’m currently re-watching season three (Baltar’s trial, worker’s union…) to prepare myself for season four which will be released tomorrow. I ordered from Amazon UK, so it’ll take one or two more days to arrive than usual, but it’s cheaper than an “import” (yes, it’s so paradox it hurts) – 28 quid (including VAT and shipping) translate to about 36 €, and it’s 42 € if you buy the very same box here.

I thought about this one for quite some time considering that although they advertise it as “the” fourth season, it’s in fact only the first ten episodes, the next half will be aired and released next year (on DVD probably around October again). And now, it IS fracking expensive. Waiting a year though? I figured, now is the time I live, so be it, there’s my money, you off-ripping capitalistic fracks.

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In other news, I’m trying to work through The Witcher – Enhanced Edition. At first I found it hard to love, but when I looked at the time last night and saw that I had spent 9 hours on it with nothing but a snack-break I realized there must be something about this game. I like the atmosphere which is typical RPG with elves and dwarfs and stuff, only that in this game non-humans have formed a terroristic group to fight oppression by humans, that’s kinda cool. It also makes a big difference if you run around at night or during day time, as not all NPCs (or monsters) are always available, and they wander, too. While that sometimes leads to cursing – as do the fights, of which a few I found to be oddly balanced – I can’t deny that the quests, the comprehensive alchemy system and adult dialogs (including swearing and sex-related talk) are somehow compelling.

The sex – yes, you can have sex in The Witcher. In fact, the game is quite sexist and I wonder what a women would think playing it. You can only play a male character (the witcher, duh), and you can shag – sorry, show your appreciation for the many big-breasted women in the game. You can always opt-out of the lovin’ if you’re clever enough to choose the obvious, unromantic dialog options, but you will stumble upon it by accident sooner than later. It’s not like you see much, but you get some kind of collectible card for each, err, achievement, with, err, pictures. Combined with the fact that the main character is a pale mutant with scars (I absolutely can’t connect to that guy, sorry, his looks so otherworldly and somehow “off”) and the cheesy pre-sex dialog it’s almost funny, but in every case horribly male-centered.

Oh well, at least it’s a game with a more mature approach to things – I’ve been asking for this for years. I can see why you could dislike the attitude, but I think it’s not bad enough to justify a boycott. They don’t have enough NPC models, sometimes it feels like walking through clone-town, but at least they act realistically. There are five acts, and I’m just in act two after 12 or so hours, so it’s really big. Maybe even too big, the older I become I less time and patience I seem to have for games – following the overall trend. Nonetheless, you get a whole lot when you buy the enhanced edition, HUGE patch makes the game finally playable (after half a year) – that’s a pity, really, but hey, they do care about their game – you get the walk-through, a short novel, and a bonus DVD, which is unintentionally funny, developers aren’t actors or good interviewees, heh.

So I’m going back into the game now, slay me some swamp monsters. I’m on holidays, it’s a Sunday, life’s good.

PS.
Jen, hope you are alright!