Eckyman.com

Check out my first impressions of APB: Reloaded over at MMOCrunch.com

First in my minecraft series…

Trying out some live commentary… apologies in advance

Bit quiet here at the moment.. so much gaming over the holidays and no time to write about it!

While you are waiting for me to get some drafts organised, check out the first of my SWTOR PvP video/commentaries.

This was originally going to be a positive review of BF3′s multiplayer… but then the article lagged out and for every three words I wrote, two of them lagged right off my page before finally informing me there must be a problem with my words, would I please check my keyboard and try again.

I thought this was odd as I had just finished writing some words about another game, and they didn’t lag all over the page with sudden punctuation marks appearing out of nowhere. I guess if all my other words on every other subject work fine, but not for a BF3 review, it has to be my fault and not BF3′s fault that my words don’t work. Thanks for clearing that up for me EA.

It pains me to say this as a long time Battlefield fan but till they sort out the servers so I can walk for longer than 2 seconds without rubber-banding back to my original position, BF3 can suck it.

Ports are open, all other games work fine and DO NOT lag like this. This has been a constant problem for myself since release making it extremely hard for me to recommend this to anyone in it’s current state. Don’t get me wrong, if it worked, I’d love this game. As it stands it’s an exercise in frustration, all the way from simply trying to get in a game on the same side as your friend, to just trying to navigate the map without rubber-banding all over the place. I turned off in frustration for the last time yesterday feeling it was just pointless to keep trying to play through it.

I had heard today that the servers have been updated so I hold some hope that tonight may be slightly less painful. If not, I’ll be hammering Uncharted 3 some more.

If things are working out for you in BF3, I’m envious

I nearly didn’t get off a console long enough to write this post! Very hectic month (and then some) for gaming, and it shows no signs of slowing down with BF3, Uncharted 3, Skyrim, and SWTOR on the way too. Not that I’m complaining, the last few months have been one long gaming orgasm!

1. Dark Souls (PS3) – Number one and deservedly so. Very likely my GOTY
2. Batman Arkham City (Xbox 360) – Not as good as the first. More later…
3. Ico Collection (PS3) – Just as good the 20th playthrough, especially in HD
4. Driver: San Francisco (Xbox 360) – Still great!
5. Deus Ex: Human Revolution (Xbox 360) – I need to finish this!

So a few things on each title.

Dark Souls is amazing. Just as good as Demons Souls and then some. I absolutely love the level and enemy design in these games and Dark Souls did not let me down. I have half a review ready to go but for the time being you can check out my Demons Souls review as a lot of what I said there applies to this game too;

http://www.eckyman.com/demons-souls-review/

Batman Arkham City was a letdown. There, I said it. Get the pitchforks and let the lynching begin! Not burning me alive yet? OK, I’ll explain my reasoning.

Firstly, Arkham City IS a great game. No doubt. However, as a follow up to Arkham Asylum it falls short in a number of ways. Arkham Asylum has a stronger story, better pacing, and a more climatic build to the end. Arkham City has a stronger combat system, better boss fights, and other minor improvements to the gameplay mechanics. Unfortunately, the story basically just drags on the last hour or so of Arkham Asylum with very little else added.

I have a LOT more to talk about on this one to be honest but this post is going to get lengthy if I don’t move on. Review up soon… when I get a break from all this gaming crack!

Ico Collection. What can I say. Two of my fav games ever made. If you didn’t play these at release, shame on you. If you’ve not picked them up for PS3 because they are just HD PS2 games… shame on you! Go, now! QUICK!

Throw out games as art discussions and call it what it is… Ico is a great puzzler game featuring the least annoying escort mission type gameplay you will ever play. Shadow of the Colossus is a visually impressive treat, soaked liberally with atmosphere, and wrapped up with a kick ass soundtrack. Highly recommended!

I’m still enjoying Driver a lot, working my way through all the extra missions at the moment. It’s taken a back seat lately to make room for newer games but it’s still in rotation.

Deus Ex slipped to bottom place with not much action at all this month. No reflection on the game, I’ve just not had time to finish it off.

BF3 is hopefully coming today/tomorrow so that will no doubt steal the top place, although I don’t see Dark Souls moving over so readily as other games this time…

Got to play a few hours of the beta last night… very fun, although, Op Metro leaves much to be desired.

First section is fine. Outdoors, flanking routes etc. Plays like Battlefield.

Second section takes place inside a subway. Plays like any choke-point corridor shooter filled with camp happy players.

If this is how “infantry only” maps play out in the full game, I wont be going anywhere near them. Or any other map that puts a large section of playable area indoors and forces you into corridors.

Will post up more impressions after I spend some more time with the beta over the weekend.

Just a quick post to recommend ilomilo to anyone looking for a fun puzzler on Xbox Live Arcade.

I’ve not completed it yet, but I’m really enjoying it so far! Will post up a more detailed review when I get done with it.

Starting to get a backlog of half written reviews in my draft folder at the moment so hopefully I’ll get a few of those cleared off this weekend. If the Ico HD collection and the BF3 beta let go of me for enough time to get it done anyway

Ahhh the gaming drought is over! I love this time of year, even if  my bank balance does not.

1. Driver: San Francisco (Xbox 360)
2. Deus Ex: Human Revolution (Xbox 360)
3. Minecraft (PC)
4. Battlefield: Bad Company 2 (Xbox 360)

Driver took the number one spot this month despite heavy competition from Deus Ex. As I mentioned in an earlier post, Driver is really good! A lot better than I was expecting, and quite possibly some of the most fun I’ve had with a driving game.

Not far off completing Deus Ex now, just need a chunk of time spare so I can sit down and crack on with it. Not the type of game I can play in 20 minute chunks really. Is it as good as the original? Well, no.. but it’s still a great game and certainly more enjoyable (to me) than Mass Effect or most of this generations RPG offerings.

The new Minecraft 1.8 patch added a lot of reason for me to pick it up again. Lot’s of changes and reasons to explore and fight things again. Game had kind of got boring once I set up the Wheel of Pain mob grinder and had no need to ever leave my ice lake, now I’ve started a new world, minus the mob grinder, and gone back to basics.

Creative mode was probably the best update with 1.8 though. I started out using it to test out some redstone ideas and before I knew it I was working on an adventure/puzzle map! I think I put more time in on creative now than I do on survival. Maybe because I feel like I already beat survival, many times on many worlds. Creative actually gives me a point to all the building beyond killing time.

As you know, Bad Company 2 is a frequent guest of the “Playing this month…” section so not a lot to say on that front. Although… I will say, I’ve seen more cheap tactics over the last three nights than I’ve seen in months! Crate bashing, 8 man strong medic trains, 8 man strong USAS recon groups, circle jerking, tank sniping, even C4 on the bloody UAV has been going on. From level 50 players too? I know you’re probably bored of the game at this point, but really? No need for the cheap tactics..