Eckyman.com

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

This game does not feck around.

Firstly, this game is not as difficult as it is made out to be. Largely, deaths are caused by player mistakes rather than anything the game throws at you. Overconfidence, recklessness, lack of attention, these are the main causes of death in this game.

There are certain surefire ways to end up back at the start of the level, frustrated and lamenting the loss of all the souls (xp of sorts) you gained up to that point, and almost every single one of them can be attributed to the player. After a while I got the feeling my biggest challenge was not navigating the world or fighting enemies, it was fighting my own impatience and recklessness honed over years of playing more forgiving games.
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I don’t normally do simulation games. The closest I have been to that side of gaming was back in the late 90′s when I was pretty keen on flight sims but beyond that I don’t have much experience. It’s not that I’m against them, I just don’t dig that genre so much.

However when offered a free code to try one, even if only temporary… well I’m not one to look a gift horse in the mouth, and so it was I found myself playing Railworks 2 last week.

I’ve never been a train guy really, but I’ve always liked model railway sets from when I was a kid and my brother had one set up in his room. Always a lot of attention to detail present and Railworks 2 is no different.

For a train fan, I’m pretty sure this game is unrivalled. A lot of attention to detail has gone into the game which is obvious from the outset. Featuring a huge selection of trains to drive and play around with (plus many more through the use of DLC), plenty of routes and objectives to complete, and a world editor allowing you to create your own routes and stations/towns etc. – it’s a digital train set without the expense.

I jumped into the game in free mode and had a look at the York to Newcastle route as it was the route I am most familiar with. I say familiar, I’ve been to York/Newcastle stations and I know some of the surrounding area around York. Anyway, as far as I could see, both locations were recreated accurately and I was able to have a relaxing coffee while I watched the scenery zip past at a speed I’m pretty sure was violating some kind of law.

There are numerous views you can choose during travel, in-cab, multiple aerial shots etc., you can even choose to ride in style in the carriage of your choosing should you wish. The in-cab view offers you the ability to drive the train literally “hands on” with the controls of the train recreated and available to be clicked, pulled, or pushed using mouse clicks. If you don’t want to keep flicking to the in-cab view to adjust speed (or repeatedly blast your horn whilst zooming through stations refusing to pick up passengers) there is a handy overlay on-screen that allows you direct control of the train via helpfully labelled controls.

From what I can tell, this overlay is a new addition to the series intended to ease newcomers into the perhaps otherwise daunting control system. The tutorials are also a great place to start for a newcomer and after whizzing through the basics I was able to complete a few of the objectives without too much trouble. Well… I did de-rail a few times, but that was just for fun

The objectives start with simple tasks such as picking up and transporting passengers from station to station, then grow to be more complex with each requiring certain ‘checkpoints’ to be completed within the objective. This could involve shunting different carriages around (is shunting the right term? Who knows.. moving carriages), refuelling your train mid-route, time trial style challenges, and more.

Despite not really being into the simulation genre, or trains as such, I had more fun with this than I expected and would certainly recommend it to any train simulation fans out there. There’s lot’s of attention to detail, extra content available via DLC (and presumably community modifications), and a great editor mode to play with.

Well, it’s certainly taken some time to get round to writing anything about this game. According to Xfire I’ve played for around 110 hours so I guess it’s about time I gave it a crack.

Firstly, JKA is an old game… about seven years old in fact. I could kick myself for missing this when it came out, but at the time I will have been entering into a contract to sell my soul to Monster Hunter so it’s no suprise really. A lot of games slipped past me back then as nothing was dragging me away from hammering Rath’s in the face and boozing it up with everyone in Hunters Tavern.

Anyway, I’m playing it now… better late than never and all that guff.

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Finished The Stars My Destination by Alfred Bester Wednesday night. Very good book.

Gully Foyle, an illiterate space bum with zero prospects, has been trapped in space living in the only remaining airtight area of his ship (the Nomad), a 4×9 foot tool locker. For 6 months he lives like this, playing a dangerous game of Russian Roulette with air canisters, then one day a ship appears. Thrilled at the thought of rescue, Foyle sets off a series of distress flares to attract attention to himself. The ship draws level, then in an instant is gone along with any hope of rescue for Gully Foyle. This is enough to ‘wake’ Foyle up from a life of passivity and give him the drive he needs to get out of this situation. To hunt and kill whoever gave the order to leave him out there. All he has is the name of the ship, Vorga, and a a murderous thirst for vengeance.

Foyle is a great character. On the one hand you can get behind his quest for revenge and cheer him on in his mission, on the other hand, Foyle is a rapist and a murderer and probably has more bad traits than good. This is a man so consumed by revenge he will do anything to reach that goal. In one part of the book, after discovering that 2 of his 3 leads have had medical procedures performed on them, designed to stop the heart if sensitive information is about to be revealed, the third lead is knocked out cold and using Foyle’s cybernetically enhanced speed and hypnosis training, he removes his heart, then connects him back up to a pump system designed to keep blood circulating around the body without a heart. Threatening to keep him alive like this for a long, long time, Foyle soon discovers the information he requires.

Throughout the book, Foyle transforms from an uneducated space bum, to an intelligent, medically enhanced, ruthless killer… before finally becoming almost a God at the end. I really enjoyed the end, but can’t talk much about it without giving spoilers away so go check it out for yourself.

Everything I have read from the SF Masterworks range so far has been gold, and this was no exception. A solid 5/5

Next up is #6 on the Masterworks list, Babel-17 by Samuel R. Delany

Opening lines of Joystiq’s Brütal Legend review;

I have to start by being brutally honest with you: Brütal Legend is not the game I hoped it would be

An extract from a Joystiq post in August about Brütal Legend:

Listen, you really don’t need to try out Tim Schafer’s upcoming rock-epic-brainchild to know it’s going to be phenomenal.

Says it all really…