Fable II: Early Impressions

Man, what a whirlwind this morning at work. Need a sanity check - Ditlog take me away!

I got started with Fable II last night. Well OK, I played for like 6 hours… I’m really enjoying it. Not lightning-struck like I’d been with Morrowind or WoW or anything, but definitely enjoying it.

The moral choices set before your character, and their impact on the world around you, seem very well-implemented so far. The world, the characters, and all the events within it seem cohesive, interconnected and believable.

The mechanism for interacting with the average citizen, however, is not. Your character doesn’t talk, and can only communicate with fellow citizens through a short list of emote functions. This leaves the player feeling like a Cro-Magnon, unable to articulate his thoughts to his neighbors other than via mimed threats, idiotic dancing or whistling, or clumsily-juvenile romantic or lewd gesticulations.

Maybe times have changed, but when I was single it took more than whistling a few tunes, striking a pose, and performing a ridiculous Russian dance to convince my intended paramour to come home with me, or even sillier, accept my hand in marriage. (Or maybe I’m just that bad a dancer?) Not so in Albion.

The combat system is button-mashy and light, but becomes a bit deeper as your character gains in experience. I’m enjoying it so far, even though none of the enemies – in any quantity – pose you any tangible threat.

I’m a huge sucker for games that provide a palpable sense of exploration though, and Fable II delivers in spades. Albion is a visceral and wondrous fairly tale land, albeit with a bit of a dark side. One can sprint myopically from one quest to the next, but straying from Fable’s ingenious “glowing bread crumb trail” to check out what’s down the next fork in the path, under a bridge, or behind a copse of trees is almost always rewarding and satisfying.

Oh, one last comment. A few of the press reviews have commented on the frame rate. At this point, I've not encountered any hiccups that were noticeable. So far, the engine is handling Albion's sprawling vistas remarkably well. Now The Force Unleashed on the other hand? Those were some frame rate issues!

More as my game progresses…

My Bittersweet Affair with The Force Unleashed: a Spoiler-Free Review

Well, I finally finished The Force Unleashed yesterday (on Xbox 360). Let me first say that yes, I enjoyed the game - as did my son. In retrospect, I think there are two major factors leading to the lukewarm reviews the game has been receiving.


Kickin' Butt Old School

Firstly, in many ways the gameplay is very retro. To quote TFU project lead Haden Blackman, "this game is about kicking ass with the Force." Thing is though, one needs to kick an awful lot of ass to get from point A to point B. Distilled down, TFU most closely resembles a modern and more versatile version of classic arcade beat 'em up games like Double Dragon or Konami's Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.

Okay, okay - I can already hear the fanboys screaming (as if millions of nerds suddenly cried out in anger and refused to be silenced.) Bear with me and follow along:

• You're moving steadily forward along a highly linear path? Check.
• You are hindered in your progress by hordes of determined, but very similar combatants? Check.
• Fighting involves a lot of button-mashing, and a few relatively simple combos are available to you? Check.
• You get to fight a bigger, tougher, more interesting dude at the end of the level? Check.
• Rinse, repeat? Check.

Now granted, this particular beat 'em up happens to feature some pretty spectacular graphics and sound. And the battlegrounds include cool spaceships, lush alien planets, and sinister space stations. (And it's set in the Star Wars universe too - I almost forgot.)

As I'd mentioned in my preview, the potential exists for the game to come off like a boring button-masher. Don't miss the boat, though - the designers intend for you to wade through your numerous enemies like an orchestral conductor weaving a symphony of dark side destruction. Mix and vary your force powers and attacks, make use of all the interesting combos available to you, and challenge yourself to fling that stormtrooper or punt that jawa just a bit farther than the last time. Because even so, your thumb will probably be sore by the end of your play session - to some extent it's up to you to make it interesting.

You will probably also need to approach the tougher fights like you would those in an old school game. In the end, almost all the bosses and unique sequences require following some kind of pattern or trick. Many of the press reviews complained about such segments of the game, but maybe I'm a little more immune since I'm a crusty old Gen X gamer who cut his teeth on content like this.

Test that boss for weaknesses, watch for patterns, and take advantage of soft spots. Personally, I found the boss battles very interesting and engaging, and once the "trick" was discovered, the difficulty of the fight was much less than at first blush. Don't be too embassased to check GameFaqs either - there are a few spots where the solutions just aren't very evident.

Regarding boss fights, I'm not sure I like the QTE's. That mechanic does allow the designers to involve the player during a cinematic sequence, but I find myself missing most of the action due to focusing on the next button-press prompt. I think my vote is "meh" - I prefer fighting the boss in real time and then watching a cinema after I've beaten them.

One last retro facet is the search for hidden "jedi holocrons" that offer additional experience and power-ups. Some are hidden, and many of the more obvious require a hackle-raising series of jumps and timing to reach. If you really want to max out your character by the end of the game though, make the search for these golden goodies a priority and have fun looking - I did.


Polished, it is Not

The second weakness of the game contributing heavily to the critical raspberries is the lack of general polish and fine-tuning. TFU simply feels a bit rushed to market. Yes, the graphics are beautiful and detailed, the sound and voicework commendable, and the physics modeling excellent. On the other hand, the camera control is often spastic and contrary, the frame rate hitches frequently, and the horizontal tearing is distractingly prominent. Perhaps Lucasarts is simply pushing the 360 to its processing limits, but I'd speculate that further optimization of the graphics engine would have alleviated most of these issues. Topping off the mechanical maladies, the menu system is clunky and annoyingly slow-loading.

The gameplay itself could have benefited from further tuning as well. The timing of many enemies' attacks seemed to coincide exactly to your character's recovery speed, such that even the lowliest EVO trooper is sometimes able to knock you down repeatedly. Hordes of such enemies - common towards the end of the game - find you frequently stun locked and frustrated. Add a sniping Scout Trooper or two to the mix, or maybe several rocket-firing Jump Troopers who hover in silently out of our field of vision, and you're off to the loading screen once more.

It also bothered me that several enemies were only defeatable through spamming a single attack - several force bars worth of the same attack, mind you. Such an arrangement often finds you running in circles, dodging attacks and waiting for your force power to regenerate. Your thumbstick skills will be tested, but such play is a bit one-dimensional.

Now to my final gameplay bitch. I know that the designers were trying to dream up ways to challenge your incredibly-powerful character, but if the Empire really possessed this many Force-immune super-troopers, would the jedi knights have ever posed an actual threat?


Redemption

Despite all these drawbacks however, I still enjoyed the game. Sure, the gameplay can get a little repetitive, but you're repeatedly trashing stormtroopers with Force-lightning and lightsaber slashes. I'll take such tasks over hopping on mushrooms any day.

Speaking of weird flora, the planets (and starships) featured in the game are beautiful and varied, and your enemies behave convincingly and are well-animated and -voiced. The excellent application of physics effects also aids the player's suspension of disbelief.

In the end, after all of all its temptation towards the dark side of game quality, TFU is thankfully redeemed by its engaging story. Lucasarts has somehow managed to concoct a new and interesting character closely tied with major players from the movies, while successfully shoehorning him into the overarching movie plots in a manner both satisfying and uncontrived. I appreciated how the FU story paints Starkiller as a major influence on the events leading up to A New Hope, but not in a way that might raise the ire of lifelong fans. Bravo to Mr. Blackman and his writing team.

Star Wars Saga Edition >> 4E!

With the release of Dungeons & Dragons 4th Edition, my table-top gaming group spent a long time discussing our options. Many of the players were either miffed at WotC's handling of the release (and seemingly summary dismissal of lifelong players), or unsatisfied with the new rules engine.

We did run a short playtest campaign of 4th Edition. Many of us liked the ruleset, but versatility seems lacking compared to 3.X and the rules for arcane magic in particular just don't suit our Greyhawk-based home campaign setting. Maybe the fit will improve as more sourcebooks flesh out the options available to players, but most of us are heavily dissatisfied with the core mechanics. Time will tell as more 4E content is released.

We certainly have the choice to continue playing 3.5E, but much of the gaming world will be moving on. Personally, I'm worried about the slippery slope - that I might become one of those weird, wild-eyed bearded fat guys off in the corner at GenCon still playing 1st Edition...

Then there's Paizo Publishing's new rising star - the Pathfinder system. Many of our players have taken a shine to Pathfinder, but we're not keen to start learning beta rules, which may change again with the final release next August.

So what to do in the mean time? Hey - what about those cool Star Wars Saga Edition rules that Ken picked up last GenCon? Although I hadn't been able to attend, my group had playtested the SWSE core rules and found them very much to their liking. Saga Edition seemed like a perfect compromise for the time being, so we've made the decision to play SE for a year and see if the final release of Pathfinder suits our taste for our triumphant return to Obsidian Bay.

Between working on my progress in KotOR II while my 360 was out for repair, and my more recent tawdry affair with The Force Unleashed, I was already on a fairly large Star Wars kick. The Saga Edition rules have Force-Grabbed me by the collar though. I simply can't remember being this excited about a RPG campaign for many a year.

Normally, I'm pretty lukewarm about RPG gaming. Sure, it's fun because I'm getting together with buds and gaming, but typically I'd much rather play strategy board games (geeky scifi- or fantasy-themed board games, that is) . Weirdly enough though, SWSE has me gnawing on my dice in anticipation.

One last note - for any readers actually playing SWSE, be sure to check out the Order 66 podcast - very well done and informative.

The Force Unleashed - Early Impressions

Due to the lackluster launch day reviews, I decided to rent Star Wars: The Force Unleashed from Blockbuster instead of buying it outright. Per the reviewers, the game is about 8-9 hours long, so I'll probably get a dozen hours out of it (I like to smell the flowers and explore all the nooks and crannies).

For new games that I'm not sure I'll like, I'm beginning to think that Blockbuster might be a great solution. If you keep the game more than a week past the due date, Blockbuster charges your credit card as if you'd purchased the title. You then have up to a month to return the game for a refund, minus a $1.25 restocking fee.

Anyway, this was supposed to be a commentary about the game. If you liked the demo, I think you'll also like the game. At this point, I think my opinion matches that of the press - a solid 7.5. The game is fun, but imperfect.

I'm working on the second of nine total missions, and enjoying my dark side rampage quite a bit. The backstory and characters are very engaging, and I'm interested to see how the plot develops. The action is very hack-and-slash, and there is a risk here for boredom through repetition. Many of the reviewers toted the play as a button masher, and one could easily progress through the majority of the game with only the Jump and Lightsaber Attack buttons. I believe that that would be missing the designers' point though. The creative execution of the variety of attack options, powers, combos, and flourishes serves to keep the battering of numerous, similar enemies a fresh pursuit.

Sure, mini-bosses aside, in the Tie Fighter Factory level, you're going to be fighting hordes of only a few types of rebel guards and Stormtroopers. I'm approaching the game like a Sith apprentice would, though. This one gets slashed twice, Force-shocked, and then hurled into a bunker full of buddies (Sith bowling - strike!). The next gets Force-grabbed, battered off the walls and ceiling, and finally impaled by my thrown saber. The last one, to his horror, is stunned by an airborne Force blast and tossed from the catwalk like a discarded doll, into the path of an oncoming Tie Fighter - boom! It's like a ballet, and you're choreographing a masterpiece of sci-fi bad guy destruction.

Sure, the targeting is a little wonky, and the controls and camera slightly imprecise. The tech is also pushing the 360 a little hard - the framerate dips and there is frequent horizontal tearing. Yes, the boss fights can be a little trial-and-error and your path sometimes unclear. In the end though, the story is catchy, the visual and audio effects stellar, and the thrill of guiding a dark jedi through his violent journey is engaging. It's not approaching perfect, but it's fun.

I didn't want to set the controller down at bedtime last night, I wanted to play hooky from work this morning to play some more, and I'm looking forward to swinging a saber around tonight. 'Nuff said.

Three Inconvenient Red Rings

Yes, I've finally joined that club. My Xbox 360 Elite gave up the ghost Saturday after just shy of a year's service. No big deal - I've still got a great list of games to play on other systems - but the Fall Avalanche of Goodness is nearly upon us, and I haven't even received my shipping box from Microsoft yet.

Just this morning for instance, I received the LucasArts Insider email newsletter announcing the September 16th North American launch date for Star Wars: the Force Unleashed.

Yes, I'll have just as much fun playing it later. No, I'm not happy about having to wait for it.