Post apocalyptic FPS with RPG elements? Fallout 3 did it.

Addictive loot collection mixed in with ever increasing and changing enemies? Diablo did it.

Morbid humour and cel shading? No More Heroes did it.

Gearbox Software's new title, Borderlands, somehow manages to do all of the above and come off as something original. The negatives come first...

The cel-shading's a hit and miss effect, sometimes line work is too bold and obscures distant terrain and points of interest; and while the game's setting, an abandoned mining colony on a dangerous planet by the name of Pandora, is interesting but doesn't feel like it's been fully thought out.

On the plus side, there's a never ending assortment of weapons and tools to nagivate the world, controls are easy, and the four character classes one can choose from and develop are unique and fun to play. The loot as well as the constant stream of quests makes it addictive, and co-op play stirs up thoughts of games like Left 4 Dead either leaving friends closer or ready to strangle each other.

What personally sold me on it was playing as the Siren, a light and feeble lady who can phase in and out of reality, and augment all of her attacks with various effects like fire or acid. The crowning moment of awesome with her was phase-shifting and running into the middle of a bandit camp, phasing back in to cause a massive explosion, gunning the majority of the bandit's down with a pistol that fires napalm bullets and taking down a midget with a slap to the face with an acid coated glove, causing his face to melt.

As absurd as it sounds, it's even more so. And that's why I love it. It's available for PC and the obvious consoles, don't get it if you want a deep plot or solid art direction, but if you're in it for wacky and addictive gameplay with unique characters, get it now!

Peace out!

What a hectic week! A flasher at work, my boss being caught in a chemical spill and all manner of crazy customers, oh my!

Otherwise, not much to report, I've been recording/editing a little music review show for podcasting, as well as applying to any job that looks better than my current one (read: any damn thing). Things look hopeful!

Oh, and I scored the PS3 game Littlebigplanet! It's great, a cheery and eccentric platformer with insanely in depth level creation possibilities. And narration by Stephen Fry, whose velvety voice coats my ears like delicious chocolate. The only shame of it is that as a multiplayer game made for all ages it has a strong anti-swearing message, which'd be fine if the narrator wasn't the man who did this.

In other news, something my car loving friends might find amusing lies here.

For those not up for link hopping, it sums up the art of unnecessary/cosmetic modification of cars thusly:

'Some people genuinely improve their automobiles with intelligent upgrades and precision tuning. The division between idiot boy racers and intelligent tuners is "Did you buy rims?"'

Ah well, here's hoping all's well with you all, catchya later!

There are two things dominating my mental space at the moment. The PS3 game Mirror's Edge, and the MTV cartoon series Aeon Flux, they're so similar at times it's scary. Pseudo-asian women navigating overly sterile environments, fighting more against the notion of 'the establishment than a specific enemy, both of whom have a morality that borders on sociopathic and is only made up for by the fact their enemies are usually more clearcut in their evil.


Mirror's Edge shines as a game that's an experiment, a new intellectual property; its pop art influences along with clean and pristine presentation remind one of a Smart exhibition, whilst its minimalist electro score is the type of stuff that good trips are made of. The way in which the free-running gameplay serves (an albeit mediocre) narrative so well is endearing, simply by using the dystopian city's landscape as a means of opposing authority you're fulfilling the mission statement.

Sure the combat's frustrating and choppy and the characters are bland streaks of paint on the far more intriguing character that is New Eden, but the sheer existence of a unique gaming experience that doesn't involve emos with giant swords, space marines or grizzled loners forced to care for a vulnerable woman makes it worth the effort.

Aeon Flux is something I might have waxed lyrical about in the past, but basically it's a surreal and iconoclastic reminder of why MTV used to be relevant. Mainly the brainchild of (of all things) Rugrats director Peter Chung, it looks at the acrobatic foot-fetishist Aeon Flux in a fictional future's war between Monica and Bregna, anarchist and totalitarian regimes respectively. As a Monican agent she seeks to sow anarchy and dissent in Bregna, raising the ire of her arch-nemesis and lover Trevor Goodchild who also happens to be the ruler of Bregna.

Aeon has the ultimate body, physically honed and proficient with all manner of weapons and vehicles, whilst Trevor has the ultimate mind, willing to experience any surreal trauma and ecstacy, to create and test all manner of futuristic technology. Their love-hate relationship underpins the series, that spends most of its time driving home the point that morality is all about viewpoints. Just because there's a lens flare above a blond commando gunning down the enemy doesn't mean he's the hero.

It's full of red herrings, weird dialogue and odd symbolism, but its sheer uniqueness and daring makes it enlightening to watch and think about.

Neither Mirror's Edge nor Aeon Flux are perfect, they both have high-minded motives, but their respective clunkiness or aloofness mean that the more casual of players/viewers will tire of them. For those who are seeking a taste of the future that expands the senses, that escape conventional means of story telling to deliver something that rises above the morass of sequels and derivatives, they are well worth the effort.

Remember how I just got the new PS3 and Metal Gear Solid 4? Well, I did indeed love Metal Gear Solid, overly abundant cutscenes and loading screens and all, but there was one thing that rankled me.

Every laptop? Apple Macbook.

The main character's MP3 player of choice? iPod.

Everyone's mobile phones? Sony Ericsson.

All the motorcycles? Triumph.

Throw in brand name energy drinks and gun makers and it's a veritable smorgasbord of plugs for everything under the sun, even the system the game was made for. At a level that you encountered in the first game for the PS1, a character calls you to ask you to change to the second CD, until he says "Oh, of course, we're on the PS3, Blu-Ray means we don't need to change discs!"

Yes, jolly good. Well, I guess after seeing Transformers I can hardly act like such a trend is new, it still hurts though.

 

I'm a consumer whore! The new slim Playstation 3, with all the groovy features and reduced pricing that the original should have had anyway, is now in my possession. It's nice enough, working well, produces little heat and doesn't make much noise, and it's got none of the ugliness and huuuugeness that typified it's predecessor. If you've been debating getting one, I'd say the time is now, it's new release means you can usually grab bundled freebies. They're probably won't be a price drop or hardware change anytime soon either.

Though beware, it still suffers from a dire lack of good titles, it's sad after the PS2 which has still great stuff being released for it.

One of the few good ones is Metal Gear Solid 4, the continuation of a series that has always made me happy in the pants. Summarised it's a Japanese homage to American action films, blending detailed and authentic military/technological research with off the wall Rogue's Gallery style bosses and conflagrated/preachy storylines that read like a Young Socialist's Party manifesto got in a car accident with the plot of Neon Genesis.

I tend to wax lyrical about games, but i"ll try sum up why I love it in one sentence. The first boss battle is against a woman clad in a latex gimp suit, who uses tentacles as weapons. 'Nuff said.

Otherwise things are alright, not much to report, still feeling energised. Hoping you're all well!

It's simple. An independently developed game in which you play one of six young women of varied ages, with the task of taking the infamous basket to the infamous granny's house while wearing the infamous red riding hood.

Do that, and you'll have reached Game Over in three minutes. In accomplishing the game's prescribed goal you fail.

Do what most youths do and wander off the path, and that's where things get interesting. Each of those six young women are gothic stereotypes, lolita to disaffected emo to harlequin, who are facing the major crises of life. Exploring the woods that line the path will yield memories and thoughts on their personalities, memories and crises, and eventually to the Big Bad Wolf that a certain old story threatens children with.

A splendid subversion of course, in that the player is actually seeking the wolf.

The results are varied,  be it morality or mortality, the girls face awful tests, and will eventually reach their granny's house, but in a far less idyllic state than they thought they'd arrive.

Told with simplistic but highly stylised three dimensional imagery, blending classical-romantic artwork with modern gothic aesthetics, aas well as using disturbing choral chants and minimalist compostion akin to Philip Glass for audiological fare, The Path is an artistic acheivement that asks a lot of its players. It's been called a 'getting raped simulator', not because of sexual content, but because of its grim depiction of the woods as the horrors of the real world being visited upon innocent children.

From a traditional gaming perspective, it's terrible, with poor controls and ill-defined goals. From the perspective of one seeking a linear, rich and coherent story, it lacks direction, as the player's own intellect and insight will colour their experience. But for one seeking a means of using interactive technology to create new means of expressing and comprehending art, The Path excels.

It's only $10 US and should run on any computer that wasn't made while the Spice Girls were popular, and can be found on Valve's software distribution system Valve. Don't play it, live it.

 

A Wild Ram has appeared!

Do you: FIGHT, USE ITEM, RUN or READ JOURNAL?

You have chosen... FIGHT! You hit him with a stick! He likes it! Attack was ineffective!

You have chosen... USE ITEM! You used STRANGE CHEMICAL on him. He's dancing and rubbing furniture! Attack was ineffective!

You have chosen... RUN! You ran right towards him! What a tard!

You must now READ JOURNAL!

So, liontemba celebrated his birthday this weekend, he's now in the twenty zone! Aside from losing teenage privileges like crashing into fruit stands and slitting his wrists, he's really not missing or gaining much from it, but he's one year closer to getting drunk in the USA! Legally anyway!

His lovely sister and her partner treated him and a few of us lucky enough to know him to a limo ride and excessive nomz and booze, much fun was had and I can safely say it was the first time I've ever really enjoyed Mexican food. Thanks again to them for springing for it all, and to Temba for aging! Oh and that whole being a good friend thing, yeah. He's had a tough time of it lately, so give him stuff!

Otherwise I caught up with atpaw and we darkened Menya's door once more, we learnt the valuable lesson of only ordering what you can eat, after eating takoyaki and garlic ramen I was pretty sure I might die from a painful albeit delicious stomach explosion. We must find the first Australian fur capable of eating their infamous Godzilla bowl (2kg+ of ramen, 29.90 unless you finish it in 30 minutes or less!).

Also got the Nintendo DS game Professor Layton and the Curious Village, a call back to the good ole' point and click adventure genre with a heavy dose of those brain-testing games that are all the rage, supplemented with nicely drawn storybook settings, accomplished voice acting and video, as well as enough unlockables and challenges to satisy an OCD sufferer.

You have READ JOURNAL. You have gained a level! Peace out!

Hey there furs and murrs, Jay here with something light-hearted for once! Are you too old to like the epileptic pace and inexplicable systems of modern video games? Too busy having sex with cute twenty-somethings to sit down with a controller in your hand? Or just too damn high to work out what that mushroom dude does if he touches the purple hat?

Well sit right back, as I tell you about three games I think are worth playing even if you don't normally dig video games.

( A cut, so you can avoid the crazy! )
Well, here's hoping you enjoyed it, and if you didn't read it, here's hoping you enjoyed not reading it!

Yo biatches, niggaz and home slices, this be J-Fizzle bringin' you the latest in all that's Fear and queer!

This weekend was spent down in the 'Gong with none other than Atpizzle (AKA atpaw ), the spotcat of speed, and was comprised of munchies, movies and motorbiking. The munchies were from Crazy Noodle, the prices were ice and the noodles were nice, and then out at Fujiyaka Teppanyaki, the chef was off the chain, flippin' and whippin' tasty food (most of which I failed to catch) and it was cheaper and more enjoyable than my previous teppanyaki experience. Respect!

One of the movies was Hot Fuzz on DVD (a lesson in the Chekov's Gun rule, if you see it at the start, you'll see it at the end; as well as being comprised half of silliness and cheesy characterisation) made by the peeps who brought us the parodical bizzomb Shawn of the Dead!  

We caught Burn After Reading on the big screen, with Brad Pitt, Tilda Swinton, George Clooney and John Malkovich starring, it was a dark and twisted piece of humour from the Coen boys, they be keepin' it real as ever! Look out for the twist midway that makes it somehow darker AND funnier!

The biking was more the spotcat's thing, while I held onto the bike and tried to keep low. It was a charity convoy for Camp Quality, it was pretty cool, lots of people giving props to the riders, and there was much waving and love between all. Strange to see all those positive vibes from and for a segment of the community that's always bein' dissed.

Otherwise, I just finished Fallout 3! Apparently I'm evil. Really evil. So much so I was given a lecture on it by the game. Mad skills on my part.

Oh well homeboys and girls, I be off, I have caps to bust or some such. Peace out!

Hey there furs and murrs, Jay here on the dark side of the moon with all that's new.

• 100 litres of (thank god) semi-diluted hydrochloric acid spilled at work last Friday, destroying the server, splashing two staff, making the place reek and causing a lot of cosmetic damage
• One staff member at my workplace has just been diagnosed with cancer, another with a degenerative eye condition, so there's a pretty gloomy vibe there as of late
• Mysterious people have been doing late night construction/renovation work near my apartment... they must die!

Otherwise, I've been occupied with Bethesda's new PC RPG Fallout 3. Starting with a blood stained camera shot facing out from your mother's womb, it tries it's harest to be immersive, and mostly succeeds where Oblivion (Bethesda's previous release) failed. Though prone to crashing, it uses the ever stunning Gamebryo engine to display a far more interesting world than the bland English countryside of Oblivion, has far more quirky writing, as well as a more cohesive art and design path. Eccentric old songs from the '50s as well as a massive library of foley for guns and movement help keep everything sounding right.

It allows one to be so good as to fight for the rights of an androids and slaves in a post-nuclear wasteland, or to continue the mushrooms by nuking peacfeul human settlements, amidst the struggle to restore some life to a mostly charred and barren Washington DC. Allowing one to be anything from a sneaky little thief to butch Hispanic soldier (I named her Vasquez, anyone get the reference?) it honours the tradition of the Fallout games before it while building on Bethesda's previous stock of epic RPGs.

And there's nothing sexier than a personal nuclear missile launcher.

Otherwise I'm hot, tired, sick and bored. But whatever, go play Fallout 3, and good vibes to you all!

We now present a very special installment of Jay H Fear's LiveJournal, in which he lays bare his geeky soul, risking shame and alienation from his friends and family alike!

And why's that? Because he wants to have a quick, geeky gush about a very special lady.

Her name? The Boss. She's, shockingly enough, the final boss in Metal Gear Solid 3 (a game for the PS2, developed by Konami). The developer's excuse for her name is that her prolonged service in covert military operations precludes the need or opportunity for any other name.

Why does she deserve gushage? Well:

1. She's over 40 years old (making her older than her love interest/the hero)
2. She's neither hideous nor beautiful (a butch middle aged woman with a mullet, battle scars and poor posture)
3. She's physically and emotionally stronger than the hero (she breaks him in so many ways it's not funny)

These 3 points are really the essence of it. It's not that every female character has to be a badass or super-realistic, but the presence of women who aren't tits who whine or demented Brunhildas in any fictional material is always a positive sign. I actually think this is pretty important, as how society portrays any group in fiction is generally indicative of how it views them in reality.

Oh, and this woman is a divine creature (protip for those playing at home, she's cosplaying as The Boss) 

This has been the week of food! Last night was Japanese in the city at Daruma with Aussiehusky, Temba, Taubu, Wolven, Moddy and Insinc. I quite enjoyed my chicken katsu ramen (the batter was sinful) as was my takoyaki (creamy octopus tentacle balls for those of you who haven't had the pleasure), and gorging on gelato afterwards was the cherry on a good evening.

Highlights following that  included the unfortunate demise of a rat and the disturbing revelation that Vietnamese families are incapable of seperating, needing to leave their car blocking the parking lot exit so they can all cluster around the payment machine. What odd physiology...

The night prior to that saw Dustan, Lupie, Temba and myself go to a favourite old haunt of us Balmainiacs, the Bald Rock Hotel. The steak was late, undercooked and not what I asked for, but the company and the memories more than made up for it. More of that nostalgia I referred to a while back seems to be bubbling up, demanding outlets such as that.

Currently, I've no plans for the next few days, which means that something crazy will happen. Always does. And I get a later start every second Saturday now which gives me more sleep on Friday nights, always useful.

Oh yes, before I forget, I got my paws on Spore, a game for the PC by Maxis/Electronic Arts. Anyone who hasn't heard of this will be glad/horrified to hear it is essentially the Sims on a global scale. One creates and guides a single-celled creature through evolutionary and society phases until (hopefully) the space age. Ranging from a simple point-and-click adventure to a simplified RTS, it's cute and intriguing seeing how many creatures one can create and how they interact with each other/their environment.

Simplifcation is Spore's weak point, in that the gameplay can feel so forgiving that it's easy to shoot through, either missing the nuances or creating a sense of repetition as one quickly upgrades body parts instead of enjoying the aesthetics and mechanics of what they currently have. In a game about customisation, I wish there were more detailed skin texture/colour options, as well as more freedom to alter creatures' meshes.

Still there's more in it to recommend than there is to dissuade people from, so if you're already interested, go get it by all means, it's about $10 off at JB Hi Fi right now if you're like me and want to justify an impulse buy by not paying full retail.

I think that's all there is to say for now, wishing you all well, take care and be sure to--

WE NOW INTERRUPT YOUR REGULARLY SCHEDULED SIGNOFF WITH...

IEMMA RESIGNED AFTER FIRING COSTA! FUCK YEAH!

Ahem...

Yeah, anyway, take care and see you all later!

Hey there folks, not much to report aside from setting up a new high-interest savings account, and sending my tax return in. I know, fascinating stuff, but there's something to be said for financial responsibility.

Anyway, this post is mainly for me to test my reviewing mettle in the form of a retro video game review, for Looking Glass Studios' "System Shock 2".