Tuesday 7 September 2010

Any new games?

Fuck new games.
I went out to buy Deus Ex and SWAT Generation for PC this morning. Deus Ex is a sort of a futuristic linear first-person RPG game, a classic and one of those few games I must add to my collection some day. SWAT Generation is a compilation of the original Police Quest SWAT, SWAT 2 and SWAT 3 (the SWAT series spun off from Police Quest, if you didn't know). If my mother allows me to place the Police Quest Collection on my shelf, it would've looked awesome to have PQ1-4 and SWAT 1-4 on there.
I found both games in the store, picked them up and took them to the counter, and then...

Deus Ex's CD was missing. The nice girl there said that it might have been stolen if it was left in it's covers. They keep the CDs in the back of the store behind the clerk and only place the box covers on display to avoid people getting away with the actual games in case someone does steal something, so if my dream game (slight exaggeration there, but only slight) just happened to be one of the games left in the covers and successfully stolen by some asshole punk, my luck would seem to be the same as usual. Although, with my usual luck, they found the CD right after I had left and some lucky asshole skunk bought it right after that.

What's wrong with SWAT Generation, then? Against widespread information that made me decide on buying the compilation, this particular little shit version of SWAT Generation does not in fact include the original SWAT. So then, I only got SWAT 2 in that deal because I already own SWAT 3, but despite my best efforts I can't get SWAT 2 to run properly even after some great help from the internet. Useless.
Hope someone fucking updates those few dozen lying video game sites with info on this SWATless Generation that is otherwise identical to the SWATful Generations I would've liked to have bought.

So, here I am left to ponder: did I really shave for this?

I'm also completely bored of UFO: Aftershock. I started it from beginning five times total, and despite it being really addictive the first three days, it's far too repetitive and lacks interesting new gameplay elements to keep my interest up any longer.
Like said once in the past, UFO is basically an X-COM rip-off/homage (depending on whether you're a fan or a hater), but this far more technically advanced and graphically superior game that came out, what, 11 years after the first X-COM still can't beat the original series. It's locked to only ONE screen resolution and as such caused some major problems for me before I started playing in windowed mode, it's got some trouble saving games sometimes, it has minor glitches here and there every now and then, the game can effectively randomize the world map so that you're stuck using only the first three bases to do all your work even after you've conquered half of the god damn planet and the AI is predictable to the point where I can just point at the combat zone and say "they're bundled together in that spot" and only be wrong one out of a hundred times.
The destructible environments the back cover of the box boasts with are a joke. A couple of very specific objects may puff out a bit of smoke after getting shot and I believe I've seen a wall disappear twice (probably meaning they were destroyed) but if you've ever looked at X-COM and seen how the levels and objects can be affected by weapon fire in that game, you'd feel really disappointed after seeing UFO: Aftershock.
For example, in X-COM the ground would be visibly damaged and smoking, even being on fire (which I don't think ever hurt you) for the first round after being destroyed with explosives or laser/plasma gunfire, and any objects and walls caught dead center in a large blast would likely be destroyed. In UFO: Aftershock, you get a tiny, slightly dimmer spot on the floor after an explosion, no smoke, no nothing, and that dimmer spot was really hard to differentiate from the regular surfaces. I actually didn't even think the explosions left any mark at first, until I upped the brightness.
After getting tired of UFO's gameplay I brought up cheats to liven the action a bit, but the game's debug codes, the ones the game actually tells you when you request a list of usable commands, has some non-working codes in there. In order to be able to cheat the way I would've liked I would've had to work hard for the results anyway, and when it's the hard work I want to take out with the cheats this whole cheating deal really doesn't pay off.
I'm not saying UFO: Aftershock is complete piece of shit of a game, it was really addictive the first days I played it and it's an alright replacement if you can't get X-COM, but I'm just dead tired of it and at the same time annoyed by the pointless waste of my time and money this morning.

Luckily, after all these buggering crap things today I still have Broken Sword 3 and the entire Police Quest series to play through, not counting fucking SWAT or SWAT 2. Or PQ1 EGA.

5 comments:

  1. Ok, dude, play Deus Ex...I have finished it like 14 times, and I love it more every time, absolutely captivating game and so well done...stay away from the sequel though. Looking forward to the review :D

    -Neal

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  2. I can't play Deus Ex, I couldn't buy it. That's the point of my angry blog post.

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  3. Sorry, I misread that, I thought it said you bought it after someone found it...I can read...seriously...

    I feel terrible now because no only have I failed to read in my own language and you can read and write in two AND now its like I just teased you by talking about how great the game is...

    Ya know...I know this is kinda not your way but there are Deus Ex torrents everywhere. I wouldn't suggest it if it weren't such a great game.

    -Neal

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  4. No harm done, I already know that Deus Ex is awesome. If long enough time passes before I can finally buy Deus Ex I might check the torrents, but I'll try my best not to. It just doesn't feel the same as having an actual physical retail copy on my shelf.

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  5. I agree, I have the genuine copy, sits proudly on my shelf, but I can't find another copy of it, I look now and again for interest :D

    -Neal

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