PixlBit

       For me this week is the official start of the new generation of video games. It seems weird to make that distinction now because what does that mean for phones, tablets and PCs? Nothing. It only means something for consoles and handhelds. The rise of phone and tablet games has made me think the generation distinction doesn’t speak to the entire world of video gaming anymore. That being said, I still play all my games on console or handheld and so speaking of a new generation means something to me. Additionally I have only two of the current gen systems, a 3DS and PS Vita and still play on Xbox 360, PS3 and Wii and probably will continue to do so for most of 2014 if not longer. So as last gen as my week was, and as out of touch with iOS and PC, here it is.

                                        Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon [XBLA]

          I played this from where I left off. I got to wandering around the map and fighting off loads of random encounters. I was supposed to head to the dam and clear out all the strongholds, but I got kinda bored being attacked all the time by wandering enemies, so I put it down. I’ll likely go back to it though.

                                     The Wolf Among Us: Episode 1 [XBLA]

          I got this for free on a Xbox Live sale and decided to give it a shot. It probably tells a story better than any game I’ve played so far, but at times I felt like I wasn’t doing anything. I mean, you check out items in a room and make decisions (like in one case you have to decide which question to ask a magic mirror), but I kept expecting to do some heavy action and it never really arrived except in the few fights.

     The fights are handled a little bit like QTEs but more active than that. Either a button prompt appears or you have to move a cursor with one of the analog sticks into a circle as if you were moving the character’s hand and then pull one of the triggers to start an action. It works pretty well. I had to fight Grendel and at the end of it I had a choice of pulling his arm off or not. Well, give me that option in a game, and I’ll pull it off every time. I mean, he was trying to kill me. The other characters weren’t too happy about it, but it was in the heat of the moment. What’s a wolfman to do? It’s neat how your choices seem to matter to the other characters. I’m sure their reactions will come back in meaningful ways in future episodes.

    The story reminds me of a film noir with dark city streets, a brutal murder mystery to solve, and lots of desperate characters on the edge of self-destruction. I was surprised by the intensity of the dialog, but I’m still on the fence about following it in future episodes. There’s just not a whole lot to do in the game but watch these characters and make some decisions that might alter the story a little bit. We’ll see though. I’m intrigued.

                   Pinball FX2: Star Wars and Balance of the Force tables [XBLA]

         Man pinball really steams me. It’s hard. I wish Zen Studios had put in better descriptions of the rule sheet for each table like FarSight Studios did for the Pinball Arcade and Hall of Fame Collections. I looked at those tiny screen shots of sections of the table in Pinball FX2 with its text descriptions and was sometimes baffled.

      I found these tables visually very dense with blinking lights. It made it even harder to discern what targets to hit at any given moment. That and the very fast pace of these tables really made me have to pay close attention to the screen. I kept messing with the angle of view until I got something serviceable. It was never perfect though. Maybe on a huge TV it would suit me just right.

     Overall though, the tables are really great. They are full of audio clips from the movies and have additional side games and upper or lower mini tables. I tried to practice trapping balls (especially during multiball) and tried to pass a ball from one flipper to another. Trapping is not so hard, but passing is really tricky. If you want to hit specific targets at the right time, you really have to trap and pass. Trying to time a shot to hit a target on a moving ball just results in losing control of what’s going on. I did that most of the time and ended up cursing when I got repeated ball outs. Did I say pinball is hard? It’s hard.

                            Etrian Odyssey Untold: The Millenium Girl [3DS]

      After taking a break from Mario & Luigi: Dream Team, I organized my handheld collection in chronological order and started in on the most recent game I had which was EOU. I jumped back in after my 60 hours of play in October and had to remember how to use all my abilities in battles. What’s especially tricky though is trying to remember where to pick up the items you need to finish quests. Some of them come from fighting certain monster types in very specific ways like using an ice spell on a fish monster or using a petrify spell on a Faerie. I had to go to the Bar to talk to everyone there hoping to find a clue (sometimes they tell you just what to do with a specific monster). I have ten 3DS and Vita games to get to after this, but I think I’ll be happy staying with EOU for a while.

                                        Skulls of the Shogun [XBLA]

      After getting a little bored with Blood Dragon and burning out on Pinball, I started up Skulls of the Shogun, a turn-based strategy game from 17-Bit.

     The look of the game and the way the characters move on the background reminds me of Ogre Battle: March of the Black Queen. The characters are like paper cutouts on a static board. So it’s a little bit like a war board game but without the grids. You move freely but within limited circular ranges each turn.

    The difficulty ramps up pretty quickly and I got stuck on the first boss fight. I replayed it three times and got closer to victory but couldn’t beat it. Maybe I’m just bad at strategy games. I always want to make formations, but they never match the rules very well. The enemy just goes around them or brings in forces that match up well with my front line.

     I love the formations of war strategy games and the way the different armies or units look on the battlefield. I take a visual approach to these games much like the way the artist Marcel Duchamp played Chess. It’s not the right way to play, but I feel compelled to do it. As a result, I usually take a beating, so I took a break from that and moved on to…

                                                  Far Cry 3 [Xbox 360]

    I pulled the shrink wrap off it, the next Xbox 360 game chronologically in my collection, and got to playing the opening sequence that sets up the horrible situation for your main character. It was very good and nicely introduced the characters and the desperate situation on the island.

     The main game is fantastic. I liken it to Just Cause in that you can roam the world and do anything you like in any order. You can clear out bases, capture fire towers, drive in races or delivery challenges, hunt animals, go find various sorts of supplies or treasures, and even do the main mission objectives. And just like Just Cause, you’re on an island, have access to cars, boats and even gliders (although no planes or helicopters that I’ve seen yet).

     As you move around the world, you often attract attention to yourself by making a lot of noise with shooting or just being on the road at the wrong time and get a couple cars full of enemy pirates (modern pirates, not “yar” pirates) breathing down your back. You also have to watch out for dangerous wild life. I got snapped by a crocodile while I was swimming in a river, I got bitten on the arm by a snake, eaten up by several tigers (those things are tough), and swarmed by a pack of rabid dogs. The world is very alive with people and creatures trying to kill you.

     I was getting a little bit frustrated with the crafting. You start with a very limited satchel to put all the stuff you find. To enlarge it you have to hunt specific animals for their skins. Trouble is, you often end up collecting a lot of plants and animal skins that you can’t use right away, and so they fill you bag up. After a while I started focusing my missions so I’d hunt only the animals whose skins could be crafted into a larger swag bag. Along the way, I would do a race or go find an artifact. The map screen shows you where everything is, so it’s easy to find everything. You can even fast travel from each of your safe houses so you can sell stuff to make more space in your inventory.

    The mechanics of the game work very well: the shooting, driving and roaming the landscape on foot. I think this is the best playing Far Cry of the three games, and I think I’ll be glued to this game for weeks to come.