PC Games I want to play in 2011

2011 preview

If I get PS3 for Christmas, you already know what I will be playing. However, I will still have a powerful gaming PC sitting under my desk for a good chunk of the incoming year, so let me share with you what games will make it sweat in 2011.

What I might and might not have written is that I got this PC from a travelling friend of mine who didn't quite feel like selling it, but didn't want to leave it at his grandma's place. It truly is a monster machine, far more powerful then my voer four-year old rig (which in the meantime got sent to my parents, so that they have some decent hardware at home). Some time around June next year this multi-threading roaring beast will be taken away from my flat, though, and I will be left with only a small 13" Macbook. So, I should profit from it while it's still there. Hence, the list.

Tier 1 - Games I absolutely need to play

The list is short and sweet, with the first game on it being Starcraft 2, the epic continuation to the epic game, the single player campaign of which I still haven't finished. There is a risk involved, however: I fear that I will then get consumed by its multiplayer mode, which is why I have been putting it off.

The next game I absolutely need to play is new Deus Ex - being a devoted fan of the original, how could I miss it? I also happen to quite like what the trailers show us. Gold is cool. Unfortunately, this one will be delayd, so it might arrive when I don't have the hardware anymore.


Portal 2 is no-brainer. The first part was absolutely brilliant, the second one promises to be at least good. As with Deus Ex, the risk involved is Valve-time hazard. If Portal 2 gets postponed even further than it already is, I might not have the PC to play it when it finally arrives.

The last title on the list is Bulletstorm, of all things. I have mixed feelings about this game, but there are chances it is going to be something epic, with incredibly huge bosses overshadowing even those known from Painkiller and literally thousands of enemies, similar to Serious Sam series. I would like to have a go at Bulletstorm, even at the risk of realizing it's not my cup of tea - I just want to try it.

Tier 2 - games that I would like to play or finish

These are mostly the games I have already played, but have not finished them due to lack of time or their extreme hunger for PC resources. The list is longer, but I won't go into as much detail here. Dead Space, because I always had something pop up whenever I tried to complete it, and this space horror is totally worth it. Left 4 Dead, which I had completed with over 200 hours invested into online play, but which has recently seen yet another DLC bonus, together with great (and free!) comic. Prince of Persia, the game with mediocre gameplay, but engaging story, likeable characters and wonderful graphics that made my old PC chuckle - I want to fully appreciate its beauty, hence the replay. Gears of War, which I have begun playing three times, only to have something happen to me, my PC or my friends that would make me abandon this excellent game. And finally Dragon Age, which I was told is really as cool as every reviewer claims it to be.

The only problem is when to find time for it...

2010 Wrap-Up

In short: good year, lots of games

From the point of view of gaming 2010 has also been a very good year for me. I have played a ton of Left 4 Dead, redeveloped an addicition similar to previous infections with Battlefield Heroes and Enemy Territory (I obviously have a soft spot for online FPSes), but contrary to these cases, I managed to peacefully part with the game when it became too taxing, among other things thanks to loving support of my lady. I also played a ton of different indie titles this year and helped spread the indie love.


Money from advertising on Barts News, especially from a certain sponsored article, was partially spent on getting a new PSP with a bunch of games, and partially saved for Playstation 3, the buying of which is becoming something of historical inevitability to me.

I have also inherited for a limited time a powerful gaming PC from one of my travelling friends, which allowed me to fully experience the marvels of Crysis, Prototype, Dead Space, Prince of Persia and Gears of War. Yes, I know, not exactly the newest games, are they? But they are great titles that I wanted to enjoy and now was the time. I also look forward to playing Portal 2, Deus Ex 3, BioShock 3, Bulletstorm and maybe Dragon Age on it, but if developers take any longer than currently expected dates, I might very well have to give the machine back.


My PSP had a great year, too: Persona 3 Portable and God of War: Ghost of Sparta not only turned out to be one of the best games on the platform, but also among the best games I have ever played. Additionally, the story of P3P has given me incentive to speed up realizing my life goals in order not to miss the deadline. Other great PSP games I have played this year include gorgeous Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep, surprisingly good survival horror Obscure, and unforgiving retro gems of N+, What Did I Do To Deserve This My Lord and No Heroes Allowed.

So gaming-wise, 2010 turned out to be spectacularly satisifying. Staring at the pile of titles I have played and/or completed this year, I am surprised I managed to find time for doing anything else than games. I guess I do have some organizational skills after all.

As for me and game journalism, if you can call my scribbling that, 2010 also was a great year. My articles and reviews have appeared in the most popular daily paper in Poland, Gazeta Wyborcza, in somewhat leftist weekly magazine Polityka, as well as on two popular Polish gaming websites, Polygamia and Gamezilla. Some of my writing also fueled now defunct retro blog Karawana and cultural magazine Esensja. If we add to this over a hundred posts on Barts News and revamping the blog's look and feel, I can safely say that I am proud of what I accomplished.

So 2010 turned out to be a great year indeed. Let's hope that 2011 proves to be at least equally good!

Sacrifice - free comic

Left 4 Dead is Still Alive

I first wrote about Left 4 Dead in 2008 and promised you a review. You might have noticed that it never came - I started writing two times, but there was always something more important (which sometimes meant playing the damn game instead). I think I have sunk more than 200h into L4D, which probably makes it my most played game ever. My Steam profile shows barely over one hundred hours, but it is my second Steam account - I have sold the first one together with game when I realized that I was getting addicted to it.


But while the review remains to be written one day (or not, because of what use would it be now?), there is one thing in particular that I wanted to draw your attention to, namely a free Left 4 Dead comic. Yes, good people from Valve are giving away a full-blown (120 pages!) digital graphic novel for the price of nothing to accompany to the release of the latest L4D DLC. Now if that's not long-lasting support of their game, then I don't know what is.

The comic in question is called Sacrifice, just like the new episode, and it tells the story of how one of the original four heroes of Left 4 Dead sacrificed themselves in order to let others live. I expected much less from it, what with it being free and all, but it is, in fact, a very good graphic novel, one that I would probably pay for in normal circumstances. The story gives a little background to our rather anonymous game protagonists and at the same time bridges the original title with its sequel. The art direction is really neat and quite characteristic - I immediately recognized the style of Michael Avon Oeming (Wiki note, official site), whose work I have remembered from B.P.R.D. comic, a Hellboy spin-off.

Not only can you watch the whole Sacrifice comic online, but also download it in PDF for watching on your netbook or iDevice (click on Extras to go to download page). Valve, I love you.

Persona 3 Portable review

Personal impressions from Persona

I promised you a review of Persona 3 Portable earlier this year and I am going to fulfill that promise. Unfortunately, I am somewhat short on time so I will only highlight some aspects of this brilliant game and will provide you with links to more in-depth analysis and better reviews.

What Is It?

Persona 3 Portable is a port of a title from Shin Megami Tensei series, originally published on Playstation 2 in 2006 under the name Persona 3. The game is a clever mix of visual novel, dating sim and 3D dungeon crawling. The original free roaming world was substituted by 2D backgrounds in the PSP version (dungeons remain 3D), but other than that the transition from PS2 was a rather faithful one.

Story

The story in Persona 3 Portable revolves around Dark Hour, the additional hour in the night that starts at midnight. During that time, which most people are not aware of, a mysterious tower of Tartarus appears over the city and evil creatures called Shadows come out of it to prey upon humans. A group of high-school students is leading fight against the monsters...


I know this sounds a bit like Buffy the Vampire Slayer and honestly, there's a lot of anime cliches in the story, but to my surprise, it actually turned out to be good, like something written by Joss Wheddon himself (that's a huge compliment in my book). Characters are likable, there's enough of twists and surprises to keep the player interested throughout the story and the overall tone is surprisingly dark (suffice to say more than one protagonist will be dead by the end of the game).

Mechanics

While on the surface it looks like a blend of dating sim (during the day) and typical jRPG dungeon crawler (during the night), there is so much more to it. Game developers from Atlus studio have intertwined these aspects in a way that can only be described as brilliantly innovative.


The source of powers for protagonists are Personas, strange deities that are manifestations of one's true character. Maintaining and developing relationships (called Social Links) with various people during the day directly influences the power of Personas. This ties two facets of Persona 3 Portable together in a very interesting manner - in order to stand a chance against the creatures of the night, player needs to connect with other people during the day.

This only scratches the surface of what P3P has to offer: there is traditional RPG character development, items gathering, mission taking, but there is also the whole aspect of breeding and crossing Personas in order to obtain stronger ones, spell fusion, Social Links management, job system and so on. There is significant depth in this game for the ones who are not scared to invest their time in it.

Audio And Visuals

As mentioned before, some things were lost in translation from Playstation 2, most notably 3D world exploration during the day, but overall this port is very well done. The graphics look pretty on PSP screen in 32 bit color, from 2D portraits to 3D fight sequences. Persona 3 Portable does not reach the technical excellence of God of War series, but it does the job well enough to not detract from the experience.


As for the audio, players will be treated to a beautiful soundtrack, enhanced by a few additional tracks for female character. As for dubbing, it is excellent and some voices are just spot on: I liked listening to Yukari's voice perhaps a little too much (seriously, I would take this voice for a date). Fuuka's lines were somewhat annoying, but other than that P3P's sound is perfect.

What Makes It Brilliant

There are so many great things about Persona 3 Portable that I will only briefly list them, in order not to make this part too long.

The most powerful thing about Persona 3, both Portable and the original one for PS2, is the story. While I expected it to be cookie-cutter jRPG standard, I was proven wrong. The theme of this game is accepting one's passing, dealing with death and the question of how we use the time of our life - quite serious issues to deal with in a video game. The ending is very touching: it left me a little shaken and when one day later I was still pondering upon it, I realized that it was not only one of the best PSP titles I have played, but also one of the best games I have ever completed. The story and message of P3P are very strong and make it a unique experience.


Other highlights of Persona 3 Portable include its lovable character cast, some cool story arcs told via Social Links sub-plots and the fact the scenario becomes slightly different for every player, due to some specific events and choices. The execution is also excellent, from great audiovisuals to extremely complex, yet approachable, Persona fusion system. For those who have already played the original there is an alternative scenario in which the main protagonist is a girl.

And then there are the little things. One time when I played as a boy and took only girls into my monsters fighting team. When I stopped in the dungeon to chat with one of them, a whole discussion broke about me making a harem and this being a typical male fantasy. I have to say that at that moment I smiled, my girlfriend giggled and we were both sold on Persona 3 Portable.

Assorted Links

As I said, I wanted to elaborate more on some of Persona 3 Portable numerous interesting aspects, but since this post has already grown beyond what I planned, I will just point you out to some great articles on the subject:
- P3P review on Eurogamer is much more in-depth than mine, read it if you are curious about the game and would like to find out more;
- incidentally, this review of the original Persona 3 is also worth having a look;
- this post on real life lessons from Persona 3 mentions many of rather serious issue that the game revolves around;
- this post on tyranny of pink from a feminist perspective is a smart observation on how gender stereotypes are manifested through the use of colour;
- this interesting comparison between Persona 3 Portable and Mass Effect shows that under the hood these games are essentially very similar;
- and speaking of pink and female perspective, here are some impressions from a fan - love the drawings!
- one more review, in case mine wasn't enough;

Final Verdict

Persona 3 Portable fully deserves its Metacritic rating of 91, because it truly is one of the best games in the PSP library. For me, it is also one of the best games I have ever played, thanks to its lengthy story, touching ending and memorable cast of characters.

Speaking of length - Persona 3 Portable took me about 60 hours on the first playthrough with male character, plus another ten so far with female protagonist. Few single player games managed to do that in the last two years - and I have played on easy difficulty setting.

But the most important thing about Persona 3 Portable is that it managed to stir my emotions. I was a little shaken by the ending, which did provide catharsis of sort, even though what happens in it was not unpredictable. The game made me think about what I am doing with my life and what I want to have accomplished when it's over. I laughed at some dialogues and I will keep some others in my mind next to excerpts from great books I have read and great movies I have watched.

During most of the time, Persona 3 Portable is just a very good game, but at some points it reaches absolute brilliance and its complete story is something memorable. If you have a PSP, then you should have it in your collection.

Short story about a pretty girl and game music

Or what pick up and Civilisation IV have in common

Today, I am going to share an anecdote with you. Once upon a time, when I was more into picking up random pretty girls on the streets, I saw a beautiful young lady in front of me on a tram (due to construction of Polish trams, we were sitting facing each other). I wanted to talk to her, but she had headphones on. Incidentally, I was also listening to the music, namely Baba Yetu from Civilisation IV:

The necessity is the mother of all inventions, so have decided to use radical means: I have taken out a notepad, scribbled "Let's exchange headphones and guess what music we are listening to!" and put it in front of her face. At first the girl was shocked, then she started laughing, then handed me her headset and I gave her my earplugs. Of course, the girl didn't know Baba Yetu - but after hearing it came from a computer game, she slightly frowned her beautiful nose...

While that didn't break our conversation, it did trigger nerd alert in her. However, now I have a very powerful counterargument to that as Baba Yetu has recently been nomited for Grammy Award. I guess it makes it more mainstream, more mature and less nerdy, so remember this information, as you never know when it might come in handy, as my example goes to prove.

[ via Joystiq ]

PS. As for what happened with me and the girl later on, that is another story, not for the gaming blog.

A late TEDx Kraków 2010 wrap-up

Fun, education and Wojtek the soldier bear

TEDx Kraków, independent TEDx event based on TED conference that I wrote about on Barts News and helped to organize, took place in Kraków on 15 October this year - precisely two months back from today. I should have written this post earlier, but at first I was waiting for official photos and videos to be published (it took forever) and later I was swept off my feet by waves of work and other unpredicted events (don't ask).

In the upper hand right corner: yours truly with his girlfriend and coffee-sipping buddy

From gamer's perspective, the most important presentation was the one on Black Sheep's Strategy, delivered by noone else than Michał Kiciński and Marcin Iwiński, two gentlemen behind Good Old Games and two Witcher games. I found it very interesting, despite knowing most of facts presented and despite my gut feeling that not all of their choices were as concious as they were claiming them to be. I also felt proud, because it was my idea to invite them, one that I have conducted from the very beginning (early event planning) and executed through all stages (convincing Speaker Committee, contacting Marcin and Michał, suggesting themes and so on).

The dynamic duo behind GOG and CD Project Red

As for the other presentations of TEDx Kraków, it was similar to all independent conferences, meaning that some were brilliant, some okay and some downright bad. Let me highlight a few ones that I thought to be interesting.

From a geek's perspective, I especially liked the one given by Pawel Moskal on medical imaging with anti-matter. Explaining rather difficult scientific topic in a way that general public can follow, smart remarks on how science works and some witty jokes. I really enjoyed this one, even if the author was not the most confident public speaker ever. I was a little disappointed by the presentation by Paul Mankiewicz from Gaia Institute - the topic was extremely interesting, combining modern-age ecology, high technologies and urban planning, but unfortunately the delivery was nowhere near as appealing as the subject. Other nerdy presentations included Szymon Slupik's thoughts on future of mobile computing and overview of technical center in Wrocław by Mirosław Miller.

The event gathered about 500 participants

There were also non-technical presentations and some of these were truly excellent: the audience responded particularly well to Charles Crawford's Physics of Diplomacy, I found Uwe and Gabi von Seltmann's story touching and endearing (you can read the transcript here), John Scherer's talk on finding one's passion was really neat (as much as I normally abhor motivational speeches) and Richard Lucas' account of Wojtek the soldier bear was just hilarious. It was all topped by musical performances by Sambor Dudziński (very moving show), Andrew Shapiro and Olga Szwajgier (Youtube movie doesn't do her justice, her voice was off the scale).

As for presentations I didn't like, they were given by two people obsessed by food sovereignty - Jadwiga Lopata and Sir Julian Rose. The first one essentially spent all her time claiming that natural food is better (of course, but why exactly?), GMO is bad (she didn't explain why) and Polish countryside is a reservoir of knowledge and kind folks (which it isn't). I know many similar old ladies, but they aren't usually invited to conferences - why this one was is a mystery to me. As for the other speaker, he was extremely annoying, manipulating facts about GMOs and using insinuations bordering on lies - but this comes as no surprise from somewhat unstable gentleman from Prince Charles' circles.

You can read others' impressions of TEDx Kraków in English, as well as in Polish (here and here). The overall reception was very positive and the event went down in the history as one of the more successful TEDxes in Poland . You can judge it for yourself by checking the presentations on Youtube, but in my personal opinion it was much better than TEDx Warsaw and at least on par with TEDx Poznań (no link, because website expired).

One more afterthought: while TEDx Kraków turned out to be an enriching experience, I was unpleasantly surprised by reactions from some people who, upon hearing that I was organising a TEDx event, went to extremes to explain to me why it was hipster bullshit with no educational value, a complete waste of time and so on. I know from experience that whenever someone is doing something pro bono for others, they meet with mixed reactions, but the amount of negativity I've received from some (prior to the event!) was something I did not expect.

Humble Indie Bundle - The Sequel

Not that humble any more

This post is just a quick heads-up to let everyone reading this blog know that a new Humble Indie Bundle has gone live today (if you don't know what this is all about, click here for previous posts on the subject). This time the set includes Braid, Cortex Command, Osmos, Revenge of the Titans and Machinarium - quite a selection indeed! What's more, all games are available for Windows, Mac and Linux (yes, even Braid).

If you are unsure what to expect of these games, have a look at the trailer - it shows all of them in movement. I have to admit that I have not bought any of them yet, so I will throw a few golden coins at the developers in order to make up for my lack of decisiveness (or, to put it bluntly, being mean). I highly recommend that you do the same, dear reader - even a simple dollar or euro will add up. Now if only I had more time to play them...

Cat Astro Phi

I can has spaceship

Both me and my girlfriend share a soft spot for felines. We consider cats to be one of the nature's more successful creations (as for humans, well, not so much). Terry Pratchett once said that cats only tolerate humanity until someone invents can-opener that can be used with a paw and there's something in it. So it comes as no surprise that the new Flash game from ever-excellent Photon Storm tickled my fancy. Entitled Cat Astro Phi (read it out loud, please), it is a tribute to felines, Gameboy games and movies about aliens, not necessarily in that order.

The graphics are of sweet pixel art variety in all four levels of green, sprites are 8x8 pixels in size and everything is encased in Gameboy-like console box. Sound is also retro, using just 3 channels, and music tracks were prepared by talented Disasterpeace, whom we know from Rescue The Beagles game. The whole experience just feels like something taken out from the late eighties, with greenish hues, oldschool gameplay and quotes from numerous sci-fi movies. Oh, and the cat that astronaut is trying to save is called Jonesy, just like in Alien.

After you complete Cat Astro Phi, which frankly, you should, there is a lengthy outro with a lot of personal comments from game's author - I particularly liked the comment about the tribute to Gameboy, only twenty five years later. Play the game on Newgrounds and have a lot of retro fun!

[ via IndieGames ]

No Heroes Allowed!

Holy sequels, Badman!

Umph. I didn't even have time to share with you how great the second game in Badman series was, and the third one has just hit EU and US PSN.

What is this game about? The premise is similar to Dungeon Keeper, the great game of the DOS era: player is an evil overlord running his own cosy little dungeon and getting rid of those pesky heroes. But while the old classic was more about designing the dungeon and managing the creatures, this game is more about creating the appropriate ecosystem of monsters and letting the problem of heroes solve itself.That's right, player does not have control over individual creatures, their task is to create a living, thriving dungeon full of different inhabitants - think SimCity for monsters.

The second part, initially bearing a wonderful title "Holy Invasion Of Privacy, Badman! What Did I Do To Deserve This? 2", took away from me a good number of hours that I could have spent on something else. It is charming, with tongue-in-cheek humourous dialogues, numerous references do different classical rpgs and appropriately retro pixel art graphics. I did not finish neither part, due to rather steep difficulty curve and long levels later in game, but I did have bloody great time with it.

I intended to write more about No Heroes Allowed!, but unfortunately my new work is keeping me very busy, so you can have a look at the above trailer or read a proper review here, here, here or here. If you are able to read Polish, you can also check my own review on Polygamia. In short, I heartily recommend No Heroes Allowed! to anyone who enjoys logical or puzzle games, especially if they have retro tendencies. You can get it on PSN for cheap.

Free music with hint of Japan

Ichi-ban ongaku desu!

This is going to be a rather short post, containing exactly what the title promises: a bunch of cool music with Japanese tint to it, available for free. Yes, you've heard that one correctly, not a penny.

The first album, approprietly entitled Nihon (meaning Japan in Japanese), is an eclectic mix with very definitive influences from the Land of the Rising Sun that comes from Naturetone. The music can be slightly strange at times, as if it was meant to accompany a bad trip, but this is obviously intended and some of the tracks are just brilliant. The production values are very good: Nihon could very well be a commercial release. Here is what its author says about his creation:

It's a full-length tribute to the music and culture of Japan, blending live instruments, synthesizers and Golden Era Hip Hop production influences.

I would never qualify it as hip hop, but then again, I know next to nothing on how to write about music, so I guess I'll have to live with this description. The album can be downloaded from Bandcamp or from other sources.

The rest of the music comes from a band called The Kyoto Connection. The description from Free Albums Galore blog states that their music is "chilled out electro-pop mixed with a generous amount of Japanese sounds". It might very well be, I don't know, but what counts is that these tracks make for very enjoyable listening, quite different in tone than Nihon, but also very pleasing to the ear. My personal favourite is Samurai Spirit (not to be mistaken with certain game series). In case the links are down, you can find The Kyoto Connection on Jamendo.

So there you have it. Like it? Hate it? Let me know via comments. As for me, both Naturetone and The Kyoto Connection's music is my cup of o-cha.

Garden Gnome Strikes Back!

With apologies to Gnome from Gnome's Lair

I first wrote about Garden Gnome Carnage almost three years ago - yes, the game is that old. But it also happens to be a ton of wicked fun in the spirit of Monty Python, so its recent release as a flash game gave me an excellent excuse to bring it up again.

Garden Gnome Carnage by Daniel Remar is a great example of what indie games can offer: very addicting and fun game based on very strange set of abstract rules, so abstract in fact, that no commercial project would ever try to build something upon them. Player controls a building on wheels (!) that has a garden gnome attached on a string (!!) and must use it to shake off hundreds of malicious Santa's elves tat try to enter the building via chimney (!!!). Sounds strange? Just you wait, there's more.


There are also airborne elves that fly in on their sleighs and some particularly malicious one that when shot down, leave behind parachutist elves hidden in presents (I won't add any more exclamation marks, since it is becoming to look ridiculous, but feel free to add them yourself). These parachutists are particularly hard to shake off the building, but they can be swept while in air by controlling gust of winds. The gnome can also rip the bricks out of the building facade when he is flying by and throw them at elves. Think it's weird? We still haven't gotten to the really weird part.

Because there is also a cat that can refill the bricks on the bulding's facade, there's a trick to get him to sparkle, which results in obtaining explosive golden bricks, there are airstrikes and princess that can replenish them, there's reinforcements that can arrive... Yes, the premise of the game is delightfully absurd, but the funny part is that it actually works. I've been playing Garden Gnome Carnage every now and then for about a year until I reached some wicked sick highscores - and seeing the comments on Newsgrounds, I get the feeling that I am not the only one to be hooked by its addictive nature.

Garden Gnome Carnage has been revamped for its flash release: it now features slightly refreshed graphics (or maybe they just look better when not upscaled, I am not sure), new options screen, new chiptune music, even the minigames have been altered. The occasional slowdown happens from time to time when there are hundreds of elves climbing the building, flying in the air, being blown up and falling down, but it is never too annoying. All in all, the port is a slightly enhanced version with some tweaks to gameplay that actually make it more accessible for your average player out there.

What more can I say? Follow this link and play Garden Gnome Carnage on Newgrounds (or alternatively on Kongregate) and if you want to have a go at it on your netbook on the go, download the original standalone version from Daniel's site or from TIGSource.

[ via IndieGames ]