A most amazing week (or so) for gamers! (1 Viewer)

[RAF]

Upon my return last week (10/28) from the HTF-LA meet (which was amazing itself!) I not only had many, many hours of TV to catch up on but also three significant games waiting for me: Little Big Planet for the PS3 and Fallout 3 and Fable II for the XBox 360. Now that I've essentially caught up with all my TV series I've started entering the creative and diverse worlds that this trio of major releases offers.

What an outstanding Trifecta of titles!!



Each one is completely original and quite unlike the others. Little Big Planet is a gem for all ages and somewhat open-ended with all the level creation tools, Fallout 3 is a post-apocalyptic view with a decided Bethesda (Oblivion) take on things (which is a good thing) and Fable II is the Fable Franchise on steroids, to say the least. We've all been talking about the "Golden Age of Gaming" and the past few weeks have certainly added quite a few doubloons to the pile (with many more on the horizon!)

My personal favorite at the moment? Fable II. While all the titles rank near "10" in my book there is something a bit hypnotic about this title that has me mesmerized at the moment - making it hard to turn off. Last night (after the election results) I got absorbed in Peter M.'s tale and the next thing I knew it was 6 a.m.! I predict many sleepless nights over the next few weeks. And when will I get the chance to watch all the great new Blu-ray movies that were also waiting for me?

 

[Aaron Silverman]

I need to retire.

 

[Edwin-S]

And Gears of War 2 and C.O.D: World at War are due out in the next couple of weeks. Not to mention Band of Brothers on the BD movie side of things. Man, why they do things like this is beyond me. Now, I'm stuck trying to decide what I want most, because I can't afford all of them.

 

[RAF]

Yes, as Aaron indirectly pointed out, I'm retired (and have been for nine years!). Even with all that, there's not enough time for all the great titles coming out (both in gaming and in movies!).

I didn't mean to "diss" Gears of War 2 or Call of Duty: World At War or any of the other "combat" titles coming out (Resistance 2 on the PS3, for example). Those will also be truly remarkable based on early reports. While I'll probably pick them up, the combat genre is not my favorite one for most things. But I completely agree that the game play is totally engrossing.

Game on!

 

[Matt^Brown]

Raf whenever you quit playing Fable and move on to Fallout 3 please post your thoughts. I have debated on buying this but my time is limited so for now I have decided on GoW2. I only have 8 hours until I can pick my copy up then I just have to make sure I don't stay up so late tonight that I miss work tomorrow.

 

[RAF]

I've already played a couple of hours of Fallout 3 (in fact I actually put it in the XBox 360 before Fable 2 when I returned from L.A.) As a huge fan of Bethesda's Oblivion I wanted to see if Fallout 3 keeps or improves on the interface of that game - and it does! The NPCs make all sorts of comments ala Oblivion and now you have the choice of responses that are similar to Mass Effect. If you are a fan of Oblivion then Fallout 3 is a must! The world seems to be even bigger in this new game and it is truly a "sandbox" experience.

Just as I was getting ready to really settle into the world of Fallout 3 I decided to take a quick look at Fable 2 to see if it lived up to the hype. It certainly does and is an amazing title. Peter M. has finally realized the full potential of Fable (I) in some very interesting ways thanks, in part, to the advance of technology since the original game was released for the XBox. While the controls stay basically the same there are a lot of enhancements. Fable 2 also has a very big world with lots and lots of side quests. There is an ingenious GPS using what I like to call "tinkerbell vapor trails" to show you where your current quest is headed. And the use of a pet dog as your ally for fighting, locating treasures (in chests and in the ground!) is eerily realistic. I actually found the menu system which keeps track of all quests, leveling up, side quests, inventory, strength, skill, will, etc. etc. to be extremely helpful in such a vast game - and this organization of such matters really drew me into Fable 2 in a way I didn't want to stop. You can go along with the main quest or take the "sandbox" approach with Fable 2 just as you can with Fallout 3. The user interface made it easier for me to get completely absorbed with the former first.

Make no mistake - while Fable 2 looks beautiful in a "cartoonish" way, Fallout 3 looks more realistic and with far greater graphic detail. And while Fable 2 sort of holds you by the hand as you get acquainted with its world, Fallout 3 leads you above ground via a very good tutorial first section and then throws you out to basically fend for yourself in a post-apocalyptic environment. I'm sure that there are all sorts of ways to keep track of everything but it is far more complex than the Fable 2 interface. Also, I probably haven't really given myself enough time to get acquainted with the full operation of both games (I will, eventually) and I decided to concentrate on one rather than play them concurrently. Fable 2 was the first choice because it lends itself to total immersion with a less steep learning curve.

Two last comments. First, it took me a while to figure out why Fable 2 is rated "M" just as Fallout 3 is. At the start it looked like this is something my grandkids would enjoy. The "violence" was a bit like Overlord and similar - along with the witty British side remarks - not at all gory and more or less cartoon violence. Then I dug up my first condom and was told to make sure I used it when having sex with the villagers. And then there's the "love" interests, the bedrooms, etc. etc. Very clever - but also not for young children. I wish, once again, that there was a Fable Lite (or something like that) which could be released as a parallel game without all the things that give it an "M" rating. Don't get me wrong - I'm not complaining about the current Fable 2 in the least and I wouldn't change a thing. It's just that it would be nice to have a way to let the under 12 set experience the world of Fable without a lot of possible questions. (I said the same thing about GTA4 when it came out. I loved it, but I would have liked another game with the same game engine without the violence and the language for my grandkids. I think there would be a huge market for such a thing at very little extra developmental cost.)

Secondly, I'm not trying to imply that Fable 2 is a better game than Fallout 3 (and the reviewers seem to be rating the latter higher by a point or more). It's just a different game than Fallout 3 with some things that are hard to put into words without experiencing it. I'm glad to have both titles in my game library and they will both occupy places high in my top ten list for 2008 as far as I can determine.

I give both of them :star: :star: :star: :star: :star: out of :star: :star: :star: :star: :star:

 

[Matt^Brown]

RAF,
That was an outstanding review for both of those games.

 

[DaveF]

RAF - it's good to see a retired gamer enjoying new games. As a mid-30s "gamer", with little time for gaming, I enjoy what I can play but struggle to gain competence with the new games and their new controls and styles. Maybe I just lack the attention and time to master them -- perhaps in 30 years I can enjoy gaming as much as you are

 

[RAF]

Mike,

Thanks for the kind words.

Dave,

I've probably been gaming long before many members here were born! (I'm 66). In fact, I was an adult (chronologically) BEFORE the first PONG game came out and raised a few eyebrows when I started playing that one and similar. As with HT and HiFi, I've been there since the beginning. The only downside is that the reflexes are not what they once were so I admit to playing these things through on the easiest settings (at least the first time through). Old age sucks in that regard. But the grandkids love beating up on Grandpa (although they admit that I have fantastic "toys.")

As one who grew up with computers (my signature indicates that I actually built my first "computer" in 1956 - it was an Analog Heathkit but it was a computer) I constantly marvel at the worlds and the immersion that the modern titles create and perpetuate. The graphics have become amazing and the interfaces are downright scary in terms of involvement. That's why I've been totally drawn into Fable 2. I haven't felt so much part of a game since Oblivion and probably even more so. But I also understand why some gamers would prefer Fallout 3 to Fable 2. The game play in Fallout 3 is much more open-ended and challenging (not that Fable 2 is linear by any means.) Personally, I can't wait to finish Fable 2 so that I can play through it again with different choices! With so many games on the ToDo pile that's just sick - in both senses of the word!

As I said before, my only regret with these wonderful worlds is that youngsters (under 17 in theory but under 10 in reality) are shut out of them because of the content and, sometimes, the language - ala GTA4. I will have no problem sharing the opening act of Fable 2 with even the 7 year old, but after that it gets a bit dicey. And that's almost cruel, because once they see Fable 2, they will want to play it. However, I want to see their eyes when they play through that first segment ("Childhood.") There really should be some middle ground - as I suggested in an earlier post.

Game on!