Game Trials

I came across a "trials" page at one of my favorite download sites. These trials allow you to try a game, the full version, for an allotted amount of time. If you like the game you have the option to click a button and purchase the game. It is a neat marketing scheme that, in theory, is great. The idea is that you will be so into whatever game you are playing that you will feel the need to purchase the game when the trial is over. It is a way of triggering an impulse buy. But for me, the theory didn't work in practice. I am a mature gamer. I will sit down and fire up a game and may get called away from it for any number of reasons. Phone call, wife wanting something, kids wanting something or just taking a break. For these situations, I hit the Escape key, which pauses the game, and go tend to whatever. The problem with these trials is that the clock continues to tick even though I am not actually playing. So for me "demos" are a better choice. They may only be a small portion of the game and some may even have features missing but at least I can finish the demo and still tend to other matters.

Of course this didn't stop me from downloading some of these trials. I played them but none of them hooked me significantly enough to want to buy them. Oh well. I guess the marketing boys will have to talk about the big fish that got away.

Prince of Persia - The Sands of Time

This game from UBISOFT in Montreal demonstrates how an old, boring gaming concept can be revamped into something new and vibrant.

The game tells the story of a young prince in search of glory and paternal approval who finds instead betrayal, magic and love. As the story is told, we (the player) must solve puzzles and survive battles to continue the saga. The cinematic scenes are beautifully done and the game play is solid.

I don't typically go for puzzle games. They tend to become tedious and pointless over the course of the game and I usually have no interest in finishing such games. However, Prince of Persia (POP) does it right. The developers have intertwined the puzzle solving with battles and upon completing the puzzles and battles, the story is told through cinematic cut-scenes. For the most part, everything was put together in such a way that the puzzles made sense and they were difficult enough that you felt a sense of accomplishment for completing them.

The game shows the player a third person view of the action. The controls could be set to whatever is comfortable for you. I played the PC version but the Xbox and PS2 versions are straight forward also. I think I only changed one setting, so the default setup was very intuitive with the standard W,A,S,D movement keys and mouse button attack keys. There was only one thing about the interface that I actually hated. The automatic camera angle. For the most part the player controls the angle at which they view the action. However, to help out in situations where walls are in the way, the camera suddenly snaps to a different viewpoint and makes a "whooshing" sound. In theory, this is a great way to implement a third person view. But in practice, it caused a couple of areas where it seemed I was battling not only the puzzles but the interface as well. It was so bad on a couple of areas, I had to walk away from the game and try to figure out a way to avoid the areas where the camera would suddenly change on me. On a lesser game, this may have made me throw the game away, but the desire to see the rest of the story of POP made me keep coming back for more.

The battle interface was very cool, and allowed you to make several different acrobatic maneuvers to defeat your foes. The central theme, the Sands of Time, allows you to time warp the action by slowing the enemy (enables some pretty cool slow motion battle sequences) and to actually rewind time when you make a mistake. Another excellent detail was the presentation of save points. If you chose to enter a save point you were presented with a black and white "vision" of the action you were about to enter into. This was invaluable in some areas as it gave you quick visual cues as to how to solve some of the puzzles. The enemy AI, while not brilliant or overpowering, fit this game very well. After all, this is first a puzzle game with the fighting parts thrown in for good measure. You must generally fight four foes at a time and as you dispatch one another warps in to take its place until the scene is complete.

The sound effects and music were excellent. From the sounds of dripping water, crumbling walls and swooshing swords to the mood setting music, UBISOFT did a great job in the sound department.

Overall this game is well worth getting if you like puzzle games or just like to play a game that will keep you amused with a story. Try the demo.

Far Cry

Played through the demo of the game Far Cry today. This game looks gorgeous. Taking place on an island paradise the graphics are stunning. You can see tropical fish swimming in the water and the horizon reflects in the water. Beautiful.

The AI was good but not great. The AI causes enemies to take cover and try to surround you...usually. There were a couple of times that the AI got stuck, just stood there or stood in front of me and didn't shoot. The AI will call in re-enforcement from land, sea and air.

The game allows you to drive vehicles. The boat and buggy you get to drive are pretty good, and both have a machine gun mounted that can be fired independent of the direction you are driving.

I thought the demo showed off a nice variety of weapons that will be offered in the game. You can use a sniper rifle and silenced MP5 as well as a pistol, M4, and P90. You will also find fragmentation grenades, flash bangs and a rocket launcher. You can also interact with the environment and can take control of some mounted machine guns which are quite devastating.

Overall the game felt a little like Halo (if you have played that) as far as pacing/speed goes but the game ran smoothly on my P4 1.8 GHZ system with a GeForce Ti4400 video card at the game's medium settings.

This is a game I am going to keep my eyes on. My main concerns will be how the multiplayer experience will pan out and whether the single player game will be long enough to warrant spending $60-$70 on. You can get the demo at one of the download sites listed here. But be warned, this game requires you to have a very good 3D video card with the latest drivers installed.

Uh...sure...whatever

I don't like smoking. I think most (not all) the laws and by-laws pertaining to smoking are good. But this is just dumb.

Cigarettes have not been used in movies as a sexy prop in probably 30 or 40 years. I can't even think of the last leading lady or man who was portrayed as a smoker. Then again maybe I just don't notice things like that in a movie. Probably too busy noticing the story.

Memory Lane

This article made me start thinking about old comic books and cartoons I used to read as a boy. First there were the typical superhero comics. My favourites included Spiderman, Batman, and Iron Man. In my early teen years I remember hurrying to get the latest MAD magazine from the stands. What about CRACKED magazine? Remember that?

I wonder if these comics are as big today as they seemed to have been when I was young. I know there is a big collector's market for old comic books. New comics are out there and MAD and CRACKED are both still in publication. Maybe I'll take a look at the local magazine shop and see if I can find anything interesting. It seems to me that my son is at just the right age (9) to get turned on to comics.

Rewrite the Owner's Manual

CBC News reports that Sea King pilots are going to be trained to "ditch at sea" these ancient helicopters. I've ranted on this before; here under the title "Look out, here come the Canadians". If any other employer was using equipment known to be this dangerous and where the malfunction of the equipment was a virtual certainty, such an employer would be fined to death (as they should be) for such blatant disregard for their employees. How does the government get away with this in the armed forces? It is criminal to knowingly but people's lives at risk in this way.

Mats is Lucky

The stick throwing incident by Mats Sundin the other night could have been an ugly situation. For those not in the know, Mats broke his stick on a shot attempt and tossed the broken shaft into the stands out of frustration. No one was hurt and that is where Sundin is very lucky. Someone could have been seriously injured. No penalty was called as somehow both referees didn't see what happened. The league has suspended Sundin for one game. Unfortunately for the Leafs, the game is a big one against Ottawa. The game will hurt Sundin in the wallet to the tune of 47,685.19 bucks (money goes to the Players' Emergency Assistance Fund). But I think the league is correct in the suspension. The fact that nobody was hurt is moot. The potential for disaster was there and all because of a fraction of a second that one person wasn't thinking about how his actions may affect those around him. As far as I know (based on the televised reports I have seen) neither Sundin nor anyone in the Leafs' organization is fighting the decision. It shows that they are at least aware that this sort of "brain cramp" can't be tolerated, no matter who you happen to be.

Irony

This past weekend my family had a little getaway up north of here. It is our second year going and we planned to skate and toboggan. This year the weather was too mild. In fact, if the golf course had been open it would have been a great golf weekend. Fortunately, there is an indoor pool at the Nottawasaga Inn where we stayed and they did have some activities to keep the kids occupied. It just wasn't the trip we had hoped for and therefore, somewhat disappointing.

Of course, we woke up this morning to a blanket of snow.