On the difficulty of Demon's Souls and the ease of games

I can't exactly give a proper review of Demon's Souls, as I've only played maybe 2 hours of it, but if the game remains along the same path, then I can at least state an opinion/observation...

Many people seem to love the game for the apparent return of it's "old school" nature: extreme difficulty. In an era where people are complaining about the increasing ease of games, and the emergence of the casual genre, it makes sense that something with a nostalgic feel has a moderate re-emergence.

However, while some may call this innovative, I am more tempted to consider it broken, and something that should probably only be a one-off (unless there's a direct sequel - to put it another way, From Software should be the only ones to developer a game like this).

The reason it's broken is simple: it's backwards.

We're in an era where games are moving forward in terms of ease and speed (checkpoints, regenerating health) because the people playing them and making them, who more than likely also grew up with them, don't have the time to spend dozens of hours on one game, trying to accomplish one task. When we were young we had lots of time, so a game like this was the norm. Not to mention there was nothing like the modern games we had, so we were all used to "extreme" difficulty.

It makes sense that as we age, and go from the player to the creator, we want to make games that we would play. Unfortunately, modern youth, who still do (and youth more than likely always will) have lots and lots of time for games that are more old school in nature. Then again, there are also adults who have felt "burned" by the increasing ease and predominance of casual games.

But are easier, more time-friendly games a bad thing? Definitely not.

As the language of games matures, it begins to take on it's own unique features. While games from the past decade were mostly trying to mimic movies in their grandiose, cinematic scale, games of today appear to be going more in the direction of books and TV - chapters.

While games have been having save and checkpoints for quite some time, it's only more recently that game makers are understanding the benefits of pacing and creating chapters.

A perfect example of this is the Uncharted series. Each game has around 25 chapters, with each chapter being anywhere from 15 to 45 minutes. It can be difficult to find time to play a game, and so when we sit down, we may not really know how long we really have to play. Using chapters is a great way to generate a sense of accomplishment and progress in a small time, even though we may not know how long a chapter will be.

The addition of chapters adds a certain flow that only benefits the narrative and structure of a well-crafted game, to the point where playing through a well-written game such as the Uncharted series is akin to reading a good book that you can't put down. You always want to read or play just one more chapter, and with the progress and direction in which games are going, players can go through a chapter and know that it won't take forever, or if they die, all that time spent will be for naught.

This is the lesson that Demon's Souls sadly ignores - the value of time. I am very intrigued by the world, story and mythos of Demon's Souls, but I have sadly neither the time, interest, or, really, patience to put up with it's design.

Perhaps the sequel will make up for this, but I doubt it.

Star Wars: Force Unleashed: Ultimate Sith edition review

Ok, so I actually wrote this review on a gaming website in the comments section a couple of months ago, but have been meaning to review it here, anyway.... So, without further ado, poorly pieced together and slightly reworked is a review of Star Wars: The Force Unleashed - Ultimate Sith Edition...........



Quite frankly, it sucks. It's the epitome of bad Western video games:

Poor hit detection (right next to an enemy, facing directly and the lightning doesn't hit)

Bad balance (having to replay a section 10 times on normal difficulty? they added waves of bad guys to padden the length of the game, because it's otherwise very short)

Reusing of assets/levels

Lousy voice acting (particularly the Emperor, more of a caricature than gloom, seriousness, and gravitas of Episode VI)

Rather bland/odd looking character models (particularly the female pilot)

Also, it's called the Force Unleashed, so just skip all of the awkward pseudo RPG elements and let me be a damn Jedi/Sith with power. Don't give me a small Force meter for recharging, give me UNLIMITED POWER (zap).

And the health system... this game has made me of the mind that, instead of having "difficulties" in games, bad guys should always be of a certain level, but players should be able to choose how their own character has health and energy (e.g., instead of the normal 100% health, you could have 900% health). I am so tired of dying in games, it's an archaic design from the days of arcades and needs to stop.

As for the story... it's got some good and bad. I don't think the characterizations are very good (particularly Vader). The actual plot seems rather cheesy.

Force Grip is another issue I had. As "fun" as locking several people together, it was unnecessary (apologies to those who worked on the physics of the game - I commend the work, just didn't use it much).

For Force Push (which was worthless for the Purge Troopers... more on them later), I would have much preferred simply pressing a button and automatically having the nearest object fly at the nearest enemy (or directed enemy). Or the nearest enemy go flying. Would have preferred something like that significantly more.

Also, that reminds me, the game had very little clear direction in what to do (poor level design). Just so flawed. Bah, must stop before I go off the deep end.

Terrible jumping and platforming. Let's also throw in the mediocre camera, made worse due to the bad platforming and level design.

And the unskippable cutscenes. Ugh

All around bad logic - you can manipulate an entire Star Destroyer but not a single Purge Trooper? As one of hte other commenters pointed out, "they supposedly had magnetic boots which allowed them not to be picked up. Which for one, why not give everyone magnetic boots? And also, if the character is strong in the force enough to do all the force grip "puzzle" portions, why can he not pull the Troopers apart an the shins?"

On the whole, I have no idea how it got a Meta score in the low 70s. While the game is playable, I would rate it somewhere in the mid 40s, low 50s, and recommend this as a rental only (I prefer the CAG method of giving a recommended buying price, but I can't recommend anyone buying this. Maybe, maaaaybe, $5 for the Ultimate Sith Edition).

Gotta love 3D movies

They pretty much are and always will be a gimmick. They were a gimmick in the 50s, a gimmick in the 80s. A gimmick in the 90s. And now that pretty much every major live action franchise blockbuster movie is going to be in 3D, a gimmick in the 2010s. Avatar opened the door, and just because one film had massive success with it doesn't mean every film will.

Part of the appeal of Avatar's 3D effects was that the world was so colorful and vibrant, and that you wanted to explore, be a part of, and absorb every sense of it. A majority of the films being announced as 3D are simply piggy-backing on the success of Avatar - very few offer a world that you want to explore. However, that's not to say there won't be a few good ones.

The biggest concern is simply that 3D will become so mainstream so quickly that it will lose it's appeal. That, or everyone will own their own pair of 3D glasses, and ticket prices (and profits) will go down, that Hollywood will need to find a new gimmick (scents?).

In any case, studios shouldn't expect to have anywhere near the success that Avatar had, and (BIG GUESS) by Summer 2012, 3D won't be nearly the spectacle it was with Avatar in December of 2009.