kaioa.com

*plop* :'(

I'm actually not dead

Just a bit unlucky. Twice in a row. Being without net access for about 2 weeks is somewhat akin to a new experience. I can't really remember how I did things before the internet. Almost everything I do requires a working connection. I need it for documentation, looking up synonyms/words, downloading/updating libraries/frameworks/compilers, bouncing ideas around, etc.

Everything seems to depend on it. Heck, I couldn't even make phone calls. Maybe I should get one of those annoying mobile phones. Meh.

Not everything was bad though. Having a few days without any PC running wasn't all that bad. I also got around playing some games. No More Heroes (Wii) and God of War 2 (PS2) were actually pretty entertaining. So, I'll dive into that for now.

No More Heroes

No More Heroes is a game by directed by Goichi Suda who is also the man behind other odd games such as Killer7 or the less well known Michigan (aka Michigan: Report from Hell). The story somewhat goes like this: you're Travis Touchdown (awesome name). He's a good for nothing otaku who gets some light saber ("beam katana") of eBay ("internet auction") in order to become a hitman. Yea, that's really the plot. I'm not making this up.

The graphical representation with it's high contrast, sort-of cell shading, and excessive effects is rather unusual. Visually it's somewhat close to Killer7. However, unlike Killer7 this game is actually rather good. Despite visual overload in the action sequences it remains surprisingly playable - even if it doesn't look this way for spectators.

I played the German PAL version which lacks blood like the Japanese version does. What's special about this version are 2 silly bugs:

1. In one of the phone scenes the subtitles switch to Spanish (or so) while the audio (through the wiimote) stays English.
2. Once you're ranked third you can't train anymore, because you won't be able to leave the gym due to some odd glitch.

Both are 100% reproducible. The first one doesn't really matter much, but the second one is quite devastating; you have to turn the console off. If you didn't save beforehand you'll lose quite a bit. About 2 hours if you're unlucky.

It's a mystery how something like this slipped through QC. If you finish the game once, you'll stumble upon this bug.

The collision detection/response in the (non-critical) driving parts is amazingly bad. It's probably the worst I've ever seen.

The soundtrack, however, is very catchy. It's a bit on the too pushy side of things, but it works very well in the game.

It's a bit of a mixed bag, really. Lot's of rough edges all over the place therefore I can't really recommend it without reservation, but I guess it's worth a look or two.

God of War 2

This game is a bit older, but it's truly impressive all the way. With such a huge team and its great predecessor it isn't really much of a surprise though. It's like the first part - just bigger and better. It's plain mind boggling what they managed to pull out of that puny PS2.

They also managed to cloak the loading times very well. You'll rarely see that loading indicator flash up within the game.

The QTEs are a bit on the annoying side of things here and there. Especially if you don't play PS2 games often. Those buttons just don't mean much to you and you've to think too much about where they are at the beginning. QTEs aren't bad per se though. It's just they are initially a bit harder than necessary if some abstract button labels are used instead of directions.

NMH's QTEs for example are single or two-handed movements, which are very intuitive to pull off. Well, there are also button trigger QTEs, but these are less time critical. And there are also "classic" button QTEs, but only with that random smartbomb thingy, which isn't essential for beating the game.

Well, back to GoW. If you liked the first part or if you are interested in the genre, get it. It's pretty cheap these days.