The Oppo has landed

As I understand it, any of the main characters can be killed (with the exception of one obvious one.) I made it through with all of them alive, but it would be interesting to see what happens to the overall story and the ending if some are killed.


I agree about fan noise. My biggest issue is with my projection set, which has a quite audible fan. I keep it off when listening to music.

What tempted me was the ending, where it shows various snapshots. As an example, when I visited the doctor's house as Madison, I refused the wine, snooped around and then left since I figured the doc was a creep. The ending showed a clip that looked like the doctor had some kind of crazy experiment going on in another room or the basement. I'm not sure how that would have ended for me, but the snapshop intrigued me.

Bad fan noise!

I drank the wine. You end up in the basement chained to a table with him planning some fatal experiments on you. That results in a series of events where you can ultimately escape and prevail in a fight against him. It would be interesting to see how ugly it gets if you fail!

Even Bond falls for drinking spiked cocktails at times.

Oh, I knew bad things would come of it, but I was rolling the dice that I could escape whatever happened. That is the interesting thing about how the game handles the fight-for-your-life sequences: it is very forgiving if you make mistakes and hit the wrong buttons, but doing so really prolongs the battle and gets your pulse rate up. The longer the sequences go on, the more unbearable they become -- I hit the wrong button enough times in the battle(s) with the doctor and really did not think that I would survive.

I may have to replay that chapter just to see for myself.

That is the one nice thing -- you can restart any chapter and see some of the different results that may occur.

But then I will distort the story I have already played out. Oh the quandary!

The fact that a mere game can create such quandaries speaks volumes for how well it was executed.

Indeed. It was an excellent game. I am really glad you recommended it.

The fact that I am in a quandary over going back to redo things so that I can make more mistakes speaks volumes . . .

Yes, but mistakes in this case lead to fun events.


I am nearly done with Unchartered 2, and I have to say that I think that I enjoyed Heavy Rain more. Stylistically, that may be comparing apples to oranges, but the former received more universally ecstatic reviews than the latter.

Having the opportunity to get your character killed is a fun event? Yeah, I suppose . . . .

Another game I am having a blast with is Assassin's Creed 2. I did not expect much from this game, but it is very well executed, has a compelling storyline, great graphics, and wicked kill sequences. The control scheme initially appears confusing, but it's not and is actually quite simple. However, I still preferred Heavy Rain for its dark atmosphere and story. It just sucked me in.

Well, I am a sucker for that kind of story anyway. Se7en is one of my favorite movies. The storylines for games like Unchartered and Creed seem inherently a bit less interesting.

I have been looking for the PC version of Two Worlds II since it has gotten better reviews than any of the console versions (not surprisingly) but the "boxed" version of seems to keep getting delayed. That is especially irritating since it is currently available for digital download, but at 3.5 gigabytes with no real internet access at home, that is not a viable format for me. (It would probably take two days to download that much at public wifi like a coffee shop.)

Can you bring your laptop to work and hook in through their wired network? I'm sure their running a T1 line or something equally as fast.

Incidentally, the storyline in Creed 2 isn't bad. But no, it is not on the same level as Heavy Rain. However, the world design is fantastic and is a blast to run around in. Little things like chasing down a pickpocket who just stole from you and driving a spike through his head in a back alley, then dumping his body into a stack of hay so that guards don't become alerted is wonderfully satisfying. Movement is designed around free running, so you can get into some incredible chase sequences (either as the pursuer or escapee).

I did try playing the first Assassins Creed but did not get into it. I may have to try the second one. I am really itching for an RPG, however.


My employer would frown upon me using their network for such purposes!

Well, there is no sense in getting into trouble over it. However, if the network isn't monitored and you do it off hours (so as not to create network lag), there is probably little harm.

Assassin's Creed 2 is exponentially better than its predecessor.

No reason to give my employer an excuse for further layoffs!


Have you tried Mirror's Edge? I saw that was on the "Greatest Hits/Game of the Year"-type section for $30. So was Arkham Asylum, for that matter, which is probably the first one that I should pick up.

Arkham Asylum is one that I have also been meaning to pick up.

Well, I went to do so, and saw that Dragon Age Origins II was also out, and wavered back and forth for a while, then ultimately picked up Nausicca and The Walking Dead on Blu-Ray instead. That is what I get for being indecisive.

I quite enjoyed Walking Dead. For a zombie series, it does quite well. Are you familiar with the graphic novels?

Swaying slightly on topic (twice in one day!), the Cambridge player is supposedely listing at $1599. Seems a bit much for a BD-93 with wolfson DACs, DacMagic-filtering capabilities and dedicated two-channel out.

The ears would be the final judge. I would likely not spend the money (though the distortion shift in that Nuforce model keeps nagging at me.)


Never read the graphic novels. I am looking forward to the series. (I may finish Deadwood first. Ten episodes to go. Season three has started out very well so far.)

Walking Dead is only six episodes, so it goes quick. Still, I think you will enjoy. It is very well done for a made-for-TV series.

And, yes, the NuForce BDP-93 would be fun.

Indeed.


Nausicca, by the way, looked fantastic on Blu. Does SeaJunior like Miyazaki movies?

I don't know. I've never gotten into japanimation.

Well, Miyazaki movies certainly qualify as anime, but Miyazaki is really a genre unto himself. Sort of like Disney, in a way. (He is often called the Walt Disney of Japanese animation, not because of his style so much as consistency.)