Game First Impressions - Dishonored

First things first. I didn't finish "Borderlands 2" yet. As I said before, if "Dishonored" came out before I was done I was switching over and would go back when finished. That's what has happened. I played quite a bit of "Dishonored" over the weekend, so here's a quick first impression.

First of all, let's get out of the way that this is like "Splinter Cell", "Hitman", and "Bioshock" rolled into one. At least the way I'm playing it feels that way. You see, you can play each mission a great variety of ways; killing and not killing as you see fit, run and gun or stealth. I can see this as a sign of great re-playability. Supposedly the main story only takes about 6 hours to complete, but I'm at least that far in, but haven't even finished the first official mission. Let me clarify that. I'm playing it the absolute hardest way possible, playing non-lethal ghost (you can't kill anyone and no one can be alerted to your presence, like "Hitman") and in order to get a really high achievement I'm not upgrading or buying any powers, so there's been loads of restarting parts and even the prologue. I enjoy that type of gameplay and it isn't ever the same way twice because the paths of the guards changed every time I would reload. Also, if you want low "chaos" you have to hide bodies so they aren't discovered which can be a chore in some areas a la "Splinter Cell".

The visual style isn't like either of those games, though. It is much more like "Bioshock" with a kinda Steampunk/Victorian style and directly apes that game in that the "snacks" and items that are strewn about the areas faintly glow gold when you are near them and curser over them. Another thing that reminds me of "Bioshock" are the audio logs that you'll find in different areas that give you some back story. Don't think I'm bashing it for these things, it actually does them quite well and I really liked these touches in "Bioshock". Character models are as good as "Bioshock" and movements & mannerisms are relatively realistic. The only thing that kinda gets me is that the environments are really nice to look at until you get up close to walls, rocks, or ships, the textures are not rendered very detailed. There's so much detail in the world itself that these "out of focus" looking textures kinda stand out and bug me a bit (I'm playing on the 360, btw). Overall, though, I really like the game so far and would encourage pretty much anyone to play it.

Game First Impression - Borderlands 2

Today's is gonna be real quick and I'll have a full review of a movie tomorrow for Freaky Friday.

I really enjoyed the first "Borderlands" once it got going and made a little sense, but never really finished it because I started to get bored and the bugs that I kept encountering just drove me a little nuts (more than usual). So with great hesitation, especially because there was no demo, I purchased it last week and have been playing it some for the last week. Just so you know, 8-10 hour gaming sessions just don't happen with me anymore because of work and the fact that my neck starts to throb then I start to get headaches (it's a medical condition I have) so this is based on mebbe 8-10 hours of gameplay total.

I like where they went with it. Claptrap is still effing annoying, but the game is much more smooth and polished this time around. The visuals got an overhaul so they still stay true to the series, but don't have such a messy "everything but the kitchen sink" feel to them. And mebbe because I played the first one, but it is a much easier game to grasp although they still don't explain how to do everything. A little trial and error is par for the course here which is standard for an RPG. Money gets plentiful pretty fast, especially if you sell of any weapons and shields you don't need at every chance you get (which you should, your inventory is not very big). The humor, however, is the best part. Handsome Jack's interjections while you're playing are just priceless. Imagine, if you will, that they made an "Archer" video game and that Archer was the main villain, then I think you get the idea.

I played to level 8 with Zero the Assassin (3rd from the left) and then tried Axton the Commando (far left) because those were the characters I was torn on. I gotta say, I like Axton much better. His special ability works better from afar than Zero's and even though Zero is supposed to be great as a sniper or close up, Axton seems to be better with the sniper role (which is how I like to play) and is better at mid-range. Close-up isn't his forte, but I prefer to not let them get that close to begin with! I think I'll continue with Axton and I'll write a full review based on that. Hopefully I can finish it before 10/9/12 because it will get dumped in favor of "Dishonored".