Last Father’s Day, my thoughtful-and-smoking-hot wife surprised me with a copy of Bioshock for the PS3. The game originally debuted for the PC and XBox 360 in 2007, and later ported to the PS3 in 2008. It’s a first-person shooter, much like the classic games of yore that I used to really enjoy, such as Wolfenstein 3D and Half-Life. Did you notice that I said “used to enjoy”? Well, yes, I used to be really into first-person shooters, and no, I never felt nauseous or dizzy while playing them. As a matter of fact, I felt immersed.

However, after some time away from most games in this genre, I got into third-person (over the shoulder) games like the those of the Uncharted series, and also Heavenly Sword. I like them better, because you can still be the character, and yet see what’s going on around. Who’s in front of you, who’s behind you, who’s creeping up next to you with a shotgun. It’s the best of both worlds. In comparison, first-person shooters seemed a little…… I’m not sure how to describe it. I guess what unnerved me was that in those first-person games, you can’t see someone behind you or sneaking up next to you. I don’t like scary surprises — I’m the kind of guy who doesn’t even like showering with my eyes closed. Call it paranoia.

Back to the present — it’s been nine months, and I hadn’t played Bioshock yet, but I knew it was a fantastic game. I mean, I heard, anyway. Early last year, I had downloaded the demo, and it was some scary shit. The visuals were beautiful, but the geez, the atmosphere was too real. The background sounds, the dangerous splicers off in the distance talking, the occasional approaching footsteps that aren’t your own. Man, talk about unnerving. It was scary, and yet exhilarating. I was unnerved (probably unnecessarily since it’s just a game), but since it’s so beautiful and enthralling, I was so intrigued.

Bioshock is one unnerving game experience.

So, there was I was this month. It was a quiet weekend, I’d recently beaten Uncharted 2 a few weeks earlier. I popped in the Blu-ray game disc, and bam!, back to be freaked out. I’ve played only a few hours so far, but wow, it’s a fantastic game. The visuals of this art-deco city under the ocean are stunning and enchanting, and the gameplay is….. well…. it’s well-done, but utterly unnerving. Twice so far, I’ve walked into a room, and then the lights went off. Footsteps approached quickly, and I was attacked.  So yeah, a guy who doesn’t even like to close his eyes in the shower, and there I’m fighting in the dark for my life.

So what’s the premise? The game is set in an alternate 1960 in the underwater city of Rapture. This fellow named Andrew Ryan built a city underwater, and took the so-called “best and the brightest” with him to create a utopian society, far away from religion, capitalism, and communism. Down there, scientists discovered some sort of sea slug that could be used to synthesize this stuff called ADAM, which could be used to make various plasmids. These injectable plasmids would rewrite your DNA, and give you abilities like shooting electricity, fire, etc, out of your hands.

Somewhere along the way, the utopian society gave way to madness and anarchy. Most people went crazy, and started killing each other. Your airplane (you are Jack) crash lands in the water near the Rapture, and end up in this decaying, falling-apart city under the ocean, and surrounded by the surviving denizens of Rapture, now called “splicers.” Oh, they’re all quite mad. Quite, quite mad. People walking around with large butcher knives, blood splattered on the walls, freaky stuff written on the walls in blood, people wearing those weird animals masks (a la The Shining.) One time, there was this one woman crying over a coffin. I walked up to her, and she turned around and started attacking me, while wearing a bunny mask. I killed her, and looked in the coffin. It was empty, except a cake.

If the story and the visuals weren’t so amazing, I would have thrown the disc into the fireplace a long time ago.

I can’t believe it. I just can’t believe it. I finished Uncharted 2: Among Thieves. For weeks, I’ve been slugging away at each chapter of the game, painstakingly finding every treasure (thanks to the good folks at IGN and their game guides), and collecting achievements (trophies.)  Yesterday, I reached the last chapter, fought my way to the boss battle at the end. Again and again, I lost. Today, somehow, I finally beat him. I completed the last two action sequences, and was rewarded with a lengthy (and satisfying) cutscene movie that tied up the game very well.

Man, what a great game. Pulse-pounding action, great story, awesome visuals, and wonderful voice acting. I’ve embedded a short AP video (a la YouTube) where AP interviewed some of the key actors in the game. I can’t wait for the next installment (please tell me there will be another game) to see where the next adventure with these characters will go next.

Back on Dec 19th, my friend Reeba got me Uncharted 2: Among Thieves (on recommendation by my dear wife) for a Secret Santa gift exchange. Since Dec 20th, I’ve been playing maybe an hour or so of Uncharted 2 on the Playstation 3, give or take. Some days, I play two or more hours, while some days I don’t play at all. 

Am I in college with free time to play hours a day? No. Do I have an HDTV to enjoy the fine graphic detail? No. In spite of it, I have to say that every game review is right on the money. This game is friggin’ amazing. It has to be one of best games I’ve ever played. The storyline is straight out of an action movie, the protagonist (Nathan Drake) is supremely identifiable, the acting is top-notch, the visuals are stunning, the story is entertaining, and the music is enjoyable. I love this game , because I am having so much fun with it.

Yes, you can get slightly frustrated at times, but not due to deficiencies in the game itself. There are some events and scenes where the goals can feel slighly impossible as you die over and over again. When you get past it, and you eventually will, you feel great. Furthermore, as you play, even though you are struggling, you are awestruck by what you’re trying to do — trying to outsmart the tank chasing you through a village, a firefight through the aforementioned village, fighting and maneuvering a moving train, or jumping from truck to truck in a convoy while battling soldiers shooting at you from other moving jeeps. The ancient puzzles to solve, as well as treasure hunting, and feats & trophies to accomplish and win make it all the better.

I gotta mention the train. In two consecutive chapters of the story, you jump onto a moving train, and must slowly make your way to the front of the train, in order to rescue a friend. You will fight soldiers within and on top of the train, using stealth, hand-to-hand combat, or a myriad of weapons you pick up from the foes you kill. Meanwhile, this train is travelling at full speed through absolutely stunning landscape that looks so realistic, you wish you could just sit on the train and watch the scenery. I’ve embedded a portion of the train chapter below (a rather harrowing portion of the story, let me tell you) from Youtube. Watch it full screen, and hit the HD button. It’s sweet.

I’ve now posted video and pictures here, but if you want to see more, check out the website above for the trailer with actual gameplay. You can click any of the photos here to see larger screenshots of the game in all it’s glory. It’s a phenomenal series, and Uncharted 2 is a great addition to any collection. There are just so many times while I’m playing that I just say to myself, “I can’t believe what I’m doing now.” When you play, you just feel like Indiana Jones.

Nums & Reeba, thank you so much!

I got two new PS3 games for Christmas this year. Both highly rated. Both cool.

The first is Uncharted 2: Among Thieves, the 2009 sequel to Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune. I loved the first Uncharted and the character of Nathan Drake. This sequel has great gameplay, a great story, and is just fun to play.  It’s truly like being in an action movie. At the time of this posting, I’m about halfway through, and it’s absolutely phenomenal.

The second is Batman: Arkham Asylum. The game was written by Paul Dini, and features the voices of Kevin Conroy and Mark Hamill.  Dini, Conroy, and Hamill were all involved in the original (and beloved) 1990’s Batman: The Animated Series, of which I’m also a huge fan. I haven’t gotten too far in this game yet, but it’s interesting.

New games - Uncharted 2: Among Thieves and Batman: Arkham Asylum

Heavenly Sword (2007)

Cue the headline news music. This week, I beat Heavenly Sword, a game for the PS3. Please return to your regularly scheduled programming.

The game came out about two years ago, and my brother-in-law Robbie borrowed it from a friend, and then lent it to me about two weeks ago.  I’d seen the title a few months ago, but I didn’t pay much attention to it.  I saw the large sword, and dismissed as one of those myriad Japanese and their large sword fetish games. However, free game to borrow? Why not.

The game is a martial arts game with a hack and slash quality to it — you know, “button mashing.” Wonderfully rendered, good story, and nice music. I did like the game a lot, and I thought it had some unique elements. The story starts out with about to begin a 1 vs a 100,000-man army final battle.  You are Nariko, a tough-as-nails woman in feudal Japan. However, one minute into it, your sacred sword that will slowly drain your life finally kills you.  As your out-of-body experience shows you going up to the sky, you end up in some strange purgatory. 

You begin talking about the legend of the Heavenly Sword, and how the major recent events began five days ago.  The game then truly begins at five days ago. The rest of the chapters in the game continue chronologically (four day ago, three, etc) until you reach the final battle you were in the beginning, in a chapter aptly named “Full Circle.”  The story continues, but I won’t spoil it. It was certainly unique.

I did like it, but the game was awfully short.  I thought the game was good, but….. I’d probably be annoyed if I spent $60 on a six hour game.  Also, while I like all the numerous martial arts moves, you have to be pretty good at hitting all the buttons (square, triangle, square, square) in the right sequence and timing to get the combos. Doable, but at some point, you just regress into just mashing all the buttons, and hoping for the best. Good voice acting too.  Anna Torv [Fringe] voiced Nariko, and Andy Serkis [LoTR, King Kong] voiced the evil King Bohan, as well as Dramatic Director.

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Too bad there won’t be a sequel.  The developer Ninja Theory has cancelled the plans for a sequel, as from a “follow the money” point-of-view, they’ll make more money on multi-platform games (XBox, PS3, etc.)  I guess they can’t convert all their PS3 game code to be compatible with both the PS3 and the XBox 360. Ah well.  I really liked the Nariko character.

Cool new Batman game coming out on August 25th.  It’s getting great early reviews, Kevin Conroy and Mark Hamill are basically reprising their voice roles for Batman and Joke (from Batman: The Animated Series back in the 90’s.)  Looks good, my friends. Who wouldn’t want to be Batman?

New footage released on the official, recently debuted Uncharted 2: Among Thieves website.  I read that Hollywood is working to translate the first game into a movie.  Booyah.  Watch this trailer.  Doesn’t it play out like an action movie already?  I shouldn’t get too excited about a movie version of this game. 

1. I already know the story plays out.
2. Hollywood would just screw it up.

I’m so looking forward to picking up this sequel when it is released this year.  That HIND helicopter looks like it is going to be a pain in the butt. Yes, the game actually looks like this. The original was so much fun.

Killzone 2

My other redeemed-rewards-points PS3 game arrived today: Killzone 2.  I installed it this evening, but I haven’t had an opportunity to play it yet.  Too many other things to do around here than to play videogames.  I have played the downloadable demo, and the game is pretty neat.  Good graphics, good feel to it.  I’m not ready to play it yet, as I have to finish Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune first.

The premise of the game (turns out to be the 3rd in the series) is you take your battle against the alien invaders to their home planet.  Expecting a quick win, it turns into a slugfest.  Not much of a story, I gather, but it’s an opportunity to do cool stuff in a combat zone with your squad. I’ll play it in a couple of weeks, no rush.

Uncharted: Drake's Fortune

I used some reward points to pick up two new games: Killzone 2 and Uncharted: Drakes Fortune.  Uncharted: Drakes Fortune arrived today in the mail, and I started playing it late this evening.  This game is awesome! This platform game is in the same vein as the Tomb Raider series, but I like it so much more.  Yes, it is a lot like Tomb Raider, but it feels like I’m also watching (and participating) in an Indiana Jones movie.  The gameplay intermixes with cutscenes wonderfully, and there’s just enough tips and hints at these early stages to help me find my way.  Controls are pretty intuitive too.

The premise of the game is you play Explorer Nathan Drake, a descendant of Sir Francis Drake, who begins a search for an ancient relic that is linked to his ancestor. With the help of some sidekicks, you-as-Nathan traverse jungles, waterfalls, caves, and ruins while avoiding scummy modern-day pirates.  I’m having a kick-ass time, and it’s only been 90 mins.  That’s usually the sign of a good game.

This game came out in 2007, and there’s already a sequel, Uncharted 2: Among Thieves, coming out in Fall 2009.  Why didn’t I get a PS3 years ago?

See the trailer below.  This is actual gameplay. I know, I know, I bet all you console guys and gals have been doing this for years.  I’m catching up to all the fun now.  Kanishk, you were so right.