Mafia II – 2
Playtime: 3 hours (7.5 hours total)
Personal Rating This Session: 6 - The story is still so-so; I'm not a fan of the latest narrative transition and I ran into a lot more issues this session. Still fun to play, though.
Not much has happened in the past 3 hours other than story-based missions, so this post is going to be shorter. First, the good bit: it's refreshing to see a game's neutral-tone objective ticker have some personality.
WoW: Polaroids from Azeroth 5
Part 5 in a series of scavenged pictures and notes that describe the life of a woman called Jacquelle, who comes from a far off land.
On a happy note: I learned how to cook! This is kind of ill-timed, since I've started wanting all my steaks bloody and raw and have no interest in cooking anything. But I feel like I've accomplished something, anyway. I baked bread!
Mafia II
Playtime: 4.5 hours (4.5 hours total)
Personal Rating This Session: 8 - I really enjoy the narrative style and sandbox-lite feel, but if you have a game so dependent on its story, it has to be really good. The story is all right, but the atmosphere is the real lifesaver here.
Mafia II is one of those games I wanted to play on Xbox, but it's always been too pricey. When Steam ran an insane holiday deal during Christmas that included the full game and all DLC for a sickeningly low price, I had to snap it up. I've heard all kinds of things about the game - mostly negative, and mostly regarding the fact that it isn't really a sandbox game, even though it kinda pretends to be, like the scrawny kid in school that stuffs his t-shirt to look bigger so he doesn't get picked on (not that I would know anything about that).
WoW: Polaroids from Azeroth 4
Someone needs to fire their sculptor. At least he lives up to his name, 'Sir Craps-a-lot'
WoW: Polaroids from Azeroth 3
My mother always told me you can tell the class of a place is from how many lines of laundry they have running out the windows. I think it's pretty obvious my escape didn't take me through the best areas.
WoW: Polaroids from Azeroth 2
After helping out the guards, I got a new cape! It's probably the ugliest thing I've ever seen, but who wants to offend edgy people armed to the teeth? Besides, I think I heard that puke colors are in.
WoW: Polaroids from Azeroth 1
A few years ago outside a small village in Tunisia, an ancient book was unearthed. Inside were countless photographs of the life of a woman who lived in a time long ago, in a place far, far away. Each picture bore her handwritten notes, which have been translated and enclosed. This is the first set.
World of Warcraft
I've played WoW a couple times in the past couple of years (I generally play for a month, get sick of not playing any other games, and stop). It's a fun game, though I resent being forced to socialize; if they offered this offline, I would play non-stop. I hate having to deal with the griefing and trolling and immature players, and I haven't found enough good players to balance it all out. Generally, I play inside my own little bubble, but in order to write about it, I am going to try all kinds of crazy things. So yes, I will even try to talk in General Chat.
Alpha Protocol – 2
Playtime: 10 hours (19 hours total)
Personal Rating This Session: 9 - Getting past the annoyances at getting the game set up (and the times I wanted to throw the controller through the screen), this was a remarkably fun game.
So given that I completed a 19 hour game in only two sessions probably says a lot about how fun it was. While there were countless issues I had, mostly with loading my saved games, full game crashes, my complete frustration at how the game locks passages behind you once you start down a path...I am still thinking about playing it a second time later. Either the game has successfully implemented some sort of brainwashing, or....ahhh, yep...I am playing an Obsidian title. I don't understand how a group of people can be so talented at story-telling, game designing and characterization, and so wretched at coding. Even worse, it's like they don't realize they can't code, because they haven't hired anyone else to do it for them. Normally, if I can't do something (and it's been 10 years and I haven't gotten any better), I find someone else to do it for me.
Anyway.
Alpha Protocol
Playtime: 9 hours (9 hours total)
Personal Rating This Session: 6 - The movement makes me a bit ill, and the entire song and dance you have to do to make the game playable is a laugh, the story/characters/voice acting are atrocious, but it's still really fun to play.
I remember reading about Alpha Protocol in a game magazine years ago, and being so excited about it. It was an espionage spy RPG, something that had never been done before, and it sounded so great.
Now, playing it, there's still aspects of that excitement and great design, but my god is it bogged down with problems and thoughtlessness.
