23 March 2009
Jam 12 Siang waktu gw Sedang Tutorial Machine Learning mengenai Bayesian Network n kita lagi ngomongin faktor2 yang menyebabkan n disebabkan oleh jenis2 ikan tangkapan.
Sewaktu ngomongin Seabass terus suara perut gw yang keroncongan terdengar. Maklum belum sarapan n bangun telat.
Orang Sebelah Gw : “Seems like someone is a bit Hungry”
Dosen:”Not if you are in Antartica”
Yakuza 2
Well that question burnet into my head as i further immersed myself in the beautiful city of Kamurocho and Osaka of Yakuza 2 game. Strolling down the street listening to people conversations as i pass them by. Licking Neopolitan Ice cream. After that beat down thugs who has been shaking the place for months and earn some money and discount. And Spend my blood money on Casino,Girls,Toys and my favorite Japanese cuisine “Sushi”. While once a while thwarting the Osaka Yakuza invading Kanto for some strange and laughable motives.
Life never seem grander. I love Yakuza 2. It captivates me more than Yakuza 1 ever was(partially because the whole setting seemed more Japanese because of the voice acting are now in Japanese and the story vs gameplay Pacing are IMHO better than the slow burning prologue of Yakuza 2). And in my opinion even more engaging than the overhype Shenmue 2.
One of the greatest Strength of Yakuza 2 that its utilize is the attention of detail to its City. Both Kamurocho and Kanto are rendered beautifully and stunning detail to both its world and its interaction.
Ive known few liquor(never drink one but i watched enough movie and read enough books) and Japanese Cuisine to appreciate it name,description and representation in Yakuza 2 world.
Its totally believable and if you are the type of people who love one of the above(like strolling around, test your luck in casino,play some quirky mini games and tasting beverages,liquor, and exotic-unique cuisine) i really suggest you to play Yakuza 2.
The representation is not the best around but the voice acting,animation,the script(i have to warn you that some of its part are utterly riddiculously too cartoonish even for a game, although it acted like it make sense) and once again THE SENSE OF DETAIL.
But to be honest the biggest driving force in this game is the insane amount of detail and its story.
its an interesting mix of Violent Crime Movie(80%) and comic like Fantasy(20%).
The story is Beautiful from the beginning till the end.-i even hold myself from taking a piss just because i want to see what would happen next-
I sincerely became more acquainted and do care a lot with the characters in this game. The so badass its so fucking cool Kazuma Kiryu,Majima,Kazuma Kiryu,Daigo Dojima and Sayama Kaoru.
The music is also great but if you played it for 30 hours like me it sure gets on your nerve. But the music in the cinematic is so great and fit its Yakuza japanese gangster theme perfectly.
The main gameplay beside its mini games(playing Shogi or Mahjong)…
Is so so.
If your talking about the interactivity and extreme complicated gameplay. Then you’ll be disappointed with this one. The interaction is pretty much basic, the resident evil limited inventory is aggravating because youll be shuffle back and forth in search for magical item box that is sparse in this game. The city is seem too small if we compare it to any Grand Theft Auto installment.
The battle is too simple. Its like Street of Rage in 3D. Simple. At first bashing people with Rage moves are insanely fun, but after 20th time you'll be bored. The developer try to spice it up with RPG like level up. But its so basic that you wont even bother with it.
The quest is also to be put simply. Bewildering. It is not a rare moment where you’ll left in the city with no idea where you should go. But this is like a double edge sword. In other hand it forces gamer/user to explore every inch of detail in the environment more. Thus make it more Immersive.
For me this game is almost too good to be true. Because i am one of those gamer who put Story in the first priority ahead of Gameplay and Presentation. And i do think that this game story fare better against the like of Bioshock and Half life 2. It just this game hasn't receive the attention it deserved.
Play this game. Or at least rent it. Let yourself play your friend copy or rent it for 3 hours. If until then you dont like it then return it. If until that point you interested on the world even just a little bit, i have to warn you. You wont put down that controller for a while
Pro’s
Con’s
first and foremost i know the title supposed to be Burn After Reading
Surprised doesn't even closed to describe how me and my friend are reaction are after watching the first ten minutes of this film. An 80 minutes after that i left that studio with my friend with a smile and an experience not to be forgotten easily.
Burn afterthought is a very ironic film. It talks about how a very distinguish,eccentric and –forgive my language- idiot people trying to behave normally. They disguised their problem in such a manner that it seems like nothing big happened. They make mistakes, they forget, yet still they stabbed their dearest friends,family and other person that they may not know either both consciously or not.
How far you would have gone to fulfill your sexual desire?
How many you are willing to sacrifice to get your husband alimony?
How many friends are you going to sacrifice to get the perfect body?
What will you do to get the attention of the one you love?
It told a tragic story and wrapped it up in such a bizarre dialogue and circumstances and also spice it up with many and many sexual jokes.
The film is not meant to be as serious or as beautiful as the Coen brothers previous “No Country for Old men”.
It is entertaining though, and it if you dig it up a little you will find some wise advise in it.
i like this kind of film which remind me of other absurd nonsense comedy movie which sure stir your laughing appetite. Like the high profile Tropic Thunder, Balls of Fury and Blades of Glory. If you like one of those three i suggest you to watch Burn After Reading or if you like Burn After Reading i highly recommend you to watch the other three.
Chao
N.B.:
-Well when i saw it in the theater in Setiabudi,Jakarta,Indonesia another strange thing happened there. Well only me and my friend. The two of us. Who laughed. The rest of them don't laugh. So if you understand the joke of the film or do not understand a few of the gags in there please reply me in here.
Last week when i ransack my games collection to see what other games that have superb story that i did not finish yet i struck on Broken Sword 3 and 4.
Sadly my copy of Broken Sword : Angel Of Death is a tad clunky without proper patch. So i decided to continue my Broken Sword 3 game which i left probably a half year ago.
Well i struck down on two things.
1. Is how the hell can the game being played. I need around five minutes scrolling the control option (thankfully brief).
2. Okay about the story…. eum… Okay i forgot. Okay so i open the inventory. There are George notepad which i can read to read the story so far. But the description is so…. memo like and brief that i didn't get how the hell is this Stobbart guy ended up in here. What the hell i supposed to do?
Seriously guys. I know it will take a bit of effort to put some kind of the “previously on Broken Sword…” video ala Drv3r. But come on Kingdom Hearts has an excellent dictionary for characters and events and it also has ‘story so far’ summary.
If that a little bit too detail. Perhaps you can try Metal Gear Solid PC approach where every time you load a save game you can see a brief paragraph to sum the story up.
Frankly I'm very interested on Alone in the Dark (2008) approach to this subject where it broke up its game into several episodes and you can skip the story forward and still get the story so far ala American TV series…
But somehow after hearing several responses to the gameplay. I loose my appetite.
Guess you never see this coming right?
All right max Payne maybe just a corridor shooter that flavored with impressive intriguing story, eye candy graphic that aren't too shabby when we played it today.
Sure Right. It only has one innovation that is bullet time. But surely do.
The firefight. The detail of every bullet hole. The ragdoll effect that applied to every fucking objects that aren't nailed down. The Sephia effect when you slow down time. The way Max Payne jump sideways while shooting the hell out of everything. The sound of every casing fall down and hit the floor accompanied with the sound of your rushing heartbeat.
You’ll see every bullet flying and their effect. You’ll see pain.
Seriously give this game a try if you don’t.
If the Story doesn't get a hold of you. The gameplay will.
This game is so Badass.
This screenshot will probably not give you the chill.
But seriously this game will pour every single insane enemy at an insane rate and insane number within insane set piece.
Can you imagine you pushed into a trampoline and jumping around while you’ll being attack with a jumping Rhino and Suicidal Bomber?
I never really can describe how great or insane this game is.
YOU HAVE TO PLAY THIS GAME
I Dont really like the game below or didnot rate it as high as my fellow friends are but i still respect them for being a game where you can literally be a badass.
A month ago after played the fantastically Crysis both based on its graphical prowess and innovatively gameplay. The freedom and thinking man gameplay that energized the first half of the game make me giggle as a child throw in the plethora option of how can i combine the each unique nano suit’s power.
Its the best single player game i ever play since fear(frenetic action yet too bland and boring environment and almost non existent/not not interesting as the trailer suggest story and scariness that implied by its name).
But then i feel the need to play a macho game. Where i can put on the boots of some badass character and wreck havoc and feel a total bastardo.
not so macho……
My eye turned into Gears Of War 1 (Pc version of course i don't have xbox 360). The only thing i heard from people and website is how badass this game is. From the So macho one liners,fountain of stylish blood, blowing body to bits, and the most satisfying is to chainsaw foe’s while screaming like madman.
I got that sadistic satisfaction smile from its trailers,reviews and screenshot.
Yet i did not that macho feeling in Gears Of Wars. The Set piece is not that interesting(well there are one or two that is fun/interesting but never pass that GRAAAW moment), the pop and gun mechanic is good and the AI difficulties is so so. But the damn basic mechanic don't make me feel like I'm one of those Arnold Schwarzenegger Clone blasting shotgun.
Not even the Delta Squad Co is that macho. The conversation is so so… i don't feel the urgency… even if Marcus delivered it in such a low growl. The only thing macho about Gears of Wars is the Delta Squad equipment and bulky personnel.
To quote Eurogamer. “the game is basically put the player in a box and pour it with enemies”. It never ever get more interesting than this, not even the driving section that is more annoying than interesting. Not even the beautiful art direction and superb animation and texture qualities will help me feel like a macho super soldier.
I can only hope Gears of War 2 will ad more interesting set piece.
This make me realize something. Most of the high production value game today are aligning themselves to the more thinking or realistic approach. Almost all of them-if not most of them-. GTA IV,Bioshock,Crysis,Assassin's Creed,Dead Space. Most of these game force you to think to get to the end of the game. To calculate your movement carefully. To learn a new rule or gameplay gimmick. To make your character as weak as paper thin when your battling aliens from other galaxies.
Not that its bad. But somehow i missed the old days of simple traditional shooter where you only need to shoot your way through while the world surrounds you explode and your enemy dead in such a bloody viscera.
Not that i want another corridor shooter. It just i need the feeling that im the most powerful being in this game. That i can do something that matters. Something fucking awesome that ill glee in satisfaction. I want to be a fucking badass!!!!
In the next part i will talk about several example of theese badass games i talked about in this article.
come get some…… later
Let me focus only on Single Player Game okay… well trust me the only one that is great is.
Maybe later i will post my full review on the game
1. Crysis
(Status:Finished. rating: Outstanding!)
This is one of the greatest game i ever play. Many people will stay away from this game and prefer to pirate it because they think that the gameplay will be similiar to Far Cry(Which without saying I really hate it)
Like:
Hate
- The alien Ai is not withstanding and less fun than human ai
- The alien levels design are pretty much boring yet their presentation is awesome
- The last boss are out of place and too easy
2. Fallout 3
(Status: Not finished yet, about 20 hours)
This is the much waited and hyped RPG game of this year. The sequel of the RPG’s that i love.
To be honest im not quite sure how will bethesda effort compared to black isle product. but i can say that this game is much better than oblivion with guns.
but perhaps we will discuss about how faithful the fallout 3 later
for now i only invested around 20 hours into this games and to call fallout 3 first impression is impressive is an understatement
The world is filled with gory,mature theme and dark humor.
But after my character quickly hit the level cap(20 and their new DLC or patch will further upgrade it into 30) then suddenly im a walking machine of death and everyone that stand on my way will be literally smashed.
Like
- Beautiful art of destruction
- VATS is interesting and elegant solution to imitate the previous games targeting system
- The world are pretty….
- FALLOUT franchise!!!!!
- Gory battle and mature themes
- Some of the quest story is interesting
- Nice Radio Soundtrack(The 1950’s song are hilarious to listen in the middle of the bloodbath)
Hate
- Boring Quest Structure
- After a while you will spot many repetitive texture and structure
- You will be bored to death by the gory slow-mo death animation
- You will be bored to death by the soundtrack and will switch off the Radio most of the time
- There are still Quest Stopping Bug
- If you’re smart(or is it just me?) playing your card, choosing skills and perks you will literally become unstoppable thus make the game too easy
- Limited selection of equipment
- Not as epic as previous fallout(yet i understand because of the new VATS system, this is not regarded as flaw yet something that discomfort me as previous fallouts player)
and yes im very dissapointed with GTA IV….
