November 2011 Archives

Having beaten Uncharted 2 over the summer, I only had to wait a few months for the sequel, but it felt like longer; “Among Thieves” surprised me with its quality writing, presentation, and voicework—despite having read several positive reviews and being certain I was buying a good game. I guess the reviews hadn’t prepared me for just how awesomely those elements had been implemented. I am especially fond of the game’s writing in general, and its snappy dialog in particular—particularly when great performers bring it to life. You’ve gotta love this stuff:

Chloe : Seems like I am always saving your ass.
Nate : Well, it is an ass worth saving.

Uncharted 2 is one of my favorite gaming experiences, and I was looking forward to the sequel even as the credits rolled. Having now played into that sequel’s tenth chapter, I’m pleased to say that I haven’t been let down. Uncharted 3 is a great game. I do have some complaints, but they’re minor.

Plusses thus far:

• Great dialog, both in writing and execution
• Story is big in scope, focusing on the ring Nate always wears around his neck, his relationship with Sully (including a flashback of their first meeting and adventure), and some nasty business Francis Drake discovered and covered up.
• Naughty Dog seems to be playing a bit with Nate’s presentation—different sorts of views of him, for example a rather claustrophobic tight shot when moving through crevices. It keeps things visually interesting.
• One character refers to another as “tripping balls”.
• Featurettes and concept art unlockable via story progression.

Minuses thus far:

• Nate seems to look around more than he used to; it feels to me that in looking away, he gets a bit harder to control. Hard to explain.
• Two bugs.
  • During a fistfight, clipped through a wall into a “blue nowhere”. No recourse but to restart from last checkpoint.
  • Game froze hardware completely. Had to power-cycle the console.

• No more unlock shop. No more rewards (other than trophies) for discovering treasures. By far my biggest disappointment thus far.

As mentioned previously, I began gaming in 1998, only a couple years after the introduction of Pokemon. In the time since, I’ve played (though not beaten) hundreds of games. Yet prior to the summer of 2011, I had never played a Pokemon game; in my mind they were only for kids, and therefore I had no interest in them. But all that changed due to my seven-year-old nephew, Connor, getting a DSi for Christmas 2010.

I live about 200 miles from Connor, so I really only get to see him once or twice a month, and for the next few months after Christmas, his DSi usage was devoted wholly to LEGO Star Wars: The Complete Saga. Then in the spring, his thrifty mother made quite a find at a yard sale: a fifteen dollar three-ring binder containing hundreds of Pokemon trading cards, all tucked away into individual plastic sleeves. I learned of this find when I was visiting in June 2011; almost as soon as I arrived, Connor was waxing enthusiastic about Pokemon and showing off his many cards.

A couple weeks before that visit, I’d seen Giant Bomb’s QuickLook at Pokemon Black, and it had piqued my curiosity a bit. Connor’s fascination with the pocket monsters reminded me of the QL, and since I had brought my own DS with me, I headed out to Frey Meyer’s and picked it up. When I got back to my sister’s place, I didn’t tell Connor what I’d bought, but just sat down to check it out; after about ten minutes, the boy wandered over to see what I was playing. Half an hour later, he was telling his Mom “I want Pokemon Black”. Mom wasn’t necessarily opposed to the idea, but her response gave me the impression that it’d be at least a few months before he could have it, and even then she wasn’t promising. I visited again a few weeks later, and I guess Connor had been working hard on his folks, because he had Pokemon Black and was playing it like crazy.

Now, several months later, he still plays it like crazy. It’s taken quite a while to get there, but he’s very close to the final dungeon now. Which to me seems like a really long time, but his DS time is metered, and he also spends a lot of gametime wandering around getting into random battles. He’s rightly proud of his high-level Pokemon, and loves to tell me about them, especially Samurott and Sawk. When I visit I always bring my DS and copy of the game (although I basically stopped playing it after about 12 hours) and he always wants to 1) trade Pokemon, and 2) have multiplayer Pokemon battles.