Bionic Assassin

My reviews for Bionic Commando and Velvet Assassin went up recently over at NTSC-UK.

As ever, writing with those guys was a great experience.

I also want to point you to the review we recently put up of Rainbow Six Vegas and the ensuing comments thread.

Many people questioned why a review of a (nearly) three year old game went up now and why it criticised the game so much. Pretty much everyone in thread disagreed with the text and score with one person saying that because because it goes into Metacritic we should be embarrassed about putting a review up that so many consider 'wrong'.

Rather than being considered an embarrassment, it should be considered a celebration. NTSC-UK publishes reviews that have something to say, no matter the game or the release date. When reading them I tend to look at reviews as a discussion between myself and the reviewer and that reading their critique I inform, enforce and explore my own feelings and views on the game.

I will go ahead and say that I disagree with many of the points in the R6V review but it is a fascinating read because the reviewer's view point is so opposed to my own. He came at the game from a totally different angle to me and that is super interesting to me.

When we are subjectively reviewing a subjective piece of art, can someone be wrong?

I would argue not.

Of Juarez and it's Call

Another huge delay between blog posts.

Remember the carefree days of GDC where I would post multiple times a day and you would lap the posts up like the salivating dogs that you are? Happy times.

Life has been incredibly busy for multiple reasons and I have been hard pressed to actually sit in front of my Xbox, let alone write some ish. Last week I failed to get any achievements. I know, right?

I have actually instructed my family that if I am offline from Xbox Live for more than seven days, I am probably dead. Or dying. Or wishing I was dead. Last week I was offline for four days straight. They had already pre-emptively warned the relevant authorities.

So, like I say I haven't had a chance to play a lot of games recently so I'm still slowly plodding through RF Guerrilla but last night I managed to get an hour in on Call of Juarez Bound in Blood.

The original Call of Juarez completely fascinated me. The developers Techland have flashes of stunning genius but can't maintain a constant level of polish across an entire game. Like From Software, Techland create games that are very much bound to the intended atmosphere of the game and they don't necessarily conform to game design conventions.

The level design places a great deal of faith in the player buying into the scenario and moving through the sequence without trying to break it. Set pieces will trigger and events will happen regardless of whether you are in the right place or not and if played 'properly' (as much as I shudder to type that) the game is enthralling experience.

It might not be the strongest FPS out there but it is rare in that it attempts to craft a first person experience that relies heavily on story and actions other than shooting to draw you in and through.

In the first chapter you enter a quick draw shoot out with a law man and instead of just blasting him away like any other enemy, the camera goes third person and focuses on your character's hand and holster. You can manipulate the hand with the right stick and the objective of the mini game is to wait until you hear the town bell toll before drawing your pistol and not blowing your load too early. My mouth was agape with how simple but amazing it was.

After that you drive a stage coach (complete with horses) through buildings.

My hetero life-mate Beast has requested that I post more than about games. I'm not sure what about though.

Stay tuned for a post this week which will hopefully be off topic as they say.